just got back from Vegas today from a weeks vacation. My radiator was waiting. Of course there was a problem. The drainage tit below the petcock was broken off flush from the housing. But on the bright side. the housing itself was 1.8 inches across versus the 1.5 of my original(replacement)- so the temperature sensor fit inside without breaking out the side of the radiator. Tomorrow will be fixing the last leak from the back side of the bank one cat. Just a pin hole leak left.

 

Just found the bolt I took out and it is a #10 1.25 pitch with a shank length of 1.4 inches.

 

Thanks for remembering and coming back to post that info.

 

Just ordered a gates timing belt kit TCKWP190 to fix my broken water pump. Any use this before? Had any problems?

 

I used the Dayco kit on my Lexus and my wife's 4Runner so far no problems with either, I've put close to 15k on my Lexus since changing the pump belt kit. I'm sure the Gates and Dayco are comparable in quality.

 

BTW- I managed to seal all the leaks on my Lexus cat/Y pipe area with that compound I was talking about. No leaks and the low cat efficiency Cell light hasn't come back.

 

Decided to give it one more go before I changed out the water pump and redid the timing belt. I took the intakes out, removed the coolant pipe that goes into the back of the water pump, and did as good a cleaning as I could to the water pumps housing. Put on a new gasket onto the pipe and reinstalled everything. So far so good, as there are "finally" no water leaks and the reservoir is not showing any decreasing coolant after use. This is the first time that I can definitely say that there is no head gasket leak. I think I will wait till summer to do the timing belt kit I bought. It's just too hard to do maintenance in the Winter in Colorado where you need multiple days to be nice.

 

Going on to my next project on this car. The blower doesn't work right as I can step up and down the blower motor controls on the display and it shows like it is doing something, but the motor runs at a steady state. There is a funny blue box attached to the front of the lower dash with a **** on it. It has 4 positions and when I turn it, I manage to get two separate fan speeds. Obviously, it was added to overcome an inoperative resister pack. I found what looks like the fan motor controller online and is part number 87165-50020. I went to a pick/pull thinking I could locate it. It was either already removed(dash on passenger side had been opened up), or I just missed spotting it. Here is a diagram I pulled up at a dealer: http://www.mylparts.com/parts/1996/L...agramCallOut=6
The diagram leaves something to be desired as far as where it is located. Could anyone leave a picture or description as to it's location.

As an update: I have totally fixed all coolant leaks and it also looks like the patch job I did on the catalyst junction worked well- no more CELs. I did manage to pick up the 6 pack CD insert today and I now have a functioning CD player. YES!

 

Found the resister module(has a bright yellow plastic top) behind the fan and way towards the firewall. Only held in by two 8MM bolts. I tore into my car and found they had pulled the connector off the module and ran jumpers and wires to that blue box I was talking about. It looks like it won't be too tough a job because it looks like they didn't cut any wires like I was dreading. So now I need to source the resister module because I've run out of donor cars to go to. All in all, I'm happy it won't be that tough a fix and will be super glad to get rid of that ugly blue box that has been burning my leg upon occasion.

Update: Found the module at a junk yard for $6. Removed all the jumper wires and removed the box. Finally have a working fan system for the first time.

 

How is the exhaust patch holding up?

 

Perfect. Nary a pinhole leak anymore. I've gone over a thousand miles without a CEL. Only have to change out my driver side door lock actuator, and I should be able to get my key fobs to work for the first time. I'm tired of walking around to the other side of the car to lock it.

 

Thought I would post up a picture of my back bumper that I painted a few months ago. There was an egg size hole on the center left edge of the left bumper that I bondo-ed then painted with both color paints. I thought it came out okay for how bad it looked. The lighter color was faded really bad. Here is a pick:

 

I went to look at my transmission mount today because of a slight vibration around the 40 MPH range. My trany mount looked okay as far as I could tell, but I found several chunks(three plus some cracks) on the drive train dampener just behind the trany mount on the drive shaft. I don't know it's technical term, but could this be the cause of my vibration? For sure I will replace it anyway, but wanted some opinions from some of you that have way more knowledge than me. I'll see if I can't post some pictures of it and the trany mount.
Sorry about the first three pictures, I couldn't figure out how to delete them once I had them loaded.
Saw one on Amazon for around $35 while the OEM were in the $150 range. I don't know enough to know how much difference they are?

 

Nice job with the paint, jaaa!! It came out really nice. That's with clearcoat, yes?

As for the drive train dampener, I would personally always buy the OEM part, even though it's more expensive. However, other owners here who own 1995-1997 models would probably know more about the part on Amazon than I do.

One thing that I found when installing aftermarket parts on the car is that the metal is thinner (particularly regarding suspension components), so it can crack from stress easier. For something as important as the the drive train dampener or the transmission mounts, I want to make sure I do it right with the strongest part to spec, so I don't have to repeat it. For simpler parts, such as the windshield washer pump, I buy aftermarket parts because this concept doesn't apply as much.

Once again though, the Amazon part may be okay. I hope other owners of the UCF20/UCF21 model years can help out more in this area.

Good luck!

 

Yeah, I bought both paint colors and the clear coat(the clear coat was an epoxy type that you had to strike the bottom of the can to mix it) from a paint store in town. On the bumper it was fine, you really couldn't tell the silver wasn't a perfect match because there isn't any parallel surfaces to directly compare. On the driver side door it's another matter. I painted it twice and neither company came close to a match, so I will wait for a donor car with the right paint.

I know I should go OEM on the drive train, just trying to keep my costs down. My wife is not happy that my $300 car is now pushing $3000. It is however, a joy to drive and I'm super glad I've gone through the effort to bring a junk yard car back to life.