Hi everyone, my first post.

Our LS 430 with 220K miles suddenly over-heated yesterday. The repair shop wants $10K for a motor swap out. The motor is definitely in really bad shape and it:
1. Either needs to be rebuilt,
2. Needs to be swapped-out with a used motor

I have done timing belt changes on cars, and do all lessor work myself as well. I'm either going to ebay the car, or try to pull the motor myself and do (1) or (2). I'm thinking 15 hours out and 15 hours in.

Questions for you all, I searched and cannot find online manual manals, is there one that details how to remove the motor and transmission. I had a Chilton book for my VW Passat and it was very good.

If anyone can direct me to a DIY engine pull blog, I would appreciate.

Any other perspective would really help too.

I see this as an opportunity to get a good mechanical education, but may just ebay the car 'as is.'

Thanks so much. If I end up doing the work I will add it to the forum written record!

 

The engines sell on ebay for around 2-3k I'd buy the engine and find someone to put it in. These guys are way trying to rip you off.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JDM-Lexus-GS430-LS430-SC430-Aristo-3UZ-FE-4-3L-V8-Engine-Trans-3UZFE-Motor-/261460959934?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3ce049a2be&vxp=mtr
Free shipping with warranty for under 3k

 

Your the first I have read that has lost an engine. I don't know of any blogs or threads that show this. You can definitely get the service manual online.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/350860464477?lpid=82

 

VERY few people have had to swap out or rebuild these engines so your pretty much on your own.

How do u know the engine is shot?

Overheated and that's it ?

 

Scan codes show fluid in three cylinders. It wassrun for 15 minutes w/o any coolant. Very resiliant motor.

The problem with LS 430 is there's really no rebuild parts around so my local shops cannot find parts to do a rebuild.

I can get a motor on ebay for 2,800 and a local engine rebuild shop will do the work (motor in and out) for between 1,500 and 2,000.

If the motor comes out through the top then I can do the work myself. But some have said the motor comes out frm below. If that's true then no way can I do it.

Just need to find a manual. Looked again, Chilton does have removal.

Thanks all to the replies.

 

Pretty sure it comes from below, but $1500-$2000 way too much to do the work should be no more than $1000 for a quality job..

 

Unless you desire the project of an engine swap, I'd move on and let it go. 220K miles is up there and depending on body and interior, the value for the necessary work is about at that coin toss point. If this is a DD the car is going to be down while the parts repairs are done. Renting a car just adds to spending more to this one.

That's to bad about the overheating. Did a hose burst or radiator get damaged while driving causing the fluid loss?

 

The $10,000 quote is absurd, you'd be better just buying a different LS.

Are you absolutely sure the motor is done? Most times with an overheated engine, it's the headgaskets that need to be replaced.

I'd tow it somewhere else and get a 2nd opinion. The fact these guys are throwing $10,000 quotes for a used or rebuilt engine makes them seem shady to me. I would think you could get a used motor installed for under $5,000.

I'd also say though that unless the car is pristine or you've put a lot of recent repairs in it, I'd probably take my losses and move on if it truly does need the motor replaced. 220k miles is up there, I personally would rather put that towards an LS with half the miles.

 

Somethings not adding up here. These motors don't just go ka-put because of overheating. Did u continue to drive it while over heating? Was the coolant system cared for on a regular basis? Was it a used car with unknown history? Just trying to understand what actually happened.

 

Car has 220K miles on it. We bought it when it had 30,000 miles. It has had zero issues until this week (except the rear speaker, some door lock issues, front speaker replacements). I have taken good care of it. One of the best cars I have ever owned.

I think the issue is likely a stuck thermostat. My wife drove the car until it stopped running due to heat. She thought it was a problem with the air conditioning. Whatever, it's been run without coolant and got very hot. It will start and drive very rough. I would not expect it to go another 5 miles.

So I did quite a bit of research the past two days and spoke to some local engine shops. There are two repair paths to go down:

1. Buy a motor on ebay and install it--around $3K to buy.
2. Try to fix/rebuild the motor--probably about $3K to do it Less depending on what is wrong)

So I am going to pull the motor one way or the other.

According to the Chilton manual the motor comes out the top. So I can do that.

By opulling the motor and teraring it down, the problem can be fixed incrementally as needed. If it looks really bad I can still buy a motor on ebay.

Two local shops said that given the mileage that even if it's a blown head gasket, if you are going to go through the effort of that much work, you may as well go deeper and get new rings, etc. That seems to make sense to me.

Thanks all for responses. When I get started I'm going to document how it all goes. Maybe that will help someone in the future. It's a $7K car. They way I look at it is "would I spend $3K and some effort to get an excellent car like an LS 430 with a great history?" The answer is yes.

 

There is a hose that comes out the back/top of the radiator. That hiose is connected with a clamp over four plastic fingers. It looks like those fingers become brittle over time. One of those fingers was broken which made the clamp tension weaker. That allowed the hose to pop off when the car became exteremely hot. I think the issue is the thermostat as the main culprit. But a combination of factors lead to the meltdown.

Thermostat sticks - car gets hot - car is parked during an appointment - hose pops off from pressure - fluid escapes - car is run again without hose attached - car gets hot - out of fluid - over heat - coma - death

 

That's a tough situation. I want to drive our current 400 as long as possible, at this stage cost relative to value is hard to overlook. Just about any small issue can "total" it. Inside and outside are in excellent condition so I share in having a car with known history. Will be looking forward to your motor swap.

 

I would put more effort into making sure the engine is blown , like take it to another shop.

I drove a 92 Honda accord coupe, ( my first car) for months with no coolant, it would overheat at every stop, like redline, and then once I got driving the air would cool it down again, went on like that for a long time.

I didn't realize that when the car overheated it also burned the oil, so after a few weeks/months I checked the oil level to find out I was running with no oil as well, and I kept on going for a few more days the engine still never died.

it became sort of a game on how much abuse the car could take before it died, it had served its purpose, had high mileage and rust holes all over , but the engine never ever quit even after all that.

Moral of the story is if a lil 92 Honda accord can tolerate that sort of abuse, id think the big 3uz could hang on for a few minutes of overheating.

 

To me if the car runs, I tend to think it could be repaired with something like a new set headgaskets. Again, that's just a guess. I really would get a 2nd opinion, you could probably get it repaired for under $2k if that's the case. Obviously don't run the motor in that state.

I know it sounds sexist, but why in the world do women not take warning lights on cars serious? If my wife totaled my car because she drove around with it overheating, I'd probably need to be sedated.

 

It's worth doing a compression test on the engine, just to see if all the cylinders are in about the same shape.

I'm a little incredilious that 15 minutes of overheating would ruin a 3UZ. Although I don't have any experience with the engine beyond driving my own car, I know that Japanese engines handle overheating very well.

I had a Yamaha R6 engine in a race car with serious cooling issues. That block must have had 15 thermal cycles in the "super overheated" area. That poor engine once coked its synthetic oil. But the engine was still good.

And I can't believe that 3UZ is frailer than a 600cc Supersport engine.

You should tow it to another shop for a second opinion. It's unlikely that your car is in good hands if people are quoting you 10k for a motorswap.

I've seen guys get 1UZs out of LS400s in less than 3 hours, I can't imagine it would take them much longer to get one back in.