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awesome work! I know how hard it can be to take pictures and work at the same time. I don't recall ever touching the a/c compressor at all during my TB job awhile back. and I didn't have a crank pulley holder either so I wedged a big allen key into the flex plate instead. not ideal but worked well.
Using the 3 bolts for each side, install the distributor housings on the proper sides. R on the passengers side and L on the drivers side. Then slide the rotors in the housings and tighten the screws gently. Finally the caps are installed followed by connecting the high tension plug wires to the caps.
Torque the 3 distributor housing bolts to 13 ft-bs. Torque the 2 rotor screws AND the 3 cap screws to 34 in-lbs(INCH POUNDS!!!)
Install RH timing belt cover
Ensure all gaskets are in place on the timing cover. Get the cover in position where the posts in the distributor caps line up with the holes in the cover. Run the cam position sensor wire through the notch and place the grommet in that notch. Install cover with the 4 bolts. Clip cam position sensor wire into the clip that is build into the cover. Reinstall harness side cam position sensor wiring harness keeper into the hole at the top of the timing cover.
Torque the 12mm head fasteners on the timing cover to 12 ft-lbs.
Install coolant reservoir outlet pipe
Time to fiddle with this stupid thing again. Install the outlet pipe bracket to the cylinder head and also with the 10mm bolt into the RH timing cover after installing the hose ends on the coolant inlet housing and coolant bottle. Ensure the harness that clips on the reservoir outlet pipe bracket at the cylinder head is properly secured as well. Slide both spring hose clamps into resting position on the outlet pipe hoses at this time.
Install LH Timing belt cover
Feed cam position sensor connector and wire through the hole in the timing cover. Align timing cover holes with the posts in the distributor caps. Install the cover with the 3 bolts keeping in mind that one bolt hold the position sensor connector bracket to the timing cover. Clip the wiring harness back into the locking retainers. Install the position sensor wire into the hard plastic retainer built into the timing cover. Install the round grommet for the position sensor wire into the timing cover. Here are some areas to focus on when installing the LH and RH timing covers.
Install drive belt idler pulley
Torque drive belt idler pulley bolt to 27 ft-lbs.
Install RH upper timing cover
Ensure you have all gaskets installed including the small one at the rear of the cover. Using the 4 10mm head bolts, install the RH upper timing cover over the cam pulleys and spark plug area. The upper timing cover fits in with the high tension cable (plug wire) center support. Clip the 2 ACV vacuum hoses back into the clips in the cover.
Install LH upper timing cover
Ensure you have all gaskets once again for this one. Install using the 4 10mm head bolts after aligning the cover with the high tension cord support AND placing the LH ignition coil wire at the back corner of the where the upper timing cover sits. Don't pinch it anywhere.
Install RH ignition coil in the top center of the engine.
Install the coil bracket with the 2 small bolts into the coolant crossover and coolant inlet housing with the coil not installed in the bracket. Install the studded bolt into the coil bracket that holds the high tension cord support in place. Clip the RH cam position sensor connector into it's place on the coil bracket. Connect the coil connector to the coil then screw the coil into the bracket. Connect the high tension cord to the coil. Locations of the fasteners attaching the coil bracket. The lower right arrow is pointing to a bolt that's hidden under part of the bracket in this photo.
Place drain pan under where the radiator resides. Install radiator into the 2 grommets at the bottom. Install the 2 clamps on top with the 1 nut each. The one with the screw in it goes on the drivers side of the car. Loosen the overflow line that wraps around the air cleaner area to aid in installing the small overflow hose to the top passenger side of the radiator if needed. When the radiator is installed be sure to tighten those 2 bolts down and ensure the springs clamps are all in position. Install the 2 trans cooler lines and ensure spring clamps are in position. Connect radiator cooling fan temp sensor connector into the sensor at the bottom drivers side of the radiator.
Install upper and lower radiator hoses
Install the lower hose with the 2 nuts at the top and spring clamp at the bottom. Install upper hose with the 2 spring clamps.
Install 2 water inlet nuts that the lower hose attaches to to 13 ft-lbs. on the thermostat housing.
Install radiator fan and shroud together
Install these two together and attach shroud to radiator with the 2 bolts up top and 2 on the bottom. Install the fan fluid coupler flange to the fan bearing bracket with the 4 nuts. Tighten the nuts with the same method you used to remove them. Ensure there is no gap between the fan bearing pulley and fluid coupler flange all the way around or it will vibrate badly and naughty things can happen.
