jaxscuby

about to do front main seal / timing belt / water pump due oil leak from front main seal.
the only thing i don't have is crank balancer tool.

Banshee365

Man, I'm so sorry about not seeing this a few months ago. Just for addition to the thread I'll answer it even though I'm sure the requirement for the info is long gone. This particular time I replaced the cam seals by removing the front