tomeyeman

The water pump was definately bad. The propellor had come loose from the shaft just spinning freely.

Okay, I got it all back together:

Here is the Crank belt line lined up on my crank dash mark:


Next is my left cam line lined up with the mark:


Then my right cam lined up:


And finally, all three lined up perfectly after two complete rotations by hand:


I wish I can say I did something different this time. But everything went together just like last time. It's dark now and I'm tired. Tomorrow I will put in some coolant, cross my fingers and give her a crank.

3UZFTE

Everything looks good in the last picture, hope everything goes well. Don't get discouraged, I've done the T-belt on the LS400 I own like 3 times, and I've got maybe 100 miles on it. I pretty much know the 1UZ like th e back of my hand because of it.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

Hay, yours looks just like mine did, should not be a problem. I dont know about the 50 degree setting. we didnt have to do anything like that. Our old belt had the three lines on it (from the first replacement @ 120k) we lined them up, removed the belt, pump, idlers and such. didnt have to turn anything (mine is a 97) and it runs perfect, no leaks, since I replaced the PS line at the same time. Last week we replaced the EGR tube, now that is a job for you. (no we didnt pull the tranny).

etex

Are you sure the right cam is aligned properly? Looks like three teeth off from my viewing angle..... Hope I'm wrong.

etex

With another look at the pics, the left cam also appears to be about the same distance off. Is this an OEM belt?

tomeyeman

Yea, those are the pictures with the crank rotated 50 degrees, thus rotating both cams to the right as well. With the 2 crank clockwise rotation, both cam marks line up perfectly (but not the marks on the belt as I understand this is how it's supposed to be).

UPDATE: Went out this morning, filled up with coolant and now the damn car won't start. The last time this happened was with the first TB attempt and I concluded I had the rotors 180 degrees wrong. I flipped them and it began starting.

This time I have the metal tips of the rotors pointing toward the mark on the housing, just like before. Is this correct or is the plastic end tip supposed to be pointing at the mark?

Hey, this is getting to be fun. Feels like trying to solve a Rubik's cube or something.

tomeyeman

This this little drawing seems to show the plastic tip of the rotors are supposed to be pointing to the notch on the housing.



While this guys photos shows that the metal tip is supposed to be pointing at the mark in the housing (although you can't really see it):


So does anyone know which is correct?

OH I TAKE IT BACK---LOOKS LIKE THEY DON'T HAVE THE HOUSING ATTACHED IN THE DRAWING. MY BAD!

Ahhhhh.... let me go hook up the OBD and see if any codes come up.

tomeyeman

Du Duh Du.............I'm an idiot. I forgot to plug in one of the coils. That solved my no-starting problem.

But I'm right back to square one. Runs exactly the same. Here's the breakdown:

1. Car starts by giving it a little gas.
2. It idles only while holding the gas........it idles down to 200-300 hundred RPM and then stalls if I take my foot off the gas.
3. I drove it around the block. Good power but sounds like a kid's bike with a playing card stuck in the wheel spokes. So something still isn't right. No codes are given.
4. But, hey, the heat works fine and it's not overheating any more. So at least I accomplished that fix.......even though I can't drive it

Remember I also changed the plugs, plug wires (yep I'm sure they are in correct), the rotors and distributor caps during the initial TB change. And this car was running perfectly before removing the timing belt. Oh yea, I also switched out the old coils with the new ones just to check that they were good.....and there was no difference. So I guess I can rule out bad coils. Could I have bad plugs?? What are the odds of that??

Any more ideas? I'm open to anything. I'm just hoping the dealer can figure it out. I LOVE this car.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

I dont understand this 50 degree thing. look at my photos, with the TB lined up with the cams, my CS keyway was at 1 oclock, WHERE are yours?

tomeyeman

I don't quite get it either. But the original poster bmoore did say the 95 and 96 LS cars are a bit different.

For what it's worth, my car runs the same (crappy) with and without the 50 degree rotation. So I can't say for sure that it makes a difference. Also a written tutorial showed the need for the rotation (not sure where I found it here on the web).

So???

tomeyeman

For my last hoorah--I'm going to get some new spark plugs. The ones I had in (threw them away already) were Bosch Platinum+4. The new ones are NGK laser platinum. I can't imagine that would make a difference but I suppose it can't hurt anything to change them back to what was working (except my wallet).

etex

The 95 through 97 LS engines are the same. The 98-00 are different. My 97 didn't require the 50-degree advance, but the 98 did.

Could you possibly have a sensor not plugged in correctly... Are you sure you got the "click" when each was plugged back in? Just looking at possibilities....

etex

I think the latest recommendation on plugs for your engine is the Denso or NGK (either) irridium.... But the ones you now have should work about as good as irridium.

tomeyeman

Dude..........maybe your right. I just checked the timing with a light. It now shows 15 degree BTDC. Before it showed right at 10.

My understanding is that it should read 8-12 BTDC. So it appears to be off now. Would that 10 degree rotation make the timing change by 5 degrees? That's the part I don't really understand (the last auto mechanic course I took was 25 years ago in high school and I slept through most of that ).

Damn.............it does appear to be running a little better than before (when it was reading 10 BTDC).

My brain says, "screw it--just tow it in"---but my.......what do you call it?...my idiot self says keep going until it's right. I just can't stand to let a car get the best of me.

etex

Although tough, I would say these engines are quite delicate in that they have to be just right to perform properly. Logic would tell us the belt is on properly, but if it were me I would have to have the proper (OEM) belt with the three marks at the crank, the crank set at 0, and the cams properly aligned... all with corresponding belt markings. That's not necessarily a suggestion to you in this case... just a comment. You're the one in charge there, and if you stick with it I can tell you will win this one. Also, I can appreciate the frustration and desire to send it off for someone else to finish. Any lights on your panel while it is running?