I recently acquired a 2002 ES300. It appears to be missing an engine bolt facing the radiator and next to the a/c compressor. Can anyone confirm my suspicion? Is it a critical bolt? If so what size do I need to replace it?

Many thanks once again...

 

Hello,

It's very hard to work out the location of the missing bolt from the picture you attached, a picture from farther back, showing at least some landmarks would be needed. Either way, seeing the general lack of .. whatever it is that bolt is supposed to hold, or of any markings that this .. something would've left, it could also be that this thread was never used in your car, being intended for a different Model, like RX, or for Future Expansions, again, to know for sure, a picture that shows the location of a missing bolt is needed.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

 

Thanks for the response. I attached a couple of wider angle shots from above and below. I don't see any fluid seeping from the hole or surrounding area so probably not an immediate concern. However, the surface of the bolt hole looks cleaner than I would expect from a 23-yr old car if it came from the factory without a bolt inserted. So I have convinced myself that something was there in the not too distant past. But I am not a mechanic or expert.

 

Looking through a bunch of pictures and videos of those cars, none of them have anything bolted to that thread as far as I can tell, not even in the 3MZ engine, the continuation of the 1MZ, below is a video of the 3MZ Engine with that thread empty as well. As mentioned earlier, it appears that it was designated for a different style Mount or something completely different that was never implemented, either way, it seems like you should be good.


Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

That isn't a missing engine bolt, it's just a bolt tread for different application just like the two with red arrows.

 

This is correct. My '02 looks that same