[Pancham]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Hi Everyone,

With the 10 years diesel rule for cars in Delhi NCR, there are lucrative pricing on big used SUVs, especially those that are nearing the 10 years old deadline. And I am currently on a lookout for a pre-worshipped Fortuner within a budget of 7 to 8 lacs max.

Wow! Looks like a great example. Please do share some more pictures (interiors as well) and also the price you paid finally.

[iTNerd]

Originally Posted by Pancham

Wow! Looks like a great example. Please do share some more pictures (interiors as well) and also the price you paid finally.

I got delivery today (2010 grey Fortuner 4x4).





























Paid 7.5L to the owner (dealer comission and RC/NOC transfer extra).

Initial Impressions:
1) Its huge (coming from a Yeti)
2) Excellent driveability inspite of the size.
3) Clutch is soft. I liked it very much
4) Brake seems weird. Pedal vibrates on pressing.
5) Interior is neat and clean. The lever to adjust the front seats are still in plastics (as it was 10 years ago)
6) 50% NCB on insurance
7) Last service done in March 2019 at 43000 kms. But service was done for 80,000 kms interval.
8) Got the whole service history since 2010 and 2019 (every minute details) on a excel sheet.
9) Last service history comments include water pump leak, rusting in discs brake corners and something about drum brake lining. Recommended replacements in last services include are for all tyres and wiper linkage.

Received two sets of keys. And of course the booklets.



The car is going for thorough inspection and service tomorrow. And then it will go for repair of the dents and repaints of the four doors and front and back bumpers. The tyres are 10 years old and I intend to change all 5 of them once the repair works are done. I will of course start a new thread in 2 or 3 weeks once it is in top notch conditions.

[navpreet318]

Congratulations. That's a very well maintained vehicle. Though I think you paid a shade extra. A similar car of a very close friend was sold here in dehradun for Rs.6L/-. Had run 60K and was on original tires. The 4x4 lever was never even touched.

Yes there are certain people who love their cars like this. And it was sold only because my friend couldn't drive to Delhi anymore because of the 10yr rule else he would have kept it. He bough a brand new fortuner and intends to keep it till he can by law.


Beautiful vehicle and I'm sure you'll put it in great use in Imphal!

[iTNerd]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Congratulations. That's a very well maintained vehicle. Though I think you paid a shade extra. A similar car of a very close friend was sold here in dehradun for Rs.6L/-. Had run 60K and was on original tires. The 4x4 lever was never even touched.

Beautiful vehicle and I'm sure you'll put it in great use in Imphal!

Thanks. Yes, I think I overpaid by 60K-70K, but the lesser mileage and good shape (which happens rarely) motivates me to seal the deal instantly. The owner didn't bulge anything below that amount with either take it or leave it attitude. Moreover, with the habit of my one year old son sticking with his father for the better half of the day, it was difficult to allot time to scorch around for other pristine fortuners.

Perform inspection and 90,000 kms interval service today at Toyota ASC (odo is 46XXX kms though).
1) Brake pedals vibrates strongly on speed more than 50 kmph. I was advise to skim the brake discs, no need for replacements.
2) Injectors will be cleaned.
3) Power Steering fluid level is low. Will be topped up.

Other than the above three issues, the rests are in pretty good shape. Think this validates the premium I paid - no further work required on a lesser run fortuner. I guess, I am already ripping the benefit of purchasing a pre-worshipped car with less mileage

Gave the go ahead to perform the 90K kms interval service as well. Expecting delivery tomorrow evening.

Just a snapshot of the car in the cleaning stage at the Toyota ASC.



P.S. While inspecting the car at the ASC, I got a happy surprise to know that the spare wheel is also an alloy! I have two other cars that I had purchased post 2010 and none have spare wheel as alloys.

[Tulok]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Thanks. Yes, I think I overpaid by 60K-70K, but the lesser mileage and good shape (which happens rarely) motivates me to seal the deal instantly. The owner didn't bulge anything below that amount with either take it or leave it attitude. Moreover, with the habit of my one year old son sticking with his father for the better half of the day, it was difficult to allot time to scorch around for other pristine fortuners.

