i have 96,000 miles on my 2007 highlander hybrid and i dropped it off at the dealer for the ipm recall they said my timing belt and water pump needs replacement its not broken just maintenance . however they quoted me over $1000 to do it ! sounds pricey can a regular mechanic do the job ? or does it have to done by a dealer ?

Thanks

 

A regular mechanic that is comfortable with doing any timing belt should be able to do it just fine. The process does not interfere with the hybrid system at all. in fact it should be easier than the regular gas hybrids because there are no drive belt components to remove other than the harmonic balancer. On my software here at work it says it will take 2.2 hours for the 06-07 hybrid (labor rate), and 2.9 hours for the regular gas 06-07 highlander. In my opinion $1000 is WAYYYYY!!! over priced! I cant believe they would charge you that much. I would ask them to print out the estimate to show you the costs.

 

X2

Couldn't agree more, $1000 is outrageous for that work even with a new water pump.
Get the parts from the dealer (belt and WP) and bring it to your trusted local garage to do the work.

 

If you do decide to bring your own water pump and timing belt to an independent shop. In most cases they will not warranty parts/labor. I know that Gates makes a kit for this vehicle, which is a very reputable brand. If you really want to use Toyota parts, the shop should have no problem ordering them for you, but you will be paying the mark-up price for warranty. The mark-up goes for any part you pay for through the shop to do the work.

 

+1 on this. Either do the work yourself or pay the markup on the parts and have an independent do the work. I know that every shop around here will not warranty a repair with faulty parts. You will pay them again to replace any bad parts but they will be cheaper than the dealer on the initial repair.

 

I guess it's a bit different up this way, garages are a bit more accommodating since they are small communities and screwing people doesn't win over customers long-term. That being said if you have a decent independent garage willing to order parts from Toyota (even at list price) and install/warranty them for you, then I'd certainly feel comfortable going that route. As a former professional mechanic myself I've seen some pretty bad aftermarket stuff so I definitely prefer paying a bit more for the OEM parts because at least you know it will perform similar to what it came with originally (I'm especially referring to the water pump in this case, belts aren't that big of a deal either way.......bad accessory belt won't kill the motor but a bad water pump sure can).

 

OEM parts in this particular case (water pump, timing belt) are good. seeing that they are not common to fail on this vehicle. I have also worked in a GM dealership for some time, i cant tell you how many front hub bearings i have done on their passenger cars. I am not biased to using only OEM parts because here is how i see it. If the hub bearing i just replaced failed at 30k miles. Why am i replacing it with the exact same part? make sense? As far as what MTL_HIHY has said about the accessory belt doesn't apply obviously to this situation because your water pump is driven by the timing belt, and there is NO drive belt or drive belt components on this vehicle other than the harmonic balancer. So, the belt (timing belt) in this case can kill the motor if it fails since it is an interference timed motor. Belt breaks...pistons smash valves.

 

Having been both a Toyota and Honda mechanic and wrenched on many a GM car too, I can say without a doubt the difference between Toyota OEM parts and most of GM's stuff (there are exceptions) is night and day. In many cases on a GM car you are likely improving the vehicle with aftermarket parts (so I understand why you have that particular viewpoint) whereas oftentimes the price point on the aftermarket stuff for the Asian cars causes it to be inferior to the OEM parts (again not always, but you'd need to be really careful about what your buying and who manufactured it). The quality of the OEM parts on these vehicles is evidenced by why the Toyota and Honda vehicles hold their value so well.

Hopefully it was also understood I was using an accessory belt as an example for critical vs non-critical parts, not necessarily because they are used on this particular hybrid.

 

Yea, definitely dude, I am by no means a GM guy. I was there for a while for a job. I believe highly in Toyota and almost all their parts. Thats why I love my 2006 highlander hybrid. To me ACDelco is pretty much trash. GM really needs to rethink their product line.

Sorry about the belt thing. I just dont how knowledgeable this guy is about his highlander hybrid. I didnt want him being confused on the components his vehicle may or may not have.

 

GM isn't all bad, but I agree they need quite a bit of help to compete with other auto makers nowadays. I've got a Duramax which I love (blows the doors off a Tundra for pulling and the transmission is a tank), but ironically the engine is designed by Isuzu (which is Japanese) and a fuel system by Bosch (German). GM's attempt at hybrids has been very lack luster, but Toyota has been a leader in that area IMHO so it's like comparing apples and oranges really. The Highlander Hybrid is a heck of a vehicle (7 person seating and amazing fuel economy) so I totally know what you mean.

No worries on the accessory belt, better to have the right info out there so no one gets confused later.