1992 M/T (w58) sc300

A little while back, i noticed that the fan/wind noise from the engine bay was really loud, vaguely reminiscent of a semi from the front, while accelerating.

Sometimes, the sound would go after driving a while, sometimes it would stay the whole drive (albeit much quieter). The drive quality seemed much worse when the noise was at it's loudest.

Now, lately I've noticed that downhill grades on the interstate trigger the oil pressure light. I checked my oil and it was quite low, so i put in some Mobil 1 high mileage 5w-30. The driving quality of the car significantly increased obviously , but that freaking wind noise was still there.

Any thoughts?? P/S pump has leaked and moaned from the start, getting replaced by myself and a friend this week. But this wind noise just started last month. My truck used to occasionally do this as well, weird wind noise and bad driving, then gets better. I can't find anything. TIA

 

I should also add that I've checked and the OBD1 system has not thrown any codes.

 

Does it happen in neutral or only when moving? If you can replicate it when stationary, you can poke around for the source of the noise while turning the throttle plate. From what you described, I'm skeptical that it's wind noise. It could be drive line, though, in which case you'd have to be moving.

 

When I say "wind", I only say so because I'm not sure how else to describe it. Howling, maybe?

Anyways, it will make the sound in neutral and in gear. I already tried pulling the throttle cable and it's just a bunch of noise. It's too loud and spread out for me to tell exactly where it's coming from. I can try again and attempt to listen more closely.

 

And when you say drive line, do you mean the drive shaft and general drive train components? I apologize for the ignorance

 

^ Yes, that's what I meant. As in, something that would only occur when the car is moving (or on rollers).

My highly uneducated guess is a major vacuum leak.

 

Chattanoah, my first reaction to this is that your fan clutch has gone bad and has locked into a 1:1 rotation position. This is usually the cause of a "loud wind noise" from the engine bay on an SC300 (Auto or Manual). The "wind noise" should become louder the higher you rev the engine whether in neutral or under acceleration.

Open your hood and with the engine off try rotating the mechanical radiator fan. Does it spin freely even after you have let go of the blades? If not or if it is extremely difficult to move the fan blades at all then it is your fan clutch that has gone bad. This is the metal spinning section that bolts onto the front of your water pump and which affixes to the yellow plastic fan blades.

The Toyota/Lexus part number for it is 16210-46030. Not cheap but generally these things last for years. Yours is probably the original fan clutch which is now twenty-five years old.

Note that the fan blade needs to be torqued onto the new fan clutch in a specific inch-lb measurement and NOT ft-lbs. And the four bolts that affix the fan clutch to your water pump pulley require a specialty tool to get off and on properly to your torque wrench detailed here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...de-torque.html

 

This is extremely helpful! In fact, the fan does not move freely. Thank you so much, Kahn (as usual). You too, t2d2. You SC legends always blow my mind. I'll look into getting this taken care of and will keep you posted if it does not work.

 

Listen to Kahn. That's a much more educated guess than mine.

 

Is this a part that would be appropriate to buy from one of our part-out vendors? Or would it be better to just spend a little more and buy a new OEM/OEM spec part?

 

Mine actually just went bad as well.
I decided to go to the Dealer for mine and it will run me $211. Which is not bad, but a bit heavier than the $50 or so you can find them for from vendors online, and the OEM Aisin one will run you anywhere from $150-$180 online.

I just like the dealership since they just built a new one like right next to my house, and the parts manager is a cool guy, otherwise I'd probably have just picked up an Aisin one online. But this is something where I think the extra $100 for OEM would offer a nice piece of mind considering it's a part that you would not want to have to think about again for a while.

 

My dealer can get the part for 125, labor+part is 250. Not terrible, I imagine I'll buy the part through them and do it myself.

 

Definitely go for the OEM 16210-46030 part or the Aisin version on Rockauto (which should be the same thing since they are the OEM vendor). The average discounted price for the OEM version is about $158.

Driftmotion also lists a new one under the search term "2JZ-GTE Supra Fan Clutch". Theirs is $100. That might be Aisin but I am not sure. (FYI, the mechanical fan clutch for 2JZ engines is the same part for both the GE and GTE).

Personally I'd stick with the OEM part. Your dealer being able to get P/N 16210-46030 for $125 is a great deal-- I'd go for it if that's OEM. They do last a very long time from brand new. You should not have to worry about this part again for another twenty years with an OEM version.

It is not a big job to have it installed. You just need a couple of specific tools to do it quickly and correctly (correct torque at the water pump pulley area with a Snap-On "Torque Adapter" extension for your torque wrench and correct torque applied to the fan blade bolts with an in-lb torque wrench) which the dealer will have.

The thread I linked has the correct tools listed also IF you prefer to do it yourself.

 

Are you sure it's not ACIS activating? It can sound like somebody sloshing a metal can filled with marbles around when it kicks in.

 

Buy one from Oreilly or Advance, etc for $75. Or if you can wait buy the cheap one from Rock Auto or Amazon. You are just wasting money for a street car that is 20+ years old to buy the dealer item in my opinion, the clutch will last as long as you plan to drive it most likely since this one lasted 20+ years. All of that is assuming you are going to put it on yourself. It takes a 10mm wrench and about 5 min to get it off the car. Then another 5 min to transfer the fan to the new clutch, then another 10 min to put it back on the car. $125 labor just pisses me off that they actually charge that.