Advice Needed: 2001 ES300 new Motor or Fix
05-29-12, 06:45 PM
#31
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I pulled a cam gear off at the JY for practice. All I can say is wow. It must be 23mm to hold the cam. I was using a 24mm and ended up rounding off the cam forged shapped nut. I ended up wedging a screwdriver in the cam gear to get it free. I'm gonna have use an impact wrench I guess or maybe see if there is a dealer specific tool as I can't do that on mine.
I got one more "honey do" before I can start playing. So nice to have my garage !
I got one more "honey do" before I can start playing. So nice to have my garage !
Last edited by JSM; 09-05-12 at 01:17 PM. Reason: Removed useless pics slowing my iPad down!
06-06-12, 08:43 PM
#32
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Well I got some time tonight to get started. Got the car on stands and started taking things off to get my compression test done. The Bank 1 (1,3,5) coil packs towards the firewall came off easier then I expected.
I did find some pooling oil on top of the transmission. It's definitely motor oil and not transmission oil. It almost looks like it is coming from the starter, but even if it were the rear main seal the oil should come out the bottom. Any thoughts what on that side would be leaking? I was thinking Valve cover gaskets but the oil doesn't look like it is running down the sides of the motor.
Check out the pic of the throttle body. It is major caked with old oil and carbon. At first it is hard to belive the butterfly is open! I checked my JY motor and clean as can be.
When I pulled the PCV it looked like it would be clogged as it was so caked but it was good.
I'm so looking forward to pulling the plugs and doing a compression check!
I did find some pooling oil on top of the transmission. It's definitely motor oil and not transmission oil. It almost looks like it is coming from the starter, but even if it were the rear main seal the oil should come out the bottom. Any thoughts what on that side would be leaking? I was thinking Valve cover gaskets but the oil doesn't look like it is running down the sides of the motor.
Check out the pic of the throttle body. It is major caked with old oil and carbon. At first it is hard to belive the butterfly is open! I checked my JY motor and clean as can be.
When I pulled the PCV it looked like it would be clogged as it was so caked but it was good.
I'm so looking forward to pulling the plugs and doing a compression check!
Last edited by JSM; 06-06-12 at 08:56 PM.
09-01-12, 10:41 AM
#33
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Well my goal of getting her to run has come and gone. I did figure out that Cyl 1 had zero compression.
Then I got side tracked with this:
Which then ment I had to update it with an LS1 so I got this:
Now my daughter is 15 and wanting her car. I took yesterday off and pressure washed her new motor. I was not going to change the timing belt until I knew the motor was good but seeing it out and looking at the other motor where it's at I figured why not.
I was covered with grease from head to toe what a mess!
Before and after pics of the wash:
Then I got side tracked with this:
Which then ment I had to update it with an LS1 so I got this:
Now my daughter is 15 and wanting her car. I took yesterday off and pressure washed her new motor. I was not going to change the timing belt until I knew the motor was good but seeing it out and looking at the other motor where it's at I figured why not.
I was covered with grease from head to toe what a mess!
Before and after pics of the wash:
Last edited by JSM; 09-01-12 at 10:44 AM.
09-02-12, 09:41 AM
#36
Lexus Test Driver
Damn you straight stole that car! Talk about a great find!
And it was damn lucky to find a clean VVTi 1mz in a junkyard....this looks like its starting to shape up well for you!
Your Z cars are quite awesome as well. I'm a huge fan of vintage Japanese cars.
And it was damn lucky to find a clean VVTi 1mz in a junkyard....this looks like its starting to shape up well for you!
Your Z cars are quite awesome as well. I'm a huge fan of vintage Japanese cars.
09-02-12, 07:37 PM
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Man I was searching and searching for a motor. The second a 2000 and up 300 came up in the JY I was there!
This is such a project is all I can say. So many connectors. I've got almost all the engine harness off now. It's much more time consuming then when I was at the JY. I have to label everything and check it to make sure I remember where everything goes. Not hard just time consuming.
The Red car is a 73 240z with a Velo Rossa Roadster body kit on it. You can find all the info on it here:
http://www.reactionresearch.com/vr.html
I had to buy it. I paid $3600 for the car! Now that is stealing! There is over 20K in it. So glad its not mine! He was asking 6K. It really needs to be repainted. The picture does it more justice. The guy that built it got divorced over it supposedly. I've always loved the lines of the Ferrari 250 GTO which this is styled (stolen) from. I almost bought one a few years ago that was only partially complete. This one I jump in and go!
This is such a project is all I can say. So many connectors. I've got almost all the engine harness off now. It's much more time consuming then when I was at the JY. I have to label everything and check it to make sure I remember where everything goes. Not hard just time consuming.
The Red car is a 73 240z with a Velo Rossa Roadster body kit on it. You can find all the info on it here:
http://www.reactionresearch.com/vr.html
I had to buy it. I paid $3600 for the car! Now that is stealing! There is over 20K in it. So glad its not mine! He was asking 6K. It really needs to be repainted. The picture does it more justice. The guy that built it got divorced over it supposedly. I've always loved the lines of the Ferrari 250 GTO which this is styled (stolen) from. I almost bought one a few years ago that was only partially complete. This one I jump in and go!
