jbtvt

Hey all, I picked up a '99 LS with the VVTi end of last year and am starting to put some miles on it. It had a slowly leaking spark plug tube gasket which would drip on the manifold, and as I've already had this lead to a fire on another vehicle I wanted to fix it. Changed all 4 plug gaskets and the valve cover gasket to be safe, only on the driver's side so far.

While I was in there I checked valve clearances as well (all good at 160k, most excellent!) which of course necessitated rotating the cams, which I did by a ratchet on the crank pulley bolt, rotated clockwise. Reassembled everything, fired it up and got an instant MIL, pulled a code P1345. VVTi cam timing out of sync with reading from other sensors is what I gather, but it still runs. Cleared it and it comes right back. I drove around the block and didn't notice any ill effects, but makes me nervous on road trips to have the light on.

Did I do something wrong by cranking on the harmonic balancer bolt to rotate the cams - is there a special procedure for VVTi engines? This is my first. More importantly, does anyone have recommendations on a fix?

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

remove the oil control valve and clean it and the chamber and you should be fine..

see this https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ode-p1349.html

jbtvt

Thanks, but I did that several months ago when I had a P1349, top and bottom of the assembly. That code actually turned out to be because I was using a Wix filter - read about somebody else having the same problem and swapped mine out for OEM and it disappeared. The OCV is spotless in any case...

So it shouldn't have caused any issues turning the crank pulley?

Yamae

Turning the crank pulley does not affect the VVT timing as long as the timing belt is properly set and working.
P1345 is usually not related to the shifted timing. It is the result of the resistor measurement by the ECU. When the resistance of the cam timing sensor is abnormal, the code P1345 is set. Most of the case, it s caused by the open or the shorted circuit/harness.

Check connectors to sensors. Also check the resistance of sensors.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

Check your oil level to see if it is low.

jbtvt

Oil level was good, but an update nonetheless - I was halfway into a 3 hour drive this AM and made my second stop to evacuate the coffee from the first stop. Popped the hood to enjoy the new lack of smoke that usually occurred at this point of the commute prior to fixing the plug tube gasket, and also fiddled with the passenger side OCV connector yet again. When I came back out and turned it over the MIL was gone! Probably just a bad connection - thank you Yamae for pointing out the resustance issues.

Billy, I think I may have been mistaken about the bank numbering. I swear I was reading a thread before that said bank 1 was driver's side. Recent threads suggest otherwise, which makes more sense since it corresponds to cylinder 1, 2 etc. I only cleaned the DS OCV before, which may not have even been the one affected by p1349 - good thing that was only a filter issue before. Problem solved in any case, and I'm off to my hotel bed. If only the 1990 4Rummer could be this easy to fix...

BTW, the 3vze I was working on last had 7/12 valves out of spec at 125 k miles. The 1uz with 0/12 at 160k and double the power with only 33% more displacement really is an impressive engine, even if the hydraulic VVTi is a bit finnicky. It's growing on me.