mathslope

Thus far I have replaced the thermostat, timing belt, idler pulley, tensioner pulley, tensioner, both camshaft seals, crankshaft seal, water pump, power steering belt, and alternator belt.

It was incredibly difficult! The right tools are a MUST. Trying to save a couple of dollars is not worth the hours of frustration. I learned that the hard way. Three specialities tools I highly recommend are the spanner wrench (pulley holder), crankshaft/harmonic balancer holder, and camshaft installer.

• Using a chain/strap wrench is a terrible idea with the crankshaft/camshaft pulleys. It will chew up your teeth and damage the gear. The crankshaft holder is a must with how tightly the bolt is on.
• Using a 1.5" PVC pipe for the front camshaft works really well but the rear camshaft is in such a tight space, hard to use anything but a seal installer.

One bolt gave me an incredibly hard time, the power steering bracket bolt, 12mm. I first used a 12 point socket to no avail, it ended up rounding out the corners. By that point a 6 point 12mm wasn't working either. Then I tried leaving the bolt soaking with PBlaster overnight, NOPE. Finally using a blow torch and stripped bolt sockets, I was able to open the bolt. Heating it up took about 7min. I easily spent a whole day trying to get this bolt off.

Replacing the thermostat was very straight forward and easy.

Next are the valve cover gaskets/spark plug tube gaskets. After opening up the timing belt, I realized just how much oil was leaking. The engine was CAKED in old and fresh oil. Anything in the rear is going to be so hard to change but needs to be changed the most because the engine is tilted back.

FromFL

Curious about this. What did you use, exactly? One of those cheap hand-held propane torches or a "real" acetylene one?

mathslope

super cheap propane blow torch, just needed to heat the bolt/housing until the rust between the bolt and housing separated from unequal cooling

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

You mentioned oil leaks and coolant leaks and based on the year of your ES, you have the same engine as my 98 just with VVTi and a different throttle body.

Most of your oil leaks will be coming from the valve covers and camshaft seals.

I wouldn’t touch the oil pan as it’s a real pain in the *** and not worth the effort. I did my oil pan twice. First time simply cleaning and resealing (didn’t last) and the second time removing and replacing with a new pan. In hind sight, the original leak was so minimal, I could’ve left it alone.

Other small spots this engine likes to leak from is the oil level sensor near the harmonic balancer pulley and the camshaft position sensor near the oil fill cap.

In regards to coolant, check your bypass hose that sits right under the secondary air intake plenum in the V valley between both banks. It’s often forgotten. Not sure if they still had it in 2002 on the 1MZ. That’s also why you will need a new Intake Plenum gasket, cuz the old one will be toast.

Wipe down the throttle body and spray it down with carb cleaner while you’re at it. It will make a world of difference in your idle.

MAKE SURE TO BLEED THE COOLING SYSTEM OF ANY AIR.

Good luck with the rest. If you successfully tackled the timing belt, everything else is very straight forward.

mathslope

Super glad to hear about the oil pan, it does seem terribly difficult to reach and properly work with. I bought RTV ultra black from amazon for it, but I'll hold off unless it becomes a huge issue. Right now the plan is to run HMX royal purple 5w-30 with OEM filter for at least two oil changes to get the gunk out.

Yup! I drained both banks and the radiator completely, and then I flushed with distilled water, drained completely again. I filled up with coolant, and topped it off after a couple days of driving. Nothing else to do, right?

mathslope

These are the videos I followed for my 2005 es330 3MZ-FE engine.

• To replace the thermostat
  You Tube
• To replace the timing belt/water pump/pulleys/tensioner/camshaft seal
  You Tube
• to drain coolant
  You Tube

I uploaded a new video of how I completely drained the coolant from the engine banks!

mathslope

@Arsenii @BROCKES300

You mentioned transmission fluid flush, I have heard mixed reviews on this. One side says if the transmission fluid hasn't been flushed yet, flushing it now will result in markedly worse shifting and transmission health because the fine particles in the fluid are working to provide some friction. Others say the opposite. What is the better call? The car is at 202k now, I'm hoping to get to 300k like my brother's 2005 es330. Does anybody else also have input based in technical expertise?

I'm currently a graduate student, so tight on time and funds. Starting in July I'll be doing a lot of driving from one hospital to another, I need a safe and reliable vehicle that just works.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

You did a great job flushing the old stuff out but bleeding the system should be done differently.
The best method is to use the Lisle 24680 Spill-Free Funnel (found on Amazon) to burp all the air out of the system in one shot.
What I do is hook up the funnel and fill it with coolant. Turn the engine on and make sure your heater is on MAX. Hold the RPM at about 3000 to get the engine to operating temperature faster.
Once the cooling fans turn on, you know the engine is at the right temperature. Then I go out to the engine bay and squeeze the top radiator hose to push all the air bubble out until there is none left.

You could do it without the funnel by just removing the radiator cap and doing the same procedure, but it gets a lot messier as the fluid has no where to go when the bubbles come up.

I prefer to change the fluid no matter what, but you can gauge it based on the color. If the fluid is still red or a maroon color, you should have nothing to worry about.
Drain and fill the transmission 3 times with about 100-200 miles in between each cycle. On the 3rd and final drain, you can drop the whole pan, replace the filter, clean the magnet, and reseal it.
If I'm not mistaken, your model year uses the Toyota ATF WS fluid, but check your owner's manual to make sure. A good full synthetic ATF such as Valvoline or AMSOIL is a good second choice.

BROCKES300

I asked multiple mechanics and was nervous about flushing, before I did. However, I did a ton of research and asked about other's experience. That doesn't make me an expert, by any stretch of the imagination. But what I can say is, I did it at 300k, (it had also been changed before). My symptoms were varnish cleaning. It did jitter and slip for about 1000 miles, then it started to shift like new! I'm pretty sure, according to others and my mechanics, that over time the transmission builds up varnish on the cluth pads. The new atf has detergent that breaks that down and exposes the raw clutch material. My fluid quickly turned black, that was cleaned away varnish. This was my experience with my 2000 Es300 U140E. From what I've heard Toyota amd Lexus cars do not shed cluth material, so those warnings of transmission failure are probably just for Chevys and Hondas

Again, this was just my experience. I am also a student, with limited car repair funding, so I can relate to the stress that comes with the unknown of car repair. Just think carefully before you do anything, maybe just change your fluid, if your nervous. If you do have clutch varnish the change will also turn very dark, may have the same results, just change more often.

I hope this helps you! Good luck!

mathslope

Yup this is what I did! The spill free funnel was mission critical here. I've checked it a few times since then and all seems to be well! No leaks, constant fluid levels, and no overheating.

mathslope

I think I'm going to hold off on the transmission fluid for now. My next goal is to get the valve cover gaskets/spark plug tubes and then flush the power steering while I'm at it. I'll keep everyone updated!