Good luck to you I hope all works to your favor

 

New engine

 

That is a wild chain of events (that car wash story freaks me out!). I hope everything turns out well for you. I would definitely push for a new engine though. At 130k you may have just increased your resale value when its all said and over with. I've heard of Toyota dealerships doing work on our cars but it makes me nervous when I hear stories like yours. Good luck!

 

Haha, the car wash thing freaks me out too. I stood there and watched it happen, and I will never be able to get the image of my unoccupied car rolling across 4 lanes of traffic out of my mind. I think there will be a new engine put in my car, but I think the dealership is probably going to try and cut some corners here. I'm trying to make it clear to them that I want a geniune Lexus remanufactured engine... but I also know that I'll probably have to shell out a few bucks to make that happen.

I'm kinda stoked about getting a new engine at 130k... this opens the way for me to do a few mods (basic stuff, 01+ wheels, 01+ tails, replacement of my condensation-ridden headlight, etc) now that I don't have to worry about replacing engine parts for a few years.

 

so you bought the car for $11,000, and now you're getting a new engine for the cost of a timing belt change.....man, this is not bad luck, its a blessing in disguise!!

 

Normally aspirated 6 CYLs are on backorder from Toyota, they're going to drop in a twin-turbo, If you dont mind

 

The very nature of the beast (Dealerships) dictate that they will look for any way to make you pick up part or all of the bill. Keep a diary and document everything. Write down discussions with service and tech people with names, dates and times. They may argue that they shouldn't have to put a new engine in a car with 130K, but it was their mistake. You should be compensated for all of your trouble. Even though they keep one on retainer, the last thing they want is to have to get an Attorney involved. Hopefully, it won't deteriorate to that point, but you should be prepared if it does.
Good Luck

 

Toyota techs aren't trained to work on the 2jz-GE engine with VTT-I. This timing belt job should be an easy job for any experience lexus tech. What happen was the tech forgot to put the VVT-i cam sprocket back in time and it only take 4 teeth to bend your valves. Have the car tow to someone that know their lexus and get it fix right. What are the compression ? Toyota dealership might save you the money but they won't save you all the headaches! Free feel to contact us if you have any further question. We have at least about 5 calls a day about the VVT-I system . Very best of luck. 214-221-3135 or email jpimportz@yahoo.com
JP Importz

 

Yeah, in hindsight I really should've just bitten the bullet and paid the extra money to have Lexus do it. However, the Toyota dealership assured me that they could do it. It IS the same basic engine as the Supra from certain years that I don't recall right now. I'm sure that what you said is exactly what happened... they just weren't trained to do it the correct way. I just wish they would've been up front about it in the beginning.

Well, it's been a week since I first brought it in, and my dad finally got involved today. I've been as nice as I can, but he's the one who's dealt with auto dealerships his whole life (he sold Lexus in '89-'93, Volvo before that) and has more experience than I do at this. We received a call from the insurance claims guy working the case and we stated that we wouldn't take anything less than a Lexus remanufactured engine, for resale value's sake. They had found a used engine with 40k on it in a city about 150 miles from here, but I just don't feel right about that. If I'm going to do this, it needs to be done right. I hate to be nitpicky, but they really don't realize how much I love driving that car

 

If they screw up a simple timing belt job that usually take a lexus tech about 1.5hr to do. Why would you think they can fix your engine? There are different kinds of 2JZ. 1) 2JZ-GTE is the supra tt engine: has oil squirters, lower compression pistons, thicker headgasket, different intake and exhuast manifold set up.
2) 2jz-GE non VTT-i come in all the supra n/a, gs300, Sc300 till 97. No oil squirters, higher compression, thinner headgasket, same rods as the TT engine but different pistons, different intake and exhuast manifold set up
3) 2jz-GE VTT-I 98-and current GS300, SC300. No oil squirters, higher compression, thinner headgaskets, different rods(thinner than TT engine), different pistons, Different intake and manifold exhuast from the TT. And last thing but not least, it has the VVT-i (the valve bender). The VVT-i deleted EGR, because it allow the exhuast valves to open up a little sooner. So it burn off the left over exhuast gas.
I hope this will clear up some of the questions that you have. Not all 2jz all the same and not everyone can work on the 2jz!
JP Importz

 

Thanks for clarifying that... it does make a lot of sense as to what happened here. I had always thought that they were just interchangable, but obviously they're not. If I had known this before, I wouldn't have even bothered taking it there...the point is though, they told me they could work on it, so I thought they would do an acceptable job. I think the same thing about having them put the new engine in it...if they screw up this timing belt, what's going to happen to a new engine, and what could they possibly damage taking the old one out? The last thing I want is to have my transmission or anything else damaged because of carelessness. I'm sure they'll probably be a lot more careful now, but I was also sure that they'd be careful doing the timing belt. We'll just have to see how this all plays out. Meanwhile, I've put almost 1000 miles on the Camry they gave me...I hope I don't get to put too many more on there. I miss my car

 

Go drag race with the camry

 

exactly my thoughts....

 

Hahaha...I would if I could. I'm saving so much money on fuel having the smaller engine, but the power off the line is killing me. It's not anything against the Camry but wow, the GS has nice off the line power for a car of its size. The '05 transmission issue with the Camry/ES is also really noticable too, the shifts are in very weird places.

Just so you know, I HAVE taken it up to 100 just to see how it felt... and there's PLENTY of power up in that range of the RPM's. I think from 80-100 it took something like 1.5-2 seconds? I don't remember, but it went by fast.

I'll leave the drag racing to the little Hyundai Sonatas that my local Lexus dealer gives me...those are really fun to mess around with

 

1.5 from 80-100? Has the carmy driving caused you to lose your mind?