chadseeg

Hello all,
I am new to LS400 forum and I am in a difficult spot with my main transportation needing repair so looking for the best advise I can get. My 1995 LS400 fan clutch bracket bearing has gone bad. After I figured out this is the trouble, I went to replace it and can see the TB has a lot of cracking. There is about 80k on this TB, according to the sticker on the radiator. Friends are strongly suggesting that I need to change everything (TB, WP, Fan Bracket, Cam and crank seals, etc.) while I am doing this work. So, I have all the parts, I think, and have been reviewing the forum posts. Here are my questions;

1) Is my 1995 LS400 a Gen2 (If not Gen1 then is it called a Gen2?) and I only find this Gen1 "how to" on Club Lexus
http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/engine/timingbelt.html

2) Do I align the timing marks (crank at O and both distributors to their motor marks) before tear down? And is the idea not to move all pulleys from their alignment marks or is this for the crankshaft? I ask this because I have never done this work and don't know if remounting the new belt requires movement. I read somewhere about the crank mark being moved to about 50% from 12 o'clock.

3) what sealant is used for the water pump, permatex for water pump (P/N 22071)?

4) Maybe a dumb question but, does the hydraulic tensioner (Aisin kit TKT-030) come pre-adjusted?

This non-club lexus url seemed helpful but not sure if it is the best "how to" on Gen2 if that is what my 1995 LS400 is. http://www.lextreme.com/timing.htm

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated as I must start tomorrow.

Thanks,
Chad

cobalt91

Both links provide the info you need. Its probably a good idea to look on ebay for a shop manual for your car.

chadseeg

Cobalt91,
Thank you for your reply.

The online documentation is very good or I couldn't even be attempting this project. It is just a little confusing about which movements are acceptable, if needed, to align the distributors marks without damaging the engine. It is very clear that the timing marks must all be aligned when completed, it is just the how to get there that I am concerned for.

Chadseeg

aptoslexus

Fascinating that both removing and installing the crank bolt is apparently not required in that tutorial. Aside from making sure your timing marks are lined up, I'd consider the crank bolt to be a major sticking point, which may be why you rarely see video of crank bolt installation in youtube tutorials. Make sure you know how you're going to take it off and put it back on.

Banshee365

The factory manual states a different way to position the crank before disassembly than 0 TDC. I did it this way and it was a piece of cake. First align the crank mark with the '0' and make sure the cam marks line up on the corresponding marks stamped in the metal behind the cam pulley. If the crank is lined up at zero and the cam marks are not there, turn the crank one more turn. When the marks are all lined up, turn the crank so the mark lines up between the crank bolt and timing belt idler pulley bolt. This is approx 50 degrees past 0 TDC. This drops all of the pistons below the top of their stroke to keep from hitting the valves to the pistons which messing with the cams with the belt off. You'll find that when the belt is off the cams like to spring to every position other than the one you want. You don't want the #1 piston dead at TDC as you'll strike the piston with the valves if you move it much. Assemble the timing system with the crank at this position as well. The timing mark on the crank timing pulley is hard to see so remove it and clean it up and you'll find it. Use the marks on the new belt to line it all back up. Align the crank marks and left cam pulley marks. the right cam marks will not touch each other as the marked tooth will be raised away from the cam mark. You'll have to eyeball and count the teeth from the last touching belt tooth to the mark on both the belt and pulley. You'll see what I mean before you remove the belt after indexing the crank pulley mark between the 2 bolts I mentioned.

After assembling this way you'll turn the crank pulley 2 times around to align the crank pulley mark up with the '0' and make sure your cam pulley marks line up with the stamped metal marks behind the pulleys.

My Aisin timing belt component kit came with an updated water pump with an actual rigid gasket. No more FIPG for the water pump on this one. I'll reply with any more questions you have to make sure you do this right.

And the hydraulic tensioner is pre-engineered to exert a certain force against the tensioner assembly. Install the hydraulic tensioner by tightening the 2 bolts incrementally until it's seated. Torque the bolts to sec, pull the pin (after you're SURE the marks are lined up) and you're done. Realize the marks on the belt are no longer usable after turning the crank once after assembly.

mikaelse

I bought a large open end wrench 46 mm (about 1 and 3/4") A cheap one is ok. In this I drilled two 8 mm ( 5/16") holes 2.6 inches apart . put two 2.5 inch long 8 mm (5/16") good screws in there with nuts holding them.
This thing leaves room for the 23 mm socket for the crank bolt and the screws fits into the crank belt Wheel holes available
This thing cost me 15$ and took 10 minutes flat to make. worked well.
You need a long breaker bar to get the bolt off and on.
I used that and a luggage scale to torque it.

brybo86

my write up here https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...s400-172k.html

1. used the lexls tutorial for my 95

2. if the car currently runs before teardown and you set the crank pulley to 0 degrees TDC the cams should both be lined up as well. The idea is to not move the cams or crank after belt removal. During installation my cams did slip a little bit for example If they accidentally rotated 45 degrees clockwise i turned them counter clockwise to their correct position When crank is at TDC.

3. I used the gasket supplied with the kit for the water pump nothing else. For the inlet housing by the thermostat I used red RTV permatex

4. Yes the tensioner comes fully retracted with a pin in it. Once everything is lined up you pull the pin to tighten the belt.

5. the distributors only go in one way.... i know from experience. Look at my thread

Denverguy5

Hi I have a 1995 Lexus ls400 with 159,000 miles on it I recently as in yesterday did the timing belt my self but I did it blind as I tbh I didn’t know you had to align the marks before you took off belt so the idiot that I am I turned the pulleys one ata time to align the marks then I set Tdc on all marks but now my car won’t even start please help on what I should do I’ll attach pictures to show you guys what I mean

paulo57509

Hopefully you didn't do any mechanical damage to the valve train.No doubt that the VVT-i engines are interference but there have been a some reports of '95-'97 engines being an interference design as well, you may have done serious damage to your engine.

Did you feel any resistance or hard stops when turning the sprockets?

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

when you turn the key do you hear the engine turn over, and just not fire? or when the engine turns it makes a racket and not fire? for every 1 full revolution of the cam pulley, the crank rotates twice if i'm not mistaken!

maybe there is a separate issue that is preventing the car from starting (such as a disconnected ignition coil - hoping it's that simple).

and all 1UZ engines after 1994 are interference (95-00)!

Denverguy5

like if they jump ahead or back is that what u mean

Denverguy5

This is what it does I feel like the belt is too tight also the bolt that holds the balancer is not inserted

Gerf

Denverguy5, you should read this.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-belt-diy.html

bradland

Have it towed to a qualified technician.

Denverguy5

I’m a qualified technician but in spirit lol yeah I think I should just take the advice it’s hard tho I literally brought this car back to life my self but the way I see it rn is I killed it or going to kill it but thanks for the help wish I would’ve found this thread from gecko