Sir, how did you transport your car to Imphal ? I am in your same boat and I’m planning to get a 1st gen Fortuner to my hometown Kohima,Nagaland probably after the Corona pandemic gets over. Would appreciate some advices.

And if anyone can lead me to a pristine condition 1st gen Fortuner will be appreciated.

Regards
Tulok

[iTNerd]

Originally Posted by Tulok

Sir, how did you transport your car to Imphal ? I am in your same boat and I’m planning to get a 1st gen Fortuner to my hometown Kohima,Nagaland probably after the Corona pandemic gets over. Would appreciate some advices.

And if anyone can lead me to a pristine condition 1st gen Fortuner will be appreciated.

Regards
Tulok

Because of the Corona Virus lockdown and subsequent Inner Line permit (ILP) withdrawal from Nagaland till April 15th, I had to defer the transport (or rather drive) till the lockdown is lifted. Instead, I flew out to Imphal in 2nd week March just in nick of time.

[keerti_ck]

Stoic! - My Fortuner

This is my very first post I'm writing about my ownership review of my pre-worshiped Toyota Fortuner 2012 model which I picked from Toyota U Trust. Mods please move it to the right section if inappropriately posted in the wrong section.

Prologue:

Sometime during the initial phases of my career (2004), whenever I used to see a TFORT, my heart usually used to skip a beat. It was always my dream to own that vehicle. Whenever I did bring up this topic in front of parents to own this beast, I would always be asked what the necessity was, how costly would it be to maintain and mainly the big question about would it suit our lifestyle? Coming from a family where my dad is a govt doctor and mom is a housewife, it was always taken for granted that the people who owns these cars are either politicians, real estate folks or someone who has lots of disposable income. I took it as a challenge from that day to change this mindset and buy this beast at some point or other in my life. It took me about 11 years.. But I got there..eventually.

Some History about my cars:

As I said earlier, my dad was in govt service and buying a car was a big thing for us. By the time I started earning, through his savings and to fulfil my wish of having a car of our own, my parents bought a Maruti 800 - Non AC Std version. This was the car which served as a workhorse for quite a few years. I still remember our trips during the hot summers where we had to open the windows to keep ourselves cool (which was worse as it made it even hotter), clean up windshields from Inside with a soap during rainy seasons because of the lack of AC. Once I started working, I took the plunge and bought a pre owned Ford Ikon 1.6 Nxt disposing off the M800. The only reason why I bought this car was I was in love with the radium dials which it offered. The 1.3 version too had radium dials, but it was only confined to the needles. The 1.6's assembly was to die for. Even to this day, IMHO I dont think there is any other dial which looks as nice as that! But nonetheless, after owning this for a few years and doing some long journeys - almost whole of South India we decided to move away from petrol. Reason - Petrol cost was moving north and my expenses on petrol and other commitments - EMI's for home etc. started piling up. One of my dad's friend was disposing off his "almost new" Ford Fusion as he was moving out in 2008. We decided to pick it up. It was a TDCI engine and had run just about 3k kms. My stint with this car didn't last too long (2 months I think)as I met with an accident on this car while driving back from office. It was on the day before my engagement and it didn't go too well with my family members as they said it was a bad omen and many wanted me to sell off this car. Bowing down to the family pressure, I had to let go off her. With multiple EMI's and loan on the head, we decided to buy a brand new Swift LDI as this was the only car in our budget. Swift was just like the name. Fast, Agile and Nibble. This car was the one which served us quite a while (2008 to 2011). I enjoyed every moment with the car and have done a Blr to Pune in under 10 hours in that car. A few things did happen during my night drives where I banged into a dog crossing the highway which resulted in turbo pipe getting cut, Hopeless auto drivers ramming into the back of my car when it was stationary in a signal and so on. But, not once did she let me down. Out of the 50k odd kms that I had driven, I never had a single instance where my car broke down.

