paulv85

I own a 99 LS400 with 106,XXX miles. I have been struggling with oil leaks ever since i bought the car. I just recently brought it in my car to get the following items replaced:

Timing Belt
Idler #1
Idler #2
Tensioner
Cam Seals
Crank Seal
Water Pump (w/ water pump gasket and o-rings)
Thermostat (w/ gasket)
Drive belt
Camshaft timing tube assembly (green) part #1305050010B0
Camshaft timing tube assembly (red) part #1305050010B0

I purchased the Aisin TKT-001 timing belt kit (Timing Belt, water pump w/gaskets and o-rings, idler 1 and idler 2) from Amazon.com. The tensioner, cam seals, crank seal, thermostat w/gasket and drive belt were purchased from sewell lexus. Finally the camshaft tube assemblies were purchased from lexus parts of south atlanta (cheapest price).

I just picked my car up today and the owner asked me if the check engine light has ever came on since owning the car (purchased in January 2012). In 2012 I changed my driver side oil control valve due to the check engine light coming on and then in late 2013 I changed my passenger side oil control valve due to the check engine light coming on. Both of those fixes made the car run perfect and the check engine light go away. The owner of the shop I went to told me that two codes came upon starting the car after being put back together. Those codes were P1346 and P1351. The car does have a rough idle when at a stop and he was trying to explain to me that those valves/solenoids i changed were the problem. I just plugged ad OBDII scanner into my car and the only code that i could see was P0300 Radom Misfire Detected. My question is it really possible for those to go bad that quick? It didn't have a rough idle before I brought it in to get fixed.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

I doubt those oil controls valves went out even though anything is possible. The more likely scenario is that the shop jacked up the timing or god forbid he jacked up the VVT-I controllers when replacing the cam seals. I have all the same parts that you bought minus the tube assemblies ( what are those for by the way ) and I'm a lil concerned about changing those cam seals.

paulv85

The tube assemblies are the parts labeled 13050A. The seals were bad on both of them and were impossible to find so I had to buy the entire part.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

They have those cam seals at lexus of South Atlanta for $8.10 each. I literally placed my order for seals, valve cover gaskets and various other parts. I also got my TB kit from Amazon. Anyway first thing to check is the timing.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

sounds like shop screwed up the wiring to the vvti solenoids, didn't assemble the gears properly, or (less likely as it's more likely to have caused major damage) mis-timed the motor.

Frankly, you took them the car with the lights off, they return you the car in the same condition unless they're for completely unrelated issues. (ie- brake wear warning lights popped on, etc.)

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

Take it back and demand in a nice way that they fix it. Misfires are directly related to the work they did on the car. Also the code P1346 relates to a VVT issue and the P1351 seems like a coil issue. Couple that with the random misfire and I believe your timing is off. Check out this thread, it's for an RX but same concept.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...and-p1351.html

paulv85

Thanks for the responses and information. I am dropping my car back off at that place tomorrow to be fixed.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

No problem I hope it works out and let us know either way.

paulv85

So I was at the shop where my car is at last friday and the mechanic had the driver side housing that holds the vvt solenoid out and inside at the bottom was hard and gunked oil. I was contacted this morning and was told "We will need to remove clean and install caps we also need to clean the oil passages what you saw was just a small amount of gunk back up. At least 3 hours per side is necessary, along with engine cleaner and a oil change (the whole job calls for 9 hours, I know you are having issues and want to help you out) Let me know when you get a chance." They want $650 to do this! I do not know what to do right now. The car ran fine before I brought it in. No performance issues, no engine codes, no nothing! They take apart the car and put it back together and BOOM engine codes and "blocked oil passages". Could the work that was performed on the car have caused this? I am not just going to lay down and pay more for this "clean" than I did for the whole timing belt/water pump and front engine seals job. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

I would say "get a good lawyer"

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

Where is this shop located???? I would not just pay for another job when they possibly screwed up the first one. If they took apart those 5 bolts that are marked DO NOT REMOVE and did not put it back together precisely the way it came apart then this could be causing all your problems. Like billy said I would be ready to take legal action. What caps are they saying need to be cleaned and re-installed? It sounds like THEY screwed something up!!!

paulv85

The shop is located in Buffalo, NY. The name of it is IN Collision & Auto Repair. This was the response I got when I asked what "caps" he was talking about:

"When I say "caps" (Referred to as bearing caps) not only do I want to take those off and clean them, I want to clean the passages all the way to the oil pump to ensure there is no sludge in the system. Judging on what was in the left cap the Tech had on my table, there is much more to be found."

SynicalVip

iTrader: (2)

Hmm I believe I have gone through similar issues of what your stating. I did have both code p1346 and p0300 on my 98 LS400 awhile back. What I did was change the camshaft sensor and the ocv on the driver side. But didn't solve the issue, so I dig deeper and started redoing the whole timing belt service over again and I found that the woodruff key and the gear for the timing belt was worn below are pics of the two thing. That causes the timing to be off and that never came into mind at the time and wanted to replace the easy things first which was the ocv and camshaft sensor. Below are pics of the gear and the key which are worn and not suppose to be like that.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

So basically he wants to flush the engine because he THINKS that the passage ways are clogged up with sludge. I've never heard of sludge in an LS but you never know. If it was me I would run some seafoam in the oil and the drain the oil and change the filter to see if that clears up the problem. Poor man's engine flush. That's basically what they are saying they will do. I don't get why they didn't clean under the beating caps in the first place since they had to take them off to change the cam seals.