Today I was driving along at approximately 40 mph when I hear a whack underneath the car. I look back and see a bolt bouncing down the road. It appeared as if I hit it and knocked it into the bottom of the car.

I stop and the bank and notice a sound coming from the engine bay so I stop and open the hood. I hear a clack, clack sound but don't see anything wrong and the car is running fine. I call the dealership and tell them what happened so they tell me to bring it in, that I've likely hit an exhuast shield that is now vibrating.

it dies on the way there. I have it towed.

They call me last night and tell me the timing chain pretensioner pulley bolt snapped off, which caused the timing chain to fail, and well, you know the rest. New engine.

I'm thinking about selling it as is. Any advice on where to go or who to contact? Thanks everyone.

This SUCKS

 

Since you are on the east coast, I would PM Aliga, he has whole motors, that you could just probably swap into the car and save a bunch of headache and time getting all the parts to repair your engine. You definitely wanna do the minimum of changing the timing belt, pulleys, waterpump before putting in the swap.

Or if you want, I have a bottom end, less the oil pan and pulleys that I wanna sell, but I am in Hawaii. If interested PM me. But to me your best bet is PM Aliga

 

OR, swap a 2jzGTE in that bish would probably be cheaper.

 

But at least the wiring is completely different, so that would be fun.


I've never heard of this failure with a 1UZ before. Had the timing belt ever been replaced? If that bolt wasn't torqued correctly that would explain the failure. I've harped on proper bolt torquing for years, but some don't believe how important it is. Too tight is as bad as too loose!

Sorry to hear about that.

 

How many miles did you have on your car? I'm close to hitting 90k and can't get the service done till summer.

 

i thought putting a 2gzgte into a gs400 was hard due to the wiring harness's. am i wrong?

 

Wiring isnt anymore difficult than any other car. Yea its a little bit more wiring but just think about the wiring when they put a 2jzgte in an s2000. If an s2000 can get a 2j why would it be anymore difficult for a car that has the motor in it originally in japan.

 

was it maybe a 1jz i was thinking of? I forget, i know someone was talking about how you could swap a JZ into the gs400 reasonably...

 

damn ! thats terrible bro ... I wish you the best with your decision to get a new motor or the car sold

 

Weigh your decision carefully. New used cars may come with new used car issues. If you know you car is solid other then this issue it may be better, less risky, and possibly cheaper to fix this car. I hope all works out for you.

 

that sucks, was this "clack clack clack" noise really loud.. so i guess the engine doesn't function for too long after having some of the timing belts components go wrong

 

You need a 2jz gte vvti talk to me executiv he is doing one soon. If your gonna need a motor might as well put that one in because either way the old motor is coming out.

 

Thanks everyone. I think I'm going to find a used engine and then sell it. I dont think the timing chain has been touched but the tensioner pulley coming off didn't help.

Thanks for the idea to PM Aliga.

The car has 126,xxx miles on it.

 

I am sorry to hear that you had that problem. I have changed 3 timing belts on my GS400's and I have never had a problem. The car I have now has had the belt changed twice, and has 190,000 miles. I have NEVER heard f a failure of this type on this engine. I always use new Lexus parts throughout whenever I change the timing belt/ water pump assembly.

When I put that new tensioner swivel pulley on, I always use a little locktite on the threads before screwing it in. Then I make sure the two bolts that hold the hydraulic tensioner in below are also tight.

I am sure you bent most of the 32 valves when the belt loosened. This is still repairable if you are willing to do the work. It is really labor-intensive. You will have to buy a new tensioner bolt. Hopefully the threads were not damaged when it came out. I have to wonder if this section was recently worked on or not? maybe you have recourse of you paid to have the work done.

As long as there is not too much damage, I'd pull off both heads and rebuild it. I am sure the pistons and crankshaft is still sound.

In any event, I wish you good luck in anything you do.

 

I never though GS4 has timing chain it tells me how knowledgeable dealership is