GStewart

Purchased the car for 700. Fellow that sold it to me didn't seem to be very knowledgeable about vehicles and thought the engine was shot. Fired it up and I knew it wasnt the rotating assembly. I was told they had performed a tune up. Indeed new plugs ,and caps and rotors. On removing covers found that plug wires had frayed by rubbing on timing belt. Replaced these and ordered new ignition coils, due to the frayed wires damaging the old one. The car runs "better" with these replacements but still has a pinging sound in the right bank like timing might be off , I also noticed that the timing belt looks new, and I if I recall correctly from his ad someone changed this as well, which leads me to believe that timing could be off on this bank by a tooth. No pinging at idle, however when revving , pinging will initiate around 2000 rpm. I have swapped timing belts on the 3.0 V6 found in the tacoma pickups and this looks to be much the same setup as far as aligning all the marks. Another indicator that timing could be issue is the yellow paint pen marks on the block that are not where factory tick marks should be. Just trying to get some input on this matter. This is my first Lexus project, but not my first rodeo with engines. Also when initially troubleshooting the car, found that catalytic converters are just shells, so ruled out that possibility. Engine sounds solid otherwise.

1JZPWRD

iTrader: (59)

If the notches are off, I would assume the timing is off. I would tear everything down and double check everything that he says he has done or paid someone done. JMO. These V8's do have some pinging that people have posted. Some say its the shims under the cams. Some just choose to ignore it. I would just double check everything,e specially the timing marks on top and bottom. If it is off, it will ping. I know from experience. Here is a link for a great write up for the timing.. GL

Post back your findings...

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/engine/timingbelt.html

GStewart

Thanks for your response, 92 Lexus. Didn't notice you were from Bama til I was following up with some information....LOL....I am from North Alabama originally, but moved to CO 8 yrs ago. So, finally got around to popping stuff loose and taking a look. Noticed that when both cams line up with marks as well as rotors, crank is retarded by about 2 to 3 degrees. As redundant as it sounds, I set the crank at TDC, and of course looks like they might be a tooth off. Gonna take your advice and go back in and reset timing myself. Noticed when I was looking around, they weren't too thorough in putting it back together, as some mount for odd and end things were missing bolts, etc. Ideally, I am gonna have this hooker ready to make a run in late July to Bama to come home and see family and friends, we will see how that goes. I will post my progress on here as I go along.

GStewart

Thanks for the reply, even though you are helping an Auburn fan!

GStewart

Kind of been taking my time since this isnt a car I need right now. But here is the verdict. On my way in to reset timing, went to drain radiator...just a little coolant came out and jellied up due to stop leak...lol. this led me to believe they had overheated it. Pulled throttle body and found coolant line to water bridge at back of block open. They had blocked off the line at the back of the lower intake manifold and appears they attempted to do the same at the TB but it must have blown the bolt as they used a simple tensor clamp. this I believe dumped all coolant as they were driving and overheated the engine. I am going to get video of this before I pull it and post so all can hear for future reference. I will also post photos or video once I look inside to see what has happened. Meanwhile, i am going to order an engine I found online. 116,000 miles which matches my chassis..strangely, 205 psi on all 8..price is $475 ($300 for engine, 175 for shipping) Not bad at all. I will post my progress.