JSM

I picked this 01 ES300 up for $400 from my neighbor down the street! Inside is mint, outside is very nice 158K mileage. After sitting for 1 year started right up and the AC is ice cold!

Off course there is motor issues. It does run but very ruff. Lexus estimate to fix the broken Camshaft pin and cracked cam gear was $2K.

I guess 3 questions as i'm not sure why they dropped the pan unless they were hunting for problems.

1. Is it running ruff because the timing has slipped due to the sheared cam pin and if that is the case what is the likelyhood of a bent valve? I would think they would need to pull the head to actually determine or camera the cylinder hole?

2. Are the pics an extreme amount of sludge? I've heard or read rumors on sludge problems with these motors.

3. Try to fix and see what happens or just find a good replacement motor?

Thanks!

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

At that price, I say find a replacement. The motor doesn't look good on the inside.

LeX2K

The question is why did the dowel pin break. That engine does look pretty nasty inside, but if it was me I'd be tempted to attempt to fix the pin and slap a new cam gear on it and see how it runs. Not much to lose really, if it still runs like crap then source a good used engine.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

first of all, what a STEAL!

Second, you have two choices. Buy a new 'used' motor [but like this one, unknown service history], or rebuild it.
One of our member chose option two as he had the same deal as yourself, a cheap poorly running car that he fixed and rebuilt the motor himself. Mind you his was a little more involved, but the above post is a great start... easiest to narrow down issues...

The choice is yours. If i had the time i'd personally strip it & rebuild it myself. But if you need it on the road, might as well get that used motor [1k give or take], and do any necessary work on it before you drop it in. [such a trans oil drain, transaxle, etc]

In either case, you're already an east 5k ahead since the avg. selling price is an easy 6-7k still [2001]

JSM

Thanks for the replies guys, keep them coming!

Previous owner just sent me this:

JSM

I think I may try this too and clean the screen as well. It's leaking oil now too which means they just threw the pan back on.

I'm going to see if I can contact the dealer to find out what their list of parts were.

I'm also very curious to what caused the sheering too. It was in an accident but nothing near the cam.

JSM

I know I'm still in shock. I saw it sitting there drove by it almost every day and finally I noticed the tire was flat. After many attempts I finally was able to get ahold of him.

I said what's wrong and what are you going to do with it? He says, I'm thinking of donating it to charity! I was like it's probably worth 2K as it sits, and as a tax write off that's about 400. He goes okay, I'll take 400. I had to pay for the title transfer as he lost it but that was an extra $75 so big deal.

Two weeks later we went to the tag office and transferred it into my name today.

He was the original owner too. He had some sentimental attachment to it and actually rode with me to my house, 5 houses down the street.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

You can reference the parts list on sewell lexus. If you go the OEM route [as i suspect some of these parts will be], use them. Make an account and you get an additional discount for being a CL member.

Otherwise, you can find things such as gaskets on www.rockauto.com.

Post some pics of the car, i'd like to see what 475$ got you!!!

JSM

Curious if anyone has had a stuck VVTi and how it ran? One of the things I was reading up on stated that if the VVTi is stuck due to oil problmes it could cause a rough idle.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

Oil control valve, car will misfire. Well at least mine did, it ran fine when it was cold, but once it warmed up it would start to bog and the CEL would start to flash, i turned it off as to not destroy the cat

LeX2K

Before you do anything, pull the front valve cover off and remove a bearing cap, preferably the one right next to the cam gear. If the engine was oil starved, you should see some scoring or burn marks on the camshaft bearing. Curiously, the surface of the head and the bearing caps are usually in better condition for whatever reason.

Something bad happened to that engine for sure, my feeling is that the engine is permanently damaged, a pin does not sheer off for no reason the force required is significant, plus the fact that the oil light was coming on and off points to cooked bearings. But you might get lucky, I've seen severely sludged engines run nicely after they were cleaned up and flushed.

BTW, is that coolant in the oil? Or just moisture and crud.

JSM

Not sure on the coolant. Those were done at the dealer.

From the pics does this fall into the "severe" sludge engine? Also, how are they cleaning them? How could I do this myself? Seafoam, a couple times drop the pan a few times and check the screen?

LeX2K

Not even close to severe engine sludge. Don't get me wrong it's nasty, but something like this is the result of basically never changing the oil.



For cleaning, the best method is to have the engine slowly clean itself. Seafoam, Marvel mystery oil etc. these are good products. They basically dissolve the sludge and grime, the key IMO is to use them in conjunction with a high mileage oil, and change the filter often, like every 500 miles 3 or 4 cycles or even more depending on the condition of the engine. But pull the valve cover and have a look. A clogged screen is a concern, if you're really paranoid you could temporarily hook up an oil pressure gauge.

JSM

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Wow that is just not fair, you practically robbed the guy.