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Background: 1999 S300 87K miles, about 70K in the first 10 years and 15K in the last 10 years. It was a florida car in the first 10 years and garaged in Maryland for the last ten years.
The good news is that there isn't an ounce of rust on it! Exterior finish is good and every single thing in the interior is good.
The bad news is I bought it realizing that it needed a substantial amount of maintenance.
Goals are to keep it pure stock and show the car as an antique car in a few years. In the stock category.
At this point here is what I know it needs:
PS HP hose
Valve cover gasket
VVTi gear
Timing Belt
Water Pump
I am sure the list will expand cause as I dig deeper since am finding just about every gasket and seal is leaking a little, help me as I dig into this baby.
So Guys Join Me and Let the fun begin...
OEM spark plug wires the connectors just crumble, no big deal I have new connectors, wires, and coil packs, heres what came out...
Original Wires and Coil Packs dated 1998
Original Coil Pack Original Coil Pack
Before and after cleaning the wells...
Cylinders 1 & 2 Before cleaning and after
Cylinders 3 & 4 Before cleaning and after
Cylinders 5 & 6 Before cleaning and after
Original Spark Plugs 87K miles they all looked about the same like this....
OEM spark plug at 87K all looked about like this.
More to come, help me out and give me some hints as I document the reconditioning of this original SC300 with 87K
I am really wondering at this point if I should pull the head and have it sent to machine shop as it would be a convenient time?
Pro's:
1) Could possibly have a full reconditioning of the head and be able to get at the pistons to clean any carbon off.
Con's
1) Not sure if getting the exhaust Header bolts out would be to much work.
2) Replacing the Head Gasket that toyota puts on might be a compromise to have the head re-mounted, there is nothing wrong with the head gasket now.
I wouldn't pull the head unless there is an issue with it.
Make sure you do the cam seals and front main seal at the same time as the vvt-i gear and valve cover gaskets. Also, replace the radiator and inspect the heater control valve (see if its brittle) since you have to drain the cooling system anyways.
I did something similar to my 98 SC300 5 years back (the car hit 200k miles this year).
I am using the old boots off the coil packs to plug the spark plug wells as I proceed to removing the valve cover gaskets. This will keep them covered and clean...
I am beginning to wonder if the valve cover gasket wasn't the source of all my leaks?
So I just put a new valve cover gasket on torqued to about 12 in-lbs and it went on so nicely that I will re assemble this weekend later replacing a few more electrical connectors.
Looks excellent, nice work! That will keep that baby reliable and leak free for some time. I agree with the above statement - don't bother pulling the head unless you have to (ie bad headgasket, valve stem seals, etc).
Well so far Thermostat replaced, and Valve cover gaskets a whole bunch of electrical connectors, guys I have some connectors left over,,,
and plugs, coilpacks and wires and she fires up and purrs like a kitten.
Don't make this mistake and forget to plug in the throttle body coolant hose, shortly after firing up a cup full of coolant belched out and I thought I blew a head gasket. But the coolant was coming from some place on top of the engine that's when I saw the TB coolant hose taped over with a blue glove.
So had a cup full of coolant to clean up, stinks on hot block ya know.
I am beginning to believe that the valve cover gaskets are the source of all my problems. I did a throttle body cleaning job on my 2UZ-FE with similar results. The engine just breaths beautifully.
My 1999 SC300 Reconditioning Maintenance Thread
