djamps

My timing belt is overdue (12 years and 100k miles on the current one) and I've been putting it off for the past year. My other vehicles are finally situated enough so that my LS400 can be down for a couple of weeks. I also plan to attack the valve covers which are hemorrhaging quite badly.

First things first.


I started by dumping all the coolant I could. I really wanted to pop the block drains as well but the transmission hard lines and steering rack are in the way, enough that I couldn't get proper leverage on the bolts so I skipped doing that.


Seems the previous owner mixed red and green coolant. Interesting that it stays separated.


This was lodged in the coolant reservoir return line.


Looks like I'll be needing a new radiator as well, the plastic is extremely brittle (practically like card board) and this happened when prying off the hose:


Moving on - got the alternator slid out of the way, fan bracket, crank pulley and timing covers off.


So far there has been NOTHING this $79 (on tent sale) wrench couldn't quickly bang off, and the LS400 crank pulley was no match!


Lots of dirt and debris are falling everywhere... going to definitely blow everything out and do a thorough cleaning later.


Got the rest of the bits off (tensioners, tstat housing, water pump, pulleys, timing belt, ect). I spent about 30 minutes removing a metric ton of black RTV sealant from the water pump mating surface -- so now I know where that bit in the reservoir came from...hopefully there isn't more RTV hiding elsewhere.


And the timing belt job is now at a stand still. This is what I received in my Aisin timing belt kit


I plan on moving ahead with the valve covers while I wait on the replacement water pump and radiator. More to come soon!

djamps

Plugs and packs pulled. Only a couple were leaking, and all the plugs looked good. This engine is not burning any oil and looks to be running well based on the plug tips.



Managed to work the valve covers off. Driver side is by far the worst with the dip sticks and diagnostic loom in the way. Tons of wiring loom broke off down into the cylinder head. Additionally, the previous owner was not changing their oil often enough -- everything ***** stained to hell with heavy varnish. The valve covers were basically caked on the inside (didn't get a pic of that though).



Tried to clean the covers using brake clean but it was hopeless unless I wanted to go through several cans which = $$...Gave them a good scrub in a gas bath instead.



Not too shabby, just some corrosion that isn't worth polishing out.



Ah, the fun part...NOT



New seals in place after a bit of banging and cursing. You can probably imagine how nasty the underside of these covers looked - this is AFTER the cleaning...



Vacuumed all the crud out that fell into the cylinder heads from brittle wiring looms being bumped against while wiggling out the covers...



Right side valve cover reinstalled with new grommets on all the bolts. Cleaned the mating surface real good and applied FIPG in 6 spots (4 for the half moons and two for the front corners).



And the left side:



At this point I'm stuck again, still waiting for the replacement water pump.

djamps

Reserved #2...

hotdawwg

Dang that's hard to see with a cracked water pump. Can't wait to see the finished product

djamps

Surprisingly the old timing belt looks really good, no signs of cracking or fraying at all. If there wasn't a sticker on the engine cover stating otherwise I'd assume it had been recently replaced. I guess you can't judge a belt just by looking at it.

dicer

I like the lift how nice, all I need is a bigger shop and some height in it.

djamps

I wouldn't have it any other way at this point... I'm done crawling around jack stands.

YODAONE

On the waterpump packaging, does it indicate where manufactured?

djamps

The water pump was plastic wrapped in a gigantic zip loc, no boxing or labeling of any sort. Easy to see how it could have been trashed in shipping as there was no padding inside the box just a bunch of parts flopping around. Via amazon - timing belt kits.

YODAONE

Unreal that someone would carelessly dump critical engine parts in a zip bag to reduce costs and then expect them to arrive undamaged.

I have seen Aisin water pumps, pulleys, tensioners at he Lexus dealer neatly packaged in protective packaging within boxes.

Please post an image of the zip bag.....

Anyone with info on how Rock Auto packages and ships their timing belt kits?

djamps

It was in this bag with rubber bands on each end of the pump to hold the gasket in place. They threw in a piece of the original boxing perhaps to show it's a genuine Aisin as the cardboard wasn't actually protecting anything.

The good news is that they responded quickly and are sending a replacement pump with a return label for the damaged one.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

My radiator inlet was in the same condition. I worked around it for a while until the house slipped off not once but twice and almost left me stranded.

djamps

Good to know it's a (relatively, I guess) common high mileage issue and not something else wrong. I do have a koyo on order, should arrive tomorrow, however I still need to wait for the water pump.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

my wp came in a proper Aisin box which protected it well. looks like the seller just was lazy or hope they weren't trying to pull a fast one on ya.

djamps

Let's hope they were lazy! This is a ton of work I don't want to re-do.