hey guys, can you guys give me steps or any tips on how to replace a headgasket. I'm trying to take off the timming belt but not sure on what to do from there. Is there a tensioner or something?
thanks

 

Sc300? or 400? for starters.

Yes, there is a tensioner pulley and it takes a 10mm Allen wrench. Tensioner itself is lower left of the pulley. Thread in my sig has pictures.

There is also quite a bit more that you can find in the factory manual and searching.

 

If you are planning to do the headgasket without the manual, I would stop and rethink this. It will tell you pretty much all you need to know. From the torque values of your head bolts , to your cam bolts. Also they show in which order you should torque them. Especially the cams. If you do not torque the cams down as per manual, you will risk damaging components.

I would change the waterpump also if it has not been changed, since and easy to do at this point.
Replace some seals that you shouldn't reuse, such as your cam seals. Valve cover gaskets.

It is also a good opportunity to change your timing belt, but this (along with replacing the water pump) requires removing your crank pulley.

Either way you have your work cut out for you.

Good luck.

 

question about water pump....when i tried to order one for my car (95 sc300) i found out there is two different, 10 and 11 fastener design. How do i check which one i got before removing anything?

 

the car is a sc300

 

Get a factory repair manual, only way to do this job yourself. The head has to be torques back down in a certain order, the cam caps have to be reinstalled in a certain order, then loosened and reinstalled in a certain order while rotating the camshafts 120 degrees...Its pretty exact.

How far into tearing apart the motor are you? Its a very challenging job, especially with the intake manifold design. I just completed my headgasket and it took me 10 days from start to finish. (2 weekends and working every night on it during the week). You'll want to replace your timing belt, front crank oil seal, water pump (depending on your mileage), camshaft seals, valve cover gaskets, timing belt cover gaskets, fuel injector o-rings....

Its also a good time to do a few mods. I deleted my EGR system, removed the vacuum tank under the intake manifold, the charcoal canister, and a bunch of other misc. vacuum tubing and switching valves.

 

WOW

Sometimes when you blow a head gasket you damage your head....Its never good to replace the head gasket without having the block and head decks checked. If the decks aren't right your new head gasket will leak. Like i said before there might be damage to the head, but most of the time the damage is to small for the naked eye.

 

The best way is to call the dealership and give them your VIN. They told me the wrong one. I didn't realize it until I had the front of my engine taken apart. My car is a daily driver and i couldn't wait for another so i wasn't able to do my water pump.

 

There are some useful links in this thread.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...ml#post4652680