97 LS400

I really hope someone here can help me, I took my car in to a toyota dealer, to have the timing belt, water pump, cam seals, thermostat, and serpentine belt replaced. When I dropped off the car it was fine, then after they do the work 8 hrs later i pay the bill go out to the car i notice it ticking like hell, my girlfriend noticed it from 20ft away. I said my car didn't do this when I brought it to you, this is obviously not right. the car has 105xxx miles and it is a 97 theat has been well cared for. Valve adjustments are usually not neccessary for another 50-100k miles and are very rare for 95-97s. Mostly on the older 90-94 series, I have seen other posts about ticking valves, but It puts a bad tast in my mouth since it happened on such a young LS the same day the timing belt is replaced, coincidence I think NOT???????????????????????? The toyota dealer ordered the shims from lexus, adjusted 8 out 16 valves on the left bank, and mentioned that they were all only .001-.002 out of spec, not very much. After them having it for 3 weeks, and coming to the conclusion that they don't know why it is doing this. Ii DEMANDED they tow it to the nearest Lexus dealer which is 180 miles away in Eugene. Now Lexus doesn't know either and they want to charge me 1400 dollars additional to the timing belt for a car that ticks. They say the next step is to take the head off of the left side and look at the other side. To see if a valve is bent or damaged. And that will add another 400 dollars minimum to the bill. I am very mad that I took my car in for preventative maintanance and now have could had a new engine by now with what they want to charge me. I intend to cal l Lexus North America tommarow to see if i can get anywhere with them. PLEASE ANY LIGHT TO SHED, MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKS FOR READING MY LONG POST.

ONE MORE THING AS FAR AS I KNOW THESE ARE NOT INTERFENCE ENGINES, BUT THE 98 present WITH VVTi are???

GRAND_LS 4

iTrader: (2)

Sorry about your trouble, but 95+ are interference engines.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Welcome to CL BTW.

Can you determine where the ticking is coming from generally? Front, valve head, fuel injection. Does the ticking increase relative to engine RPM? What type of ticking...as a metal to metal, a scraping tick....

I am wondering if perhaps it may be one of the distributor rotors or a loose ignition wire possibly shorting and you hear the arcing.

lorenzo816

I think we'd all like to know what comes next.


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lorenzo816
92 LS400 182k

97 LS400

Lexus thinks it is coming from the #3 cylinder but wants to pull the head. I am now about to make an 1800 dollar gamble if thyey pull the head. The Toyota tech brought up the arcing idea but I think they have ruled out now, a month has gone buy and I miss my car badly. I am driving my work van everywhere and it sucks having 3 passengers in a 2 passenger van. Myself, fiance, and my son. I will keep progress of this updated.

RA:40 It is ticking sound like a bent valve that increases exactly with rpm increases, sounds like metal to metal

#3 cylinder - 2nd one back passenger side bank of the v-8

AFTER ALOT OF SEARCHING AND ALOT OF DIFFERENT OPINIONS ON INTERFERENCE OR NOT I AM THINKING THAT IT MUST BE AN INTERFERENCE MOTOR. I want to know how many people have actually tried to snap their t-belt and if it did anything or during anyone elses t-belt jobs have similar incidents ocurred?
Seems like 90-94 is non interference
95-97 might be (dome shape pistons)? Hondas,DSMs?
98-present interference due to variable valve timing

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

i know someone whose tb broke on the interference engine but they didnt incur any damage but i would attribute that to pure luck b/c it depends on where the pistons and valves are positioned when the belt goes and even if you get luck then most people will do the damage themselves while still trying to crank the engine before they figure out whats wrong so i wouldnt even take that chance

damon

SHA400,

I was wondering if someone at this Toyota dealership did not do that very thing while it was in some stage of service there??

UZFE engines are not yet common to Toyota mechanics. In most cases only a few mechanics have received Toyota training on servicing them.

lorenzo816

Not to bash the Toy folks, but I would hope they could know how to do basic things that a cert. mechanic could do without doing something dumb.

Dumb would be:
Like starting the engine at the wrong point in a procedure.
Or making sure they use a micrometer correctly.
Or making sure they check the IN and OUT valves.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but none of this should be happening to our bro....
I would have the lard-head mechanic talk to the Lex folks and have them breathe down his neck to get what he Really did to your ride man.

Oh and you need to be tougher, I've had other places pay for their mistakes.
If your ride didn't do this before...Then - it shouldn't have done it after the work.
The Toy dealer needs to Pay!.

just my 2 cents.

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lorenzo816
92 LS400 182k

97 LS400

I told them to do a compession leakdown test before they bothered pulling the head. I can't believe they haven't done that already.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

My next was to suggest a compression check. Keep us posted.

koolaidman

sounds like some1 fked up. u should have them pay for it to be fixed. they did all that worked and now its not working correctly. means the tech screwed up