ToyoTechs, Specializing in Toyota and Lexus Service

View the Dealer stock vehicle inspection guide to help you determine the status of the vehicles in dealer stock.

This informative piece of literature contains all kinds of good information on how to operate the gadgets, change tires and maintenance schedules for your car. If you haven’t looked at this book lately, you should soon. If you don’t have one, they are available from the manufacturer. It is a good idea for you to review the maintenance schedule for your car every six months. Timing belts are often listed under “drive belts” which are normally replaced every 60,000 miles. Timing belts should not be overlooked because without one, your car will cease to operate! (see “Time” for a Change?)

Remember, when the maintenance schedule suggests it is time to replace worn drive belts, make sure the timing belt is included.

Owner’s manuals also often contain post cards in the back to mail to the manufacturer if you purchase the car used, so they can notify you of recalls that will apply to your car.

Timing belts, also known as camshaft belts, are located right on the front of the engine behind all the other drive belts. It is normally hidden behind a black plastic cover. The timing belt goes around the camshaft on the top and crankshaft on the bottom – keeping the valves and the pistons operating in the proper sequence. If this belt should break your car will not restart. If the belts grow old and stretches out, it can skip over a few teeth, which makes your engine run very poorly. These belts should be replaced every 60,000 miles. Timing belts are not singled out for replacement in your Owner’s Manual but listed in with the drive belts.

Now, we have seen people get 80,000 miles out of a belt, but consider this: you can have a belt replaced easily at the time of your choosing for around $155.00 to $235.00, or run the risk of throwing that belt at just the time and R.P.M.’s to send the valves crashing into the pistons out there on the road somewhere on any given day.  As you can well imagine this is much more costly to repair. Instead of just replacing the timing belt and some seals, the technician has to remove the engine head and check all the valves. This costs between $400.00 & $800.00, depending on the type of engine and amount of damage. Most engines do not hit valves when the timing belts go. The most prone to such damage are the overhead cam engines but we have seen valves bent on the least-likely engines because of the broken timing belt.

So, note your mileage. If you are over 60,000 mile intervals or have low mileage but lots of years, consider replacing your timing belt during your next preventative maintenance service visit.

We install bolt-on mufflers and exhaust pipes, just like what originally comes on your car.

When the time comes that your car begins to make obnoxious noises or fails the emissions test due to a leaky exhaust system, bring it on in to us. We want you to know we do these types of repairs and we are very competitive on our price. Our difference over the 10,000 muffler shops in Atlanta is we don’t have pipe-bending equipment or arc-welders. We do no carry an assortment of mufflers that will fit a given number of vehicles. Often we must deal with the mess created by shops that cut off original exhausts and bend to match the best they can the original shape, then weld it into place. There are two problems with this:

1. When the technician is working under your car, there are times the exhaust system is just in the way. Normally they would unbolt it and move it off the car, but if it is welded on they work around it or take it off at the exhaust manifold. In car repair, the longer it takes or more trouble it is, the more money it costs you. So when it is time for a new muffler, give us a call. We very well may beat the neighborhood muffler shop on price and in quality.
2. Quite often the fit is not exactly right and your “muffling” system vibrates and knocks on the underbody of the car, while idling, decelerating, or pretty much all the time. When this happened to me years ago, I went back twice! They took long pry-bars and tried to bend the mounts away from the vibration source. It did get better but still vibrated at various times.

We use Ansa or original manufacturer equipment for your quality repair.

Overheating, even of a slight nature, is a problem that needs to be taken care of right away. Thermostats, worn “old” hoses and water pumps are a lot easier and cheaper to fix than head gaskets.

Head gaskets separate the block and the head of the engine. Pre-1980, heads and blocks were made of the same metals. Now they are lighter metals and very different. They expand and contract at different rates. The head is the one that normally warps from getting too hot – this is what causes a “blown head gasket”. The head gasket keeps the water jackets separated from the combustion chambers. When this separation breaks down, the water goes through the combustion chamber or oil and gas get forced into the cooling system, depending on physics. So a few bucks now, when an overheating problem is first detected, saves Large Dollars later.