Meghanw1

Please take a moment to listen to the popping/ clicking sound made by my 92 sc300 2jzge in this video. It has 194,000 miles on it and is driving me crazy!
The problem started when I was trying to pass smog. Changed ignition wires, distributor cap, rotor, EGR vacuum solenoid, front O2 sensors and on the fourth try barely passed smog. But at some point during the repair process my car started making this popping/clicking/snapping sound and I can't figure out what the heck it is.
It started making the noise a couple days after a compression check was done by a friend of mine. That's when I purchased the distributor cap and rotor from Lexus. That seemed to have fixed the problem. Failed smog. Ordered and change ignition wires and o2 sensors. Passed smog.
But the next morning the sound was back.
I disconnected the battery, checked all the ignition wires and noticed that some of the boots had come loose. Pushed them back into place and made sure I heard the click. Reconnected the battery and everything seemed fine. Made a couple stops then drove about 30 minutes on the freeway where the car sat for about nine hours. Then when I went to leave last night the popping/clicking sound was back. But this time disconnecting the battery and reseating the boots and wired etc didn't help.

Your thoughts and recommendations are greatly appreciated!! Special thanks to Kahn & Ali!!

Meghanw1

82 views but no thoughts, huh?! Well, at least I wasn't the only one baffled buy this sound.
I just heard back from my mechanic. And the consensus is serpentine belt tensioner was causing the noise. Does that make sense?

in any event, he also recommends the following

Oil pump O rings - Ive had a serious oil leak ever since they did the head gasket
front timing belt - which was replaced 15k miles ago when the HG was done
front crank seal & cam seal
hose to the intake manifold- leaking coolasnt
serpentine belt tensoiner- which is apparently making the noise
set of valve cover gaskets
coolant & oil O rings

I was quoted $1081. $444 for labor and $543 for parts

Any insight, recommendations, or thoughts?

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Meghan,

I am still stumped honestly. I've never heard that noise. However that just means I've never encountered it before.

Serpentine belt tensioners can go eventually. I'm not sure what prompted your mechanic to make that determination but that does not necessarily mean he's wrong about it. Go ahead and replace that if they really think that is what is making the clicking noise.

Oh man. Oil pump O-rings? That does add some labor to the job. If they have to remove the oil pump to do this it probably wouldn't hurt to buy a new oil pump, though the pumps last a very, very long time.

15100-46042 2JZ-GE OBD-I oil pump for pre-1996 cars.

There is another near identical pump for the GE engine that has a crank sensor provision. The early cars don't need this. No reason to buy that one unless you ever planned to modify the engine with a turbo. Anyway, the part number above is the correct one for your car in stock form.

Timing belt has has to be redone if the oil pump comes out. The oil pump is just about the most embedded part on the engine. Even the oil pan needs to be moved off slightly or removed to get to it.

If removing the oil pump then it's a no-brainer to do the front crank seal and the oil pump seals. Cam seals should always be done when doing the timing belt.

Hose to the intake manifold... do you mean the little cross-over coolant hose that is connected to the throttle body? Yeah, probably not a bad idea to replace that and the OEM clamp that goes onto it. I'd get the OEM hose if you can. If that is leaking coolant into the spark plug galley then that is not good. But... it is an easy thing to fix if the engine is cold.

Valve cover gaskets. Are they leaking? They tend to around 200K miles or so. The shop didn't put new gaskets on or do them right when they did your cylinder head? They should have. You said it wasn't that long ago that you had your head gasket repaired.

New coolant isn't a bad thing to do if it's a couple of years old or if you've been losing coolant with the leaks.

All in all though... $1,081 might be an ok price. General Alldata estimate to do an oil pump jump is about 11 hours labor. Your timing belt is included in that since you need to remove all that to get to it.

Also Meghan... if you're going to all that trouble you may want to consider replacing the OEM harmonic balancer since that does come off when you get to the oil pump and is right there to service if you are ever doing a timing belt.

13407-46020 — 2JZ Crank pulley (harmonic balancer). Cheapest price I've found it for is $327. Maybe there is a better price somewhere.

