Hello everyone, I have just some basic questions that i need help/ advice on what to do. Yesterday I just purchased a 1993 Lexus SC400. It's the 1UZ( obviously, but not sure what gen as I am new to the platform). but i was driving it home from buying it from a private seller. it broke down on me and wouldn't start again. So I had it towed to a lexus dealership to diagnose the issue. They came back to me and told me that the Hydraulic fan pump is shot and it needs to be fixed/ replaced, they also told me that the engine for sure has an oil leak somewhere, I was aware of the Hydro fan leaking fluid but the owner told me it was slightly, and the oil leak was a small supprise but I can fix it. The dealership took the belt off and the service writer said he pulled it off with his hands. fast forward a few hours, I got it back to my house on a truck and started peeking at it trying to figure out what I should do. I saw that the Engine Fan fluid resevoir is bone dry. So from what I can see I THINK, that the engine fan fluid resevoir ran out of fluid, causing the pulley to stop moving and "lock up?"" causing the belt to rub against it and trash the belt. the car is slammed super low and i bottomed out. Now originally I thought I may have cracked the oil pan or the radiator, but the dealership told me both of those are fine. Any ideas on what else it could be? I am planning on ordering a new engine fan setup from ebay or something, and a new belt and potentially a new pulley if its needed. please if anyone has any advice or has dealt with this issue before. anything is helpful. Also is it possible to time the engine myself? or do i need to bring it to a shop? I've timed an engine before but not this car. I just want to be sure in my process of trying to take one step forward I don't want to accidentally take two steps back. please feel free to comment or HMU on snapchat or Instagram.

Snap: James_anonymous
IG: James__Williams

 

hey just wanted to reply and hope your post gets some attention. I have a 1993 SC400 as well and my hydraulic fan is dead as well. I’m replacing it and having a shop convert the r12 system to 134

 

You can repair the hydro system, its probably the hydro fan fluid that leaked out everywhere that looks like oil. probably take it all apart see whats wrong and refurbish it.

Or, the best thing to do in the long run is ditch the problematic hydro fan, find an old ls400 92-97 in a junkyard and take the regular fan off of it along with the waterpump (or front of the waterpump).
You can ditch the hydro pump and the lines etc.. and just use the oldschool LS400 fan setup with the clutch fan. it will never leak, the clutch might go bad someday but they are cheap and you can put in a new one when installing.
Just look it up online and you'll see what I am talking about. the 2uz also had a mechanical fan, but those were in trucks and might be longer not sure.

The third option is to use the ls400 fan bracket without the clutch and fan attached (so something is there for the accessory belt to ride on still, don't use the hydro fan base for this).
Then put an electric fan that pulls through the radiator. you can even fashion IS300 electric fans to the radiator like people do with supra swaps.

I wouldn't take this to a shop, they will probably rip you off, but it isn't a really hard do it yourself project if you have some time and a lot of patience cause its tight around that engine.

oh and for the timing question, the 1uz v8 is fixed timing there is no adjustment like on a 2jzge.

 

Hey it's been a long time since I have looked on here and I just found my account again so I could reply to you. I decided to get the LS400 fan bracket and I found a pulley that will bolt up to it. I ordered a fan off of ebay that seems like it will fit. Question being is where should I wire in the fan? Do i need to constantly have it running or is there a way I can wire it into something so it will shut off when its at the right temp and turn on when its getting hot?

 

So you are running an electric fan. you need a fan controller (more expensive, less complicated) or you can wire up a relay and a temp probe yourself (less expensive more complicated).

The fan controller is nice cause it will take care of most of the issues just wire it up per instructions, it also has an a/c on function where if the a/c is on the fans will stay on.
I use this one on most of my projects, but there are lots out there: Flex-A-Lite Variable Speed Controllers 33055
I hope you got a big enough fan if you are just going with one.