I have a 1997 LS400 1UZFE! I have ordered 2 engines and both times I have been sent the wrong engine! I was told by a Lexus dealer that I have a 3rd gen, is this true? My production date is 06/97. My VIN is JT8BH28F3V0097268! Also, can I install a JDM in my vehicle? Mine is American. Is the wiring harness and engine going to work with my ECU? Any help is appreciated.

 

In what way was the engine wrong? How did you know? You have to transfer over all wiring and sensors from the original engine to the donor unless you get the exact same engine as yours.

 

does the front look like this:


or this?


if it's the bottom pic, that uses an entirely different engine/transmission... also technically there is no '3rd gen' LS 400, just 2nd gen (top pic) and 2.5 gen (bottom pic)

your VIN pulls up as a 1997 so it should be the top pic

 

The dealer is incorrect. You have a second generation LS 400, and should be getting a 1UZ-FE for that car, specifically the one revised to be an interference engine.

Your VIN indicates your car is a 1997 Lexus LS 400 Coach Edition. One of the last months 1997 model year cars made.

As Lex2K asked, how do you know the engines they sent you are wrong? Are these new rebuilt engines from Toyota or from another vendor?

 

When you're ordering the engine, are you just ordering a "1UZFE" or are you ordering by application (make/model/year/etc.)?

 

THESE FIRST THREE ARE WHAT WAS SENT TO ME.


THE SECOND SET OF THREE IS MY ENGINE IN THE CAR NOW.

 

They were not rebuilt NOR new. They were pulled from strip yards,l, and sold to me AS. IS with one being 90k and the other with about 105k, they were palletized and trucked to me. Can I use a JDM engine and is it compatible with my harness and ECM?

 

Where/what location did you order your engines from?

Could you post photos of the engines before disassembly?

What you are looking at in the valley of your engine bay is the air pump used on 1st gen LS 400 engines from 1990-1994:
https://www.mylparts.com/v-1993-lexu...jection-system

This air injection pump was for California spec cars, and had several additional lines. The CA spec engines also have different fuel rails.

I'm assuming you disassembled these engines partially, which is when you discovered these differences. Is that correct?

To answer your question, no - a JDM engine will not be plug and play, as it does not have the US spec emissions equipment. You will have to swap parts and harnesses onto and off of it with your parts from your current engine.

Both engines you received are no good as they are for first gen cars. They will not work with your car without a lot of modifications since you have a second gen.

 

Yes! It is the air pump I was told and the rails I circled are connected to that pump and are on both sides of the block. you are also correct about the disassembly of the engines. My mechanic had installed the timing components and then noticed the pump and the lines and called me up there and let me know that it would not work with my car. Also, can I use my existing wiring harness and the ECM or ECU (not sure what it’s actually called)? Is the JDM going to work with mine or do I have to have a JDM harness and comp? I have been talking with an engine comp in California called CAR-PART.com that is telling me that a JDM WILL hook up to my harness and comp with nor problem. Is this correct? Thank you for your assistance

 

ECU's cannot be interchanged. There are two ECU models per year.

Your 97' requires the ECU model # which came with the car from new, which one of the following two:

89661-50371, 11/1996-07/1997 USA TAIWAN SPEC
89661-50430, 07/1997-10/1997

However, the bigger problem not mentioned yet is that your 97' car and its stock ECU has an immobilizer. How this interplays with swapping ECU's and engines I haven't the slightest clue. I think? with an immobilizer, the ECU follows the engine, but whether the rest of the car can communicate correctly with that I don't know. And whether the rest of the car can correctly communicate with a different model # ECU I don't know, but I don't think it can.

 

400fanboy mentioned a very big point here - your car is a 97 with an immobilizer. Ideally, you do not want to swap the immobilizer and the ecu modules out. There will be other problems associated with that. You could have the immobilizer circuit bypassed in the ECU, but only those like Kelvin from Cartune NZ know how to do that, and it is not cheap.

Like I mentioned, a JDM 1UZ-FE out of a Celsior could be used if several parts from your engine are swapped over. I don't know all of the exact differences, but I do know the following:
- JDM Celsior 1UZs use a hydraulic fan pump that runs a fan mounted to the radiator versus a hydraulic clutch driven fan run directly from the drive belt
- JDM Celsior 1UZs do not have EGR systems seen on non-JDM engines

The wiring for the EGR is likely not present on the harness on the JDM engine you would order.

If your mechanic is willing to experiment with the JDM engine and figure out the differences in the harnesses, as well as which parts need to be swapped over, then you could give it a try (it could get quite expensive). Otherwise, it would be ideal to locate a 1995-1997 non-CA LS 400 1UZ-FE

In the attached photos, note the absence of the EGR system on the left-side of the engine (bank 1 / driver's side in the US)

The hydraulic pump driven fan can be seen in the Celsior engine bay photo

 

A HUGE THANK YOU TO YOU BOTH for this information!!!

 

can you use a JDM engine: short answer - YES as long as it matches (VVTi vs non-VVTi). only 98-00 model years are VVTi engines.

RHD makes things different alone, such as wiring harness. then emissions are different as well. you should only use the bare long block from the JDM engine and transfer everything over from the USDM engine (or keep anything that is similar). when you have them side by side you will see what you can keep, and what you cannot keep. if you cannot determine what needs to stay or go, i highly suggest to bring this to a professional who knows. this is not for the faint of heart but it's not entirely difficult if you know your way around an engine.