My son was born in 2011 and I had this urge to buy a bigger car. Reason was that I wanted take my wife and kid from hospital to home in a bigger car. During the same time, I shifted companies and my pay got better. I was able to afford a proper 7 seater vehicle. Team -bhp forums came gave much needed information on the people movers. The obvious choice was the Innova, so I began hunting for one. One of my friend was working with Nokia at that time and I was told that there was an Innova used by his boss which was registered in Nokia's name (Company Lease) and he wanted to sell it off as he was asked to move to Finland. After a couple of days, I stuck a deal with him and bought the car. I became the 3rd Owner as it was transferred to his name and then to my name. It was a steal deal for me as I got a G4 D4D version of the Innova (2009 model) which had done just about 20k kms, upgraded with all bells and whistles (Minus the ABS and Airbags) for less than 6.5 lacs in 2011. This car made me realise what Toyota was all about. Minimal maintenance cost + Comfort + Rock solid reliability + Fantastic Customer Service. I don't recall spending more than 5k for any service until the day I sent her off with a heavy heart in 2015. It had done about 85k kms by the time I upgraded to the next car (TFORT) in 2015.

Decision to Upgrade and Considerations:

After my stint with Innova, it was a very obvious dream to upgrade to the Fortuner. But upgrading from a Innova to a proper SUV was a BIG step for me. A brand new TFORT was costing about 31+ lakhs in Bangalore and I was little sceptical about investing that big a amount. I also started going team-bhp forums for the pros and cons. Spent so many days and nights going through the Ownership threads posted on this forum. We started shortlisting the probables:

Must haves:
1. Good road presence
2. Offroading Capabilities - Not Hardcore, but a little more than a soft offroader.
3. Maintenance
4. Resale Value
5. Customer Service
6. Comfort

1. Toyota Fortuner (Wasn't sure if I needed to buy the 2WD or full time 4WD) - Had to be a certified car
2. XUV 500 W10 - Brand New
3. Mitsubishi Pajero Sport - Pre-Owned

Pajero Sport was great. It had great road presence, Super Select 4WD and a great legacy but finding a good one without any certification plus limited dealer network combined with poor accessibility to 3rd row was quite a deal breaker. One of my friend also gave me some not so good feedback about the service and the availability of spare parts ( No Offense to any owners). It was stuck off.

Family and friends advised me to buy the XUV500 as this was checking all the boxes according to them. I did manage to get the W10 version TD vehicle from India garage. The Sales guy was extremely polite and very helpful. His name was Rajesh - I think. I even paid 10k for the vehicle as an advance and was promised the vehicle delivery after 20 days for the Orange shade. In-Spite of this, my heart was still skipping a beat every time I saw a Fortuner. Heart was reluctant to accept XUV500. The 3rd row seat was way too cramped IMO and there was absolutely no space at all in the boot. But it was the one fitting in my budget of 22-23 lacs. But this was cancelled as the following happened.

During the car hunting days, I had managed to visit the Toyota U Trust on Hosur road quite a few times just to see if I can get a good TFORT but none was appealing. A few were good, but the colour was not ok. If the colour was ok, the number was not ok (Number totals). 2 days after my payment to M&M, I got a call from one of the sales guy at U Trust (Murphy's law) stating that they have got a TFORT which has done about 40k kms and was under company lease. I immediately rushed to the showroom and there he was. It was Love at First sight for me. Looked like a beast, White Colour, Fully loaded, Manual Transmission and 4*4. It was a chauffeur driven car and was maintained by some IT company. Toyota offered 3 free services and 50k kms warranty of engine, suspension and some freebies including free 3M coating provided a buy the car within the next 2 days. It was also the month end and I think they were trying to meet their targets. I took the test drive of the vehicle. Man, I was Impressed! I made another payment of 50k and blocked the vehicle. I had a tough time with the sales person at M&M when I told him that I would like to cancel my booking. It took quite a few days for them to refund my amount. In the month of August 2015, (the wait before the delivery was extremely painful), I was informed that the vehicle was ready to be delivered after all the checks. I used the team-bhp's vehicle delivery checklist and ticked every item on that. The keys were handed over to my father.



At home after the pooja.Then...




Now..



I have blackened the chrome in the front and the Fortuner embossing on the back. I am not a big fan of chrome!

