Laxmike65

Hey all. Been years since I’ve been on here so it’s a new profile for me!

Anyway 2 weeks ago I did a full timing belt job on my 98 gs300. Parts replaced included:
timing belt
serpentine belt
cam and crank seals
timing belt tensioner and pulley
radiator and all new antifreeze
water pump
tranny drain and fill
oil change and filter

This was all done roughly 250 miles ago by me at the 208,000 mile mark.
At the 200k mark I did the following:
plugs
wires
valve cover gaskets
fuel pump

Before the timing belt job everything ran fine, no lights and zero issues. After I am now getting the p1349 code for the bank 1 vvti malfunction. I get the CEL, VSC, and VSC OFF lights but it doesn’t go into limp mode. It comes on consistently after the car has been on and off twice after I clear the code. There are no other codes, and the car starts, idles, and runs normally with good gas mileage. No misfires as far as I can tell or feel and smooth power delivery. I have replaced the OCV solenoid and filter, and done another oil change to ensure no contamination. I can’t see any oil leaking from the vvti pulley but it was very dirty when I took everything apart for the timing belt job due to a leaking cam seal.

Any thoughts or ideas as to what this could be? Cam or crank sensor, or a bad vvti pulley come to mind. I highly doubt the ECU due to the fact that it ran fine before and never had this issue.

Help is much appreciated, I’d like to avoid having to take it in.

Laxmike65

Just an update to anyone interested, the vvti pulley was the issue. Tearing it all down and swapping it with a new one (picture and part number below) worked perfectly.


However, when putting it back together I didn’t seat that key in the middle of the cam onto the camshaft so even those it looked to be timed correctly it spun 360 degrees rather than just the 60 that it normally should. BE WARNED YOU CAN CORRECTLY INSTALL THE 10mm Allen bolt after this and everything will appear to function correctly and you can test crank by hand. After doing this to check my timing I attempted to start it only to have a VERY loud pop come from the engine bay. Luckily in this situation only the pulley spins not the camshaft so no valve damage however it gave me a really nice big vacuum leak �� it almost completely blew out the bottom of the intake resonator but the heat shield hid it from me. So just remember to double and triple check as you go!!

TrueGS300

Good work, that blown out air box looks like a good excuse for an intake upgrade

Laxmike65

Thanks! This was all in restoration prep to go NA-T I’ve been following your build and am going to be doing similar though going the log style manifold. I wanted to do something now but elected to just get a new resonator box until turbo time. The suspension needs a well deserved overhaul so that is happening first.

Rickyram81

Mine is throwing same code but running fine and I can clear code but it comes back same thing do you know what it was
Like to find out if you have found some info on it thanks ricky

lexo98

iTrader: (2)

check the VVTI filter.