Bottom line... your serpentine belt tensioner and the leaking coolant crossover hose to the throttle body seem to be the most pressing issues. After that, yes, fixing leaky valve cover gaskets is something that should be taken care of but you can live with them so long as you monitor you oil loss frequently between changes-- best to get them done though. After that I think it depends on how badly your oil pump o-rings are leaking. If they are indeed bad or might threaten the life of the pump then... probably not a bad idea to do that. Replacing the pump at the same time is up to you. They do last a long time but you're right there as long as you're going to do ALL the seals for it.

Seems like this would be more expensive to me but it's not a horrible quote for all of those things to be done at the same time.

gerrb

iTrader: (34)

Verify well where the leak is. I really doubt there will be leaks on that oil pump through its oil rings. That oil pump is also fastened by a good number of bolts aside from the fact that it has oil pump gaskets or FIPG sealant all around it . It will be more likely that the leak will be coming from above the oil pump which is the cam seals which are known to leak eventually after a while. That will save a lot of labor and costs .

With regards the noise, tough to tell on a video with so many moving parts on that engine.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

I was on vacation, first thing I thought of is the tensioner when I heard it cause it doesn't go with rpm's and is random, had a couple go before so I am familiar with the noise (If only you posted the video a few weeks back). there is a spring inside them and yours is too weak so it makes that noise occasionally. it will get worse but its not an emergency, more annoying than anything. They can also fail in the bearing but that is more of a "whirring" sound. If you look on the side of the tensioner there are 2 marks and an arrow on the other part of the tensioner. if the arrow is outside the marks that means the spring in the tensioner is too worn (or the belt is too worn) and needs to be replaced, but no one ever looks at it till it starts making noise. If the belt is new then its likely the tensioner, but sometimes throwing a new belt on can get you by for a while.

I think you need a new place to take your car, what I don't get is how do they not do the cam and crank seals and mess up the seal against the oil pump ... when doing a headgasket job (there is no reason the oil pump itself would leak or to remove it, its either on the edge with the oil pan that would only happen if you pulled the pan or oil pump, or from above from the cam seals like gerrb said), its practically mandatory to do those things along with the valvecover gaskets cause well you are removing all of that stuff anyways.
also its pretty easy not to mess those things up, I got it right on the first time I ever tried it. basically its like saying we did a really ****ty job of fixing your car last time, so let us take another whack at it (sorry I am an honestly blunt person).
the belt tensioner is like 3 bolts, if they had done their job right, you would only be looking at a $200 bill. I would bring it up so they don't take you for a ride again at the very least.

these are the only things on your list that make sense doing, and your oil leak is either from the cam or crank seal, or valve cover gasket leaking down the side 90%
I just can't believe they werent done with the headgasket swap. if the timing belt isn't covered in oil reuse it, if it is then change it out also.

front crank seal & cam seal
hose to the intake manifold- leaking coolasnt
serpentine belt tensoiner- which is apparently making the noise
set of valve cover gaskets
coolant

Meghanw1

My mechanic sent me some pictures. He said, " See what a mess!"
I'm assuming he means all the leaked oil and coolant. He also said, "should be added labor, 5 hours."
We will see once the car is ready. I expected him to call last night but he hasn't called yet. So . . . . <br > <br > <br > <br > <br > <br > <br > <br >

Meghanw1

Despite all the maintenance issues and smog bs, I really do LOVE my car!!! Just got it back from the mechanic. So much better!! It just wants to go go go!! Super responsive and peppy. I just need to adjust the idle a little because it wanted to die at the stoplight on the freeway exit. But other than that everything seems good now.
It's no surprise that after driving the Ford F-150 4x4 for the past week how luxurious and sporty my Lexus feels.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Meghan, we talked briefly on PM a couple of days ago but I am glad to read this! I think going about installing the spark plugs I recommended will help. That and readjusting the idle, perhaps.

It sounds like you're almost there! I am so glad to hear you've got your SC back after all the trouble you've been through!