As I took the driver's seat it was a nostalgic moment for me. It was a vehicle I dreamt of owning since 11 years and now here I am behind the wheel as the proud owner of the beast. I call him Stoic.( Inspired by the How to train your dragon Series where the tough Viking is called Stoick). I think it suits him, as he by his name represents someone who can endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining.

Interiors and Engine:

Interiors of TFORT are mediocre. They still remind me of the Innova I owned a few years ago. Nothing has changed. Not even the steering wheel. My son sorely misses the sunroof which he was used to in our Audi A4 when I was in Germany for a few years. But coming back to the interiors, the leather upholstery provided is of real good quality. Even after 8 years, there are no chippings from any of the seats. The non presence of rear sensors are definitely missed. The insulation under the bonnet are sufficient but still the clatter and the roar of the engine is very evidently heard.

The engine as such growls every time the rpm races beyond the 3.5k mark. But below that it's kind of mellow. I can easily maintain 3 digit speeds with me RPM below the 2.2k mark. I have done multiple night drives with most of the fellow passengers sleeping and none until date has complained of any engine noise that has woken them up. The external wind noise and tyre noise however does creep into the cabin at higher speeds and with a good speaker and music system that can be offset.

On Highways, one thing I sorely think is missing is the lack of the 6th gear. There are times where I've felt the need to have that 6th gear especially when you are on high speeds. The turbo lag is minimal and I honestly think it's got to do with the BMC air filter. City driveability is also good even in Bangalore's bumper to bumper traffic. I prefer to take Stoic anywhere rather than my other Polo GT. Probably I'm so used to him now The gear shifts are just right. With over 170 horses under the hood, Stoic can pull from a standstill in traffic on 2nd gear with 7 passengers on board. There are very few times I recall when I had to shift to 1st gear in traffic. Overall the D4D is a gem of an engine and you kind of get used to the engine.

The steering is very similar to the Old Gen Innova. Nothing fancy. It had to be remapped to the Sony Unit which I got installed later. Works good and serves my purpose.



The AC is pretty powerful and most of the times during the day times when switched to auto, it always starts at full speed. The cooling is fast and is powerful. The rear vents have a separate control embedded into the roof with which the speed of the fan/blower can be controlled. Without the Rear cool button pressed in the front, I have noticed that the AC in the rear will not function even if the blower is running. Weird. The AC vents can be completely closed both in the front as well as the ones in the roof, but even with closure there is sufficient air that comes out. Below the front AC vents is a cup holder that can be used to cool the cold drink cans using the cold air that comes out of the vents. I've used it multiple times to cool that Redbull can that I use during my night drives.



The ABC's are placed at right places and there is a big dead pedal at the right angle to help in long journeys. Notice how I have cut the 3D mats. I was asked to trim it off by Toyota as they said the full one would hinder the complete press of the clutch and reduce it's life. The clutch as such is not very light. It takes some effort to press the clutch fully. Does it mean that it is hard? No. It's not. It's buttery smooth.



The Illumination control for the Speedo along with the mirror's open/close switch with adjustments. The other button with wiper logo is for front headlight wipers that can be turned on by pressing this on switching on the headlight. Neat feature. I did recently notice that whenever the headlight is on and you switch on spray of the water for the windshield, by default the headlamps also get the spray. This happens only for the first time when the ignition is on. I don't really like this as this has resulted in my windshield fluid getting over very soon. Toyota Service said it's their design. But IMO, it's a flawed design.



Sun glass holder blended with the reading lamp assembly. Haven't lost my sunglasses for 3 years now. Notice the vertical perforations, that's where the mic of the audio system is.



The Rear view mirror is decently sized. I'd have preferred a slightly bigger one.



A view from the front to the back. Airy and well lit. One of the biggest Qualms I have here is the lack of speakers for the last row. I have had multiple instances where people on the last low have complained that they can hear little or no music at all. Turn the volume up, the mid seat passengers start complaining. Any help on how this can be resolved?



The Gear lever and the 4*4 lever as well. Notice the 2 new switches in the front. One for the DRL (sourced via ali express) and one for the Rigid LED. Remember the rear cool switch I was talking earlier, this is the one.



Big OVRM's are a boon to Stoic. No Auto folding feature when the car is locked. and yes, they bend in opposite direction too!