09-03-12, 06:04 PM
#38
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Well my weekend is over. I had hoped to have it out. I kind of slacked some too!
Anyway, the hardest part so far has been the stuck right side axle. I've pulled so hard i seperated the axle from the tulip (and yes I removed the retainer clip). At the JY I pulled a couple of times and she slide right out.
The other part was the stupid nuts holding power steering lines to the back of the motor. Those were a pain to get off also.
I wasn't going to pull the tranny but I'm going to have to now. Oh well there is next weekend!
Anyway, the hardest part so far has been the stuck right side axle. I've pulled so hard i seperated the axle from the tulip (and yes I removed the retainer clip). At the JY I pulled a couple of times and she slide right out.
The other part was the stupid nuts holding power steering lines to the back of the motor. Those were a pain to get off also.
I wasn't going to pull the tranny but I'm going to have to now. Oh well there is next weekend!
09-03-12, 11:37 PM
#39
Well my weekend is over. I had hoped to have it out. I kind of slacked some too!
Anyway, the hardest part so far has been the stuck right side axle. I've pulled so hard i seperated the axle from the tulip (and yes I removed the retainer clip). At the JY I pulled a couple of times and she slide right out.
The other part was the stupid nuts holding power steering lines to the back of the motor. Those were a pain to get off also.
I wasn't going to pull the tranny but I'm going to have to now. Oh well there is next weekend!
Anyway, the hardest part so far has been the stuck right side axle. I've pulled so hard i seperated the axle from the tulip (and yes I removed the retainer clip). At the JY I pulled a couple of times and she slide right out.
The other part was the stupid nuts holding power steering lines to the back of the motor. Those were a pain to get off also.
I wasn't going to pull the tranny but I'm going to have to now. Oh well there is next weekend!
09-04-12, 06:56 PM
#40
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Another Doh! moment tonight. Actually two.
First there must be an electronic lock preventing the shfiter handle to move into nuetral. I had to re-install the battery turn the key and then shift into neutral. I latter realized all I had to do was move the lever on the transmission into neutral once I removed the shifter cable! I thought for sure with just the key in and turned on, I could shift into neutral, no go. Needed to do this in order to spin the motor and remove the bolts holding the flex plate to the torque converter.
Second, wow, actually there was 3 tonight, be sure to drain the transmission fluid before removing the axle. It was like a waterfall of ATF onto the floor. Additionally, use a big deap funel as the fluid from the drain comes out very quickly and made it's own waterfall bouncing of the drain pan onto the floor.
Otherwise it all went well. I have one bolt holding the motor mount on and everything else is off except the harness being disconnected from under the dash. That is tomorrow night.
For simplicity if you take a large breaker bar and insert into the suspension you can easily and safely move the suspension out of the way so you can remove the axle. It's hard to see the breaker bar but its on the far right:
First there must be an electronic lock preventing the shfiter handle to move into nuetral. I had to re-install the battery turn the key and then shift into neutral. I latter realized all I had to do was move the lever on the transmission into neutral once I removed the shifter cable! I thought for sure with just the key in and turned on, I could shift into neutral, no go. Needed to do this in order to spin the motor and remove the bolts holding the flex plate to the torque converter.
Second, wow, actually there was 3 tonight, be sure to drain the transmission fluid before removing the axle. It was like a waterfall of ATF onto the floor. Additionally, use a big deap funel as the fluid from the drain comes out very quickly and made it's own waterfall bouncing of the drain pan onto the floor.
Otherwise it all went well. I have one bolt holding the motor mount on and everything else is off except the harness being disconnected from under the dash. That is tomorrow night.
For simplicity if you take a large breaker bar and insert into the suspension you can easily and safely move the suspension out of the way so you can remove the axle. It's hard to see the breaker bar but its on the far right:
Last edited by JSM; 09-04-12 at 06:59 PM.
09-04-12, 10:16 PM
#41
That's odd that you had such a large leak when you removed the CV Axle. Was it on the right side of the car? I had to replace my driver(left) side CV Axle recently and it only leaked a little bit. In fact it was so little that I didn't need to top it off. The car was only lifted from the front, so maybe that's it.
As for the drain bolt, I learned to never completely remove it. I just let it seep out of the sides.
As for the drain bolt, I learned to never completely remove it. I just let it seep out of the sides.
09-05-12, 11:06 AM
#42
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That's odd that you had such a large leak when you removed the CV Axle. Was it on the right side of the car? I had to replace my driver(left) side CV Axle recently and it only leaked a little bit. In fact it was so little that I didn't need to top it off. The car was only lifted from the front, so maybe that's it.
As for the drain bolt, I learned to never completely remove it. I just let it seep out of the sides.
As for the drain bolt, I learned to never completely remove it. I just let it seep out of the sides.
Not going to worry about it at this point. Fingers crossed for no tranny problems!
Last edited by JSM; 09-05-12 at 01:15 PM.
09-05-12, 05:41 PM
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Well, I got the harness out from under the dash okay. Only thing left is the front engine mount and she will be coming out. I'm going to wait until Saturday so I can go slow and have plenty of time.
09-08-12, 06:35 PM
#45
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She's out! It wasn't to bad. The hardest part and most time consuming was moving the car without wheels using just floor jacks! So much fun. And then I was dumb enough to move it back so my wife could park in the garage.
