My questions is: is it really necessary to go to a dealer to do it, or can any smaller shops handle the job? The dealers usually charge more.
Is it necessary to go to the dealer to have timing belt and water pump changed?
Any qualified independent shop should be able to handle this job. Ask your friends for a recommendation of honest competent mechanics. Good luck.
Is it necessary to go to the dealer to have timing belt and water pump changed?
Any auto shop can handle that. That sort of thing is their bread and butter.
no you don't need too take it to a dealer any good machanic can do it
it not that hard of a job
i've even done it and i'm not a machanic
What or who told you your timing belt needs to replaced. Its a good thing to change it depending on the miles you've got. A certified mechanic would be good enough to replace these parts. Benefit from dealer would be it could be done faster and they would have the parts on hand. Bad thing about dealer is they're more expensive.
If you have a 3.4 Liter V6 engine, it's definitely an %26quot;interference%26quot; type engine that must have it's timing belt changed every 90,000 miles to prevent damage ($$$) to the engine if the belt breaks. The timing belt also drives the water pump, so the recommended service is to replace the belt, pump, idler and tensioner pulleys for a total dealer cost of about $850. You can compare that to a good independent shop in your neighborhood you find using the professional shop link below:
http://www.iatn.net/shopfinder/
http://www.gates.com/brochure.cfm?brochu鈥?/a>
Those are both pretty simple repairs. I change my own timing belts and water pumps. So I am sure any shop can handle them. Where I live, a mechanic has to be certified to charge someone to work on their car. A dealer mechanic certification is no different than any other mechanics certification.
a small time shop would probably be able to do it for you and alot cheaper too, unlesss you can do it yourself.
Ask around for a reputable place to take it to. There are many places that don't work on 4 Runners. You could also call around for quotes.