A shot of the rear. Too much of Chrome for my liking. Planning to get it coated with Black with 3M. It's done now!



Pretty spacious boot for a SUV which can hold 7 folks and some suitcases. One of the requirements. - Ticked. The loading lip is a bit high and takes some effort to load heavy suitcases.



Rear washer. There is no spray but just a flow of fluid. Not useful when heavily soiled.



Small bottle holders. Only small 500 or max 1lt bottles would fit here.



Height adjustable seat belts.



The Big 3.0 D4D engine. Notice the BMC sticker on the left for the air filter. The engine space is quite full. As per Toyota, the perforated holes on the engine is to take outside air and keep it cool.



A single horn fitted inside the engine bay. This beeps when you try to lock the car when one of the doors is not closed properly or in case of a burglar alarm.



There is sufficient bonnet Insulation but in-spite of this there is some engine noise that creeps in like I had mentioned earlier.



Present Day and Upgrades:

Stoic has done about 97k kms on the odo now. As is the case with most of the Toyota Vehicles, there are no instances of breakdown during the last 3 years of my ownership. After going through the forums here about the racedyanmics, I have got him fitted with a Dieseltronics piggyback ECU - Dual Channel and there has been considerable improvements in FE as well as driveability. In cities, I am getting about 12.5 kmpl (P1 mode) and on highways with non spirited driving I get 14.7 kmpl in P1 mode and it reduces to 11.2 kmpl with spirited driving in P2 mode. I have also upgraded the Airfilters to BMC ones. One of the highlights of the BMC air filter is that it has increased the ROAR of the engine which I love!



Sometime during last year I also visited the 4*4.in store in Infantry road and got the Rigid 10 inches light bar fitted to him. It's a mixture of Spotlight and flood lights. I use it only on stretches on Highways where there is no oncoming traffic and is pitch dark. There is no need of the stock HID's or the High beams once you switch those on. But once you switch it off, your eyes takes a while to get adjusted to the regular HID's which seem very dim. Damages about 38k.

Notice the bar just below the number plate. Also see the DRL's sourced from AliExpress. They are doing their work well. No complaints until now.



Rigid Led's when they are on. The throw and the road visibility is phenomenal. I can easily see about 200 mtrs in the front when turned on.


The fitting for the LED was done at Throttle. They have done a great job. No Vibrations or loose connections till date.



The stock double din system was sad and I have got a Sony XAV 100 unit which supports Android auto. See the camera button that came along with the Dashcam. One press and it can take pictures and store it on the Memory card.



Other stuff includes a dash cam sourced from China via Paytm Mall which has been a good friend in multiple instances where autos and senseless drivers try to blame the bigger vehicle. The dashcam can be connected via Wi-Fi on your phone for accessibility to pictures, live video as well as recorded video. The loop recording can be adjusted as well. The quality of the pics are decent if not great.



I also got the door padding done at 3M Bull temple road on all the doors including the boot which has reduced the NVH levels to quite an extent. Cabin seems more quieter and music sounds nice! The stock rims on the car were silver color and through a friend of mine, I got the rims painted to "Metallic Elephant Black" color which looks awesome IMO.


Driveability, Braking and Interiors:

Stoic as such is a huge monster. The seating position gives you an impression that you are driving a truck. The steering is not the lightest, but also not the heaviest. It weighs up nicely as he picks up speed. There is some amount of body roll that is very evident when you try to take corners at higher speeds. The Bridgestones do a good job here as well. Over rough patches of road (read gravel), whilst I see the sedans and other crossovers crawl, Stoic just sails over them. The vibrations felt are very less. There is no fatigue that I've felt even after driving Stoic for hours together. It pull like a freight train.
Stoic has this big roar in his engine - all thanks to the BMC filter sitting inside. The roar felt is quite obvious. I have never heard it from the outside yet though but my friends travelling in other cars next to mine say it kind of intimidates them. The suspension is definitely on the harder side. At lower speeds you can feel some level on uncomfort on bad roads but it gets better when you pick up speed.

I have done a few trips to Dharmastala and below are a couple of pics from the ride.



DRL's in action..



