BDSL

I will have to replace the timing belt and water pump in a few thousand miles. I am thinking of doing it myself. Is tilting the engine required to get to the timing belt and water pump? When I said "tilting", I mean removing 1 or 2 motor mounts and lower one side of the engine to access the crank pulley etc.

Thats how I did it in my MR2 but I am not sure about Lexus. I searched but no luck.

Thanks.

19psi

the only mount you have to remove is the one on the belt side. once that's out of hte way you'll have all the room you need. well, just watch out for the wiring harness on teh rear valve cover. it gets tight.

llcoolpass

gets tight --> causes pain and suffering!

the dog bone comes out, that's all, like he said. you should support engine with jack+woodblock

do the timing belt job carefully or it will take longer. a lot of people dont pay attn to the directions. this is the V6 not the I4 you're coming from.

BDSL

Thanks.
Its a V6.

p_action

Agreed. Take your time and you will be successful. Timing belts on transversely mounted motors are always challenging! But once you get the hang of working with 4in or less of space its cake!

llcoolpass

no the space there isn't the problem, its the harness when doing a rear vcg -or equivalent job- and the installation of the timing belt that is challenging. but even that is easy breezy on this car if you follow instructions [or understand the concept they're triygn to achieve]

funny, the 4.4 v-8 lexus engine is suppsoed to be hard to the timing belt job on. it's really not that much harder than this engine. but the opinion of one person is not always the same for another.

p_action, did you do the water pump as well, because that and the thermostat are good to do at the same time?

p_action

every time I have done a timing belt on transversely mounted engine i basically replace everything that I can get my hands on in there. Water pump is usually one of them.

This is coming from doing this on 3 different 4cyl / V6 Toyota engines

p_action

can't forget the front main seal if you have the crank pulley off too.

BDSL

Thanks guys. I have no problem working with tight areas. I have a MR2 and am used to working with extremely tight areas.

llcoolpass

front seal... yeah.... i suppose... i usually dont if not leaking .... but you're right

BDSL

Just did it last weekend. Toyota quoted 15 hours and I did it in 28 hours with just hand tools...and I applied anti-seize or loctite on all the fasteners.

I replaced:
Timing belt and all other belts
Cam seals
Crankshaft front oil seal
Water pump
Thermostat
Valve cover gaskets
Spark plugs
Tensioner and idlers

Thanks for all your input.

fju2112

i'm getting this done on my 2000 in the next month or so. thanks for the input bdsl. did you have to replace all that stuff, is any of what you list in the above post accessible without digging into the engine like during a timing belt change? also where did you buy the parts? i'm having a mechanic do it and i trust him, but i want to make sure i don't have to do any more open engine work if i can avoid it.

BDSL

I got my parts from Lexus/Toyota.

fju2112

any particular online dealer that has parts for cheaper (like Carson or Sewell) that you recommend?

BDSL

I got mine from local dealership. I am in Canada. Shipping would cost me a fortune.