Install drive belt
Route the belt around the pulleys in the correct orientation, hold the tensioner in the full released position and slip the belt over the pulleys. I usually do the idler pulley last and release the tensioner after that. Ensure that the belt is sitting in the pulley grooves on all pulleys properly.
Install air intake connector to throttle body
Install the intake connector to the passenger side valve cover with the 1 10mm bolt and 10mm head hose clamp on the throttle body. Then connect the 2 small hoses and 1 large hose. It's best to start the large hose on the large nipple before installing the connector onto the throttle body. You'll see what I mean.
Install air cleaner assembly
Separate the two halves as if you were changing the air filter. Install the side with the MAF sensor onto the intake connector, tighten the hose clamp, and install the 2 10mm bolts. Plug in the MAF connector and secure the harness in it's clip. Install the air filter and other side of the air cleaner and secure with 1 10mm bolt. Install air intake duct across the radiator and secure with the 1 10mm bolt into the radiator bracket.
Now it's time to fill the engine with distiller water. If you don't feel like doing any sort of flush skip ahead until I start talking about coolant. Here you will pour fresh 100% distilled water into the cooling system, run it up to temp, drain and refill with the proper mixture of coolant. At this point your 2 block drains should be snug and the radiator drain closed.
Remove 17mm bolt on coolant inlet housing just behind the thermostat
This is the air bleed bolt that you remove to funnel coolant into this area rather than just the bottle.
Pour distilled water down this hole until it fills to the top.
It won't fill to the tippy-top because it will start filling the coolant bottle about 1/4" below the very top. When the bottle starts to fill I just go ahead and install the 17mm bolt and finish off filling the coolant bottle with water.
Reconnect your battery
Duh.
Cross your fingers, start your engine, and be ready to add some more water
After you start the engine the water will go down fairly quick. Constantly check for leaks. Leave the reservoir cap off during the process. Keep adding water as it draws it down. It will eventually stop taking water from the reservoir.
Once the engine is warmed up rev the engine to 2,000 rpm or so for a short period of time
If you do this from inside the car you will hear water sloshing. That is from water sloshing through the heater core in the dash. Revving the engine will force the water into the heater core more and will force the air out. Check your water level after this.
Shut the engine down
Shut her off and let it cool. If you have time it's best to let it for for several hours.
Drain water from the engine
If you have an area that is slightly slopped it's best to park the car slightly uphill. Then you can drain the 2 block drains first with the 3/8" ID hose and 10mm socket like early on before starting this job. Then you can move up to the radiator to drain the water from it's drain and not have to lay in so much water as it's running downhill. When all of the water has drained close the radiator drain and torque the block drain plugs to the proper spec.
Torque the 2 block drain plugs to 9 ft-lbs.
Fill esystem with just under 1.5 gallons of Toyota Long Life red coolant concentrate
Total cooling system capacity is 11.6 quarts. That's just under 3 gallons. You need a 50/50 mix. To get this add the just under 1.5 gallons of straight concentrate coolant first. The engine is filled through the coolant fill hole that under the 17mm bolt of course.
Fill the cooling system with distilled water the rest of the way
Fill the system with water until the coolant reservoir starts to fill then install the 17mm bolt in the coolant fill hole. Proceed to fill the coolant reservoir with straight water until it reaches the full mark.
Start your engine and proceed to keep the coolant reservoir on the full mark as the water is taken by the engine
Same process as the straight water before. The engine will take water from the reservoir to fill any voids. Once the car warms up rev the engine to about 2,000 rpm again to bleed out the heater core and other areas within the engine. The reservoir cap should be off this whole time. Keep adding straight water until the level stops going down. Unless you have a leak of some sort and you lose any coolant you will only add distilled water from now on as the 50% coolant concentrate is already in the engine. Think of it as you already have the 50% in there and at first you can only fit the first 35% of the 50% of water. The engine will mix the coolant up and take the coolant away while giving you the air bubbles. You'll keep adding water until you've got the full 50% of water in there and will not go down anymore. Then install the coolant reservoir cap.
Keep checking for leaks and anything else abnormal!
