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I bought a 1998 Lexus gs400 with 145k on it
Recently i noticed a lot of oil leaking from the front of my engine near my pulleys.
Anyhow i brought it down to my trusted mechanic and he pulled it apart and found that my cam seals and crankshaft seals are leaking.
He told me i should replace my idler pulley, serpentine belt, timing belt, spark plugs and spark plug seals, cam and crank seals, and water pump.
Anyhow my question is about the camshaft seals. I went down to the Lexus dealership to buy my parts, the Lexus rep told me that the seals are included in the cam kit. which includes the whole cam, for $390....i don't need the cam....just the seals.
I have found the camshaft seals online at many places for about $30 ish....anyhow when i spoke with my mechanic he wanted to make sure i got all the seals for the camshaft. He showed me about 2 or 3 other ones that are near the front of the engine for the cam. I cant find any replacements for these online at all. Has someone done a camshaft seal replacement that would be able to send me a part list? or point out exactly what i need for the repair =-) is it just one seal that i need for the camshaft or is it 2 or 3 seals near the front of the cam?
You need two cam seals for the cam timing tube, one for each side, not common that these seals go.
Your mechanic may have saw oil when he took the timing cover off and that could be the intake VVT cam gear instead of the cam seals. This should be verified.
More common is the valve cover seals and gaskets, 18 seals and two gaskets with 8 spark plug tube gaskets.
Also the front intake camshaft bearing cap is siliconed in place and has 4 crush washers that should be replaced if removed.
Last edited by FrankT; 04-02-12 at 11:30 AM.
Reason: restore pic...
The oil was leaking out past the cam seals, so i assume that means that i need new cam seals and vvt gear seals as well if the oil was leaking out that far? are the vvt seals sold without the vvt gear?
Also this car only has 2 cam seals on it? my dad said its a dohc so it should have 4? I am defiantly going to replace the 18 seals you are talking about, those i should be all set ordering. In located in puerto rico so trying to find some of these parts here are a nightmare....as well as expensive =-(
Sheesh. It looks like the cams have to be removed to replace the oil seals. Most things on my SC400 are easier than comparable repairs on my '92 300ZXTT but at least the camshaft seals are easy on it. I'm likely going to have to do these seals soon but not looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll be asking for help on this forum but it looks like message traffic for SC400's is minimal.
You need two cam seals for the cam timing tube, one for each side, not common that these seals go.
Your mechanic may have saw oil when he took the timing cover off and that could be the intake VVT cam gear instead of the cam seals. This should be verified.
More common is the valve cover seals and gaskets, 18 seals and two gaskets with 8 spark plug tube gaskets.
Also the front intake camshaft bearing cap is siliconed in place and has 4 crush washers that should be replaced if removed.
on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being most difficult, how hard is it to replace the cam seals? Fyi, I can do valve covers, brake boosters in my sleep for a skills/ability reference.
Hi,
I'm in the same boat as everyone else wit hmy mechanic saying I have leaking camshaft seals, front and rear main oil pan gssket and the lower seal that splits th ebloce for the crankshaft. I had the rear main and oil pan gaskets replaced 3.5 years ago.I find it odd the car was driven 270k miles w/o those leaking then replaced them (5/2019) and here just after 18k miles they're out again. The mechanic who did the work in 2019 asked me if the mechanic here used fluorescent dye to find th eleaks. He didn't. So I'm suspect that the rear main and oil pan gaskets are actually leaking. I'm guessing it's th e camshaft /front main leaking down the block. I want to do the work myself except for the rear main and oil pan gaskets. Is there a kit for doing the cam shaft seals, front main, water pump and timing belt?. I've worked on older cars 1950-1980's but nothing foreign but looking at everthing I can find on line it looks pretty straight forward.
Thanks in advance
dagored
...replacement of cam seals is an involved process in a 1uz w/VVTi.
It is very doable, I say if you can change your timing belt and understand the timing marks you will not have issues.
It requires the removal of all 4 cams.
Following the procedure in the FSM and having everything organized is the best advice along with being a bit methodical.
I will post FSM pages when I can get to my portable drive.
Here are some IMPORTANT instruction from the FSM:
SET NO.1 CYLINDER TO APPROX. 50°ATDC COMPRESSION
a. Turn the crankshaft pulley and align its groove with timing mark “0” of the No.1 timing belt cover.
b. Check that the timing marks of the camshaft timing pulleys and timing belt rear plates aligned. If not, turn the crankshaft 1 revolution (360°) .
c. Turn the crankshaft pulley approximately 50°clockwise, and put the timing mark of the crankshaft pulley in line with the canters of the crankshaft pulley bolt and the No.2 timing belt idler pulley bolt.
At 50* ATDC your cam marks will line up with the “T”, cam removal and install is done in this position.
NOTICE: If the timing belt is disengaged, having the crankshaft pulley at the wrong angle can cause the piston head and valve head to come into contact with each other when you remove the camshaft timing pulley causing damage. So always set the crankshaft pulley at the correct angle.
Here are some tips:
Use of a service bolt it is mandatory on the scissor gear of the EX cams. The T Belt is off the cam gears. RH- bank 2 the service bolt hole is accessible. LH- bank 1 the service bolt hole is not accessible until you rotate the EX cam 180* and line up the dots.
A bit nerve racking 1st time doing it, cams want to move on their own, use the biggest wrench you have.
Make sure the crank is set to 50* ATDC as per the service manual. I did leave the EX cam in place but all the cam caps were loose. I did not remove the throttle body so the VVTi oil controller on bank 2 was in the #1 cam cap on removal and install.
Hope that helps, good luck and have patience.
Also if the cam seals are leaking chances are the VVTi gears are pissing oil also, some like me have opened them up and resealed them with RTV FIPG or similar.
Last edited by FrankT; 01-28-23 at 03:50 PM.
Reason: adding pictures
Hi Frank,
So it looks like the camsharts, all 4 of them have to be removed to get the seals out and replaced on just the intake cams? But in your second licture I don't see any seal on th eexhaust camshafts...just the intake cams.So it looks like once yo uinert a bolt in th eexhaust cam gear, that locks it in place and then the intake cam just rotated up and out around the exhaust cam gear. On a few you tube videos it looks like the seals, after removering the camshaft gears, are just pulled loose toward the front of the car and new ones gently tapped into place. I'll have to see your manual to see the cam shaft timing marks and get more details before I start thithis project. Luckily after many months I bought a RC F thi sweek so I won't be without a car which means I'll have plenty of time to get this project finished.
The water pump, tensioners look pretty straight forward. The front main looks a little more complex requiring a pller. My guess is this is done after the cam shaft seals are in.
Hi,
Really great info you've provided. I'll look them over.
Is this the seal on the cam that you're using RTV to reseal? I'm not referring to the cam shaft seal we've been discussing in previous posts.
DR
What a great source of info you are! I wish I was in Texas so I could have you take a look at my possible mistakes!
Now for all these parts where's the best place to go? RockAuto or ??
Thanks
Seems like recently I have been seeing large oil leaks from near the cam seals, and the cams seals need to be replaced when the cams are reinstalled, but also I have been finding the sealed sprocket for the VVTi gears have been the culprit of several oil recently oil leaks. The Cam sprocket that is on the front of the head is what I am referring to. They are labeled as “not serviceable” by Toyota and they want to sell u replacement intake cams but I have been able to pull them apart, they have a big spring inside and then a large o-ring that seals them up, and that o-ring has been the culprit and needs to be replaced. So anyone who suspects their cam seals are leaking should inspect the back of the sprocket that the timing belt rides on also.
04-02-11, 07:05 AM
98 gs400 camshaft seals