Below are a few pics of Stoic at Mandalpatti - Near Coorg. To reach this place they'd ask someone coming in a sedan or hatchback to park their car and take a Jeep which would take them to the hill. Stoic didn't hesitate one bit to get there. Lot of onlookers were seen gazing at him!



This pic below was taken at Masinagudi where we had camped inside a jungle resort.



Braking is definitely a weak point for Stoic. The lack of all 4 discs are quite evident when you try to bring him to a halt from 3 digits on highways. During my service of Stoic for the 75k kms, they replaced the brake pads. Toyota service is awesome. There is a Toyota Service Center on KR road just behind my place and the SA's there are the best in the business. I had a small issue with braking about 5k kms ago and they did the entire overhaul of the brake assembly for less than a 100 bucks! You can't even get 2 litres of diesel with that money.

Service Costs:

Over the last 3.5 years of ownership, the major service that burnt a hole in my pocket was the clutch assembly replacement. The clutch had become real hard and there was severe vibrations felt when the clutch pedal was released. Toyota SA's had a look and said that the clutch assembly needs to be replaced as it was worn out and beyond any repairable conditions. They think that it was due to the initial driving phases where it was driven by a driver and he has driven the vehicle in half clutch most of the times. The damages was about 45k with discounts included. They also replaced the differential oil as well during this activity. In my way of driving, I do not even put my foot on the clutch unless I'm changing the gear or if it's stop and go traffic. But they have assured me that it'd last for the next 1 lakh km easily. Keeping fingers crossed. The usual service costs including oil change (I use Mineral oil as this is supposed to go well with heavy engines like the one on Stoic) comes upto about 6k and a nominal service without oil change is about 2.5k. That's damn cheap for a vehicle this size. My bike service is usually about 1.5 or 2k.

Overall here is what I like about Stoic:

1. Butch looks of the car which gives a "STRONG and MEAN" presence on the road.
2. The meaty 3.0 D4D engine. Never felt the need for extra power at any point of time.
3. Fantastic ground clearance of 220 mm. Never scraped anything until now.
4. Great visibility when driving.
5. Toyota's service and reliability.

Some Issues:
1. Braking. Not very effective.
2. Hard Suspension setup.
3. Limited or no Lumbar support on front seats.
4. Lack of 6th gear is sorely missed.


Issues with no solutions until now:

I have the following 2 weird issues in Stoic which I have not seen in any other TFORTS.

1. There is a constant rattling in the dashboard - I think its behind the speedometer assembly where I keep hearing a minor rattling sound once I cross 80 kmph. Toyota SA's said they have reset my dashboard and done every check, but still this mystery sound haunts me. Any help here would be deeply appreciated.
2. Over rough patches of road, the headlight - the HID's keep shaking. Not too much, but it is very evident. I have seen another TFORT's lights during the night but it doesn't shake. I have tried replacing the D4S bulbs with new ones thinking the old ones may have worn out at the edges but hasn't helped one bit. Any thoughts?

So, to wrap it up these small 2 niggles I mentioned are minuscule when I compare the positives about Stoic. There is nothing called as a "Perfect Product" IMHO.
I also have a polo GT TSI which is about 3.5 years old and has done about 10k kms. I'll definitely do a writeup on the same as well. I will also keep sharing my experiences with fellow team-bhp'ians so that they can advise me on how to keep Stoic going strong!

Cheers!

[iTNerd]

Is it advisable to change the timing belt on a low mileage, 10 years old fortuner with only 54K kms on the odometer? In the manual, the recommended change for timing belt is at 1,50,000 kms. It does not mention any interval (in years) though!

I suppose for a 10 years old, irrespective of the mileage, the timing belt, being a rubberized part, would have worn or hardened. Any advise?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Is it advisable to change the timing belt on a low mileage, 10 years old fortuner with only 54K kms on the odometer?

I suppose for a 10 years old, irrespective of the mileage, the timing belt, being a rubberized part, would have worn or hardened. Any advise?

Timing belt usually will be based on a much more tougher material like kevlar along with rubber which is more resistant to wear and tear. Since the expenses of a broken timing belt is far higher than the expenses of replacing it, do consider replacing it. However, usually the belt does not crack and degrade as easily as a pure rubber belt.

