Hello guys!. I just found this forum. Great to see fellow montero owners.


I just bought a 95 montero sr 3.5 186k miles.
no history on timing belt or spark plug change.
no knocking sounds from engine, goes pretty fast on freeway lots of power and zip.

Some issues im concerned about;

the engine bay area has screeching sound coming out whenever i start it and try to turn the wheels or go reverse. it goes away after its been driving for few minutes.

exhaust smells bad, like rotten or garbage.
Got all the fluids done. i just don't know if i should get the timing belt replaced asap and also the spark plugs since its a big job, they have to remove the air intake plenum etc. hoping to save some $.
should i be worried about the timing belt or leave it for a month??

thank you for your help.

 

at that age with unknown history i'd take the belt as a given.
may aswell do plugs and HTs too.
the noise you're hearing is likely the power steering drive belt, TBH, since it's unknown history, i'd go ahead and replace all the belts too, if you have a mechanic you trust, you could get away with re-tensioning the existing belts.

 

Thanks!!