Check transmission fluid
A few ounces of transmission fluid is lost when removing the radiator so give it a check to ensure it's got enough fluid while you're doing all this,
Install engine appearance cover
With the 2 nuts and not bolt install appearance cover.
Install the louvered side cover behind the driver side front wheel
With the 3 10mm bolts, install this side vertical cover we removed to access the rear AC compressor bolt.
Install the engine under cover
With the 6 10mm bolts and 6 or so screws install the engine under cover.
I think that's about it fellas. I will constantly edit here and there if there are mistakes pointed out to me or if there is a better way to describe something. Doing this tutorial on the forum is nice as I can edit it all I want.
awesome work! I know how hard it can be to take pictures and work at the same time. I don't recall ever touching the a/c compressor at all during my TB job awhile back. and I didn't have a crank pulley holder either so I wedged a big allen key into the flex plate instead. not ideal but worked well.
You may be able to remove the fan bracket without removing the rear bolt on the AC compressor but I have never tried it. The factory manual says to disconnect the AC compressor from the engine so that is what I have always done. I just can speak for trying to leave that rear bolt in there but you most certainly have to remove the front 2 bolts or the fan bearing bracket is going no where. Removing the compressor makes removing the LH ignition coil bracket bolt from the cylinder head much easier as well.
ah that makes sense, it's been awhile and it's all a blur. thank you for taking the time to write this down. this is a great complement to the already existing threads on the subject, maybe even more thorough as you are using the factory manual as a guide.
The mentioned 10 mm bolts are not that they are 6 mm bolts with 10 mm hex heads. Its called wanting to be technically correct. And yes this is the best LS timing belt how to on the net.
And not mentioning the above, it can confuse a person that is in the know about fasteners.
The mentioned 10 mm bolts are not that they are 6 mm bolts with 10 mm hex heads. Its called wanting to be technically correct. And yes this is the best LS timing belt how to on the net.
And not mentioning the above, it can confuse a person that is in the know about fasteners.
So, I actually debated what verbiage to use when describing fasteners for this tutorial. It is my opinion that the average DIY'er will more understand be referring to a fastener size by what size tool fits it. You may see that some I added 'headed' after the size and some I didn't. It should be pretty obvious what I'm referring to. If I wrote the tutorial saying 'Remove the four M6x1.00 bolts' most viewers wouldn't know what the hell I'm talking about.
So, I actually debated what verbiage to use when describing fasteners for this tutorial. It is my opinion that the average DIY'er will more understand be referring to a fastener size by what size tool fits it. You may see that some I added 'headed' after the size and some I didn't. It should be pretty obvious what I'm referring to. If I wrote the tutorial saying 'Remove the four M6x1.00 bolts' most viewers wouldn't know what the hell I'm talking about.
If this is all that is found "wrong" with your tutorial, I'd say you're in high cotton. I really like how you used pictures with pointers- nothing beats actual pictures to go along with the written word. I commend you for the amount of work it must have taken to produce this.
If this is all that is found "wrong" with your tutorial, I'd say you're in high cotton. I really like how you used pictures with pointers- nothing beats actual pictures to go along with the written word. I commend you for the amount of work it must have taken to produce this.
I still don't consider it 'wrong' realistically, but thanks for your kind words. I appreciate it. This is an expensive service on these older cars so I felt it would be very helpful to those who decide to perform th service themselves. Even if you pay an independent shop I would belt that %70+ wouldn't perform it correctly unless they are very familiar with the LS400.
Thanks so much for writing this tutorial. If it only would've been a year prior, I could've saved about 400 bucks and a lot of anxiety dealing with the shop that did my belt and screwed up the timing along with the coolant bleeding the first and second time. Luckily the first time, I think it was off a tooth and running like crap so I was able to turn back and have him redo the install.
In the future, I now feel confident with this DIY to accomplish the task myself. I just hate the FIPG parts, those always scare me since there isn't a measurable amount to put on there, it goes by the installers discretion.
Possibly adding photos of the block drain locations and where to bleed the cooling system would knock this out of the park, but isn't technically necessary for the timing belt DIY.
I want to thank you once again for creating this. I made a DIY once on my Accord forum for installing a Leather wrapped steering wheel and it did take a very long time to get all the photos, and ensure the words were properly chosen as to not confuse the reader. I know this will be a valuable tool for those in the future.
10-25-16, 04:56 PM