[alfredenuemann]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Is it advisable to change the timing belt on a low mileage, 10 years old fortuner with only 54K kms on the odometer? In the manual, the recommended change for timing belt is at 1,50,000 kms. It does not mention any interval (in years) though!

I suppose for a 10 years old, irrespective of the mileage, the timing belt, being a rubberized part, would have worn or hardened. Any advise?

My fortuner is almost 11 years old and has done 1.45 L kms. The timing belt is original and unchanged. Unless the service advisors at Toyota ask you to change it, don’t do it. These things are built to last.

[gkveda]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Is it advisable to change the timing belt on a low mileage, 10 years old fortuner with only 54K kms on the odo?

If timing belt is broken or worn out, then the engine won't start normally. Also, there would be several noticeable issues while driving the car like tic tic sound from engine, oil leaks from engine, more exhaust smoke, etc

So, if you don't see such serious symptoms, timing belt can be assured to be working properly and replacement is not required.

[MuzzledMoose]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Is it advisable to change the timing belt on a low mileage, 10 years old fortuner with only 54K kms on the odometer? In the manual, the recommended change for timing belt is at 1,50,000 kms. It does not mention any interval (in years) though!

I suppose for a 10 years old, irrespective of the mileage, the timing belt, being a rubberized part, would have worn or hardened. Any advise?

Isn't the timing belt inside the engine and is a metal chain or is it outside a normal rubber belt?

[WhiteSierra]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Is it advisable to change the timing belt on a low mileage, 10 years old fortuner with only 54K kms on the odometer? In the manual, the recommended change for timing belt is at 1,50,000 kms. It does not mention any interval (in years) though!

I don't think you need to change belt at 54k kms, despite your vehicle is 10 year old, you can hear rough sound if your belt is worn out, it is also protected inside a plastic cover so I don't think it will wear out due to age. Anyway for your satisfaction, get it inspected by your Toyota A.S.S, when you change your v-belt / fan belt. They will remove the outer plastic cover and check the life of belt through the grooves (if worn out or not with presence or absence of cracks) without actually removing the belt or disturbing the original timing. Another important thing is, in older generation Innovas and Fortuners, there is an issue of valve cover gasket leakage and some oil deposits from the turbo return piple / turbo wastegate pipe. This also happens due to clogged / jammed EGR valve, the excess carbon soot will come out from these places. Keep those surfaces clean and make sure they don't seep inside the timing belt cover. Here are pictures of a 2008 model Innova (similar to mine) at a mechanic shop when I've given my car for repair.











If your Car's engine bay looks like this and if you have a doubt that the engine oil / soot entered the timing belt cover, better get it opened and get timing belt and kit changed along with cleaning of EGR valve and valve cover gasket changed.

Originally Posted by alfredenuemann

My fortuner is almost 11 years old and has done 1.45 L kms. The timing belt is original and unchanged. Unless the service advisors at Toyota ask you to change it, don’t do it. These things are built to last.


I suppose for a 10 years old, irrespective of the mileage, the timing belt, being a rubberized part, would have worn or hardened. Any advise?

You have to change it soon, after crossing 5000 kms, i.e., 1,50,000 kms. The timing belt should be changed at 150 k kms, the T-Belt light will switch on on the instrument cluster. Our Innova had timing belt change at 150 k kms and our Qualis had timing belt change at 150 k kms and 300 k kms, now it is at 423k kms I have to change it at 450 k kms.

[innerkarma]

Hi Everyone

I just thought I would put up some pictures of my "Beauty & The Beast" 2012 Fortuner which I have loved every step of the way. My car will be gone soon so I thought I would share some pictures before its gone

Some Pics of my 2012 Toyota Fortuner 5 inch suspension raise

Also picture of the winch in action helping a recovery truck do its work!

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by innerkarma

Some Pics of my 2012 Toyota Fortuner 5 inch suspension raise

I love your truck. Why are you letting this go? It looks so nice and am sure you must have spent a lot of efforts! 5 inch sounds large but doesn’t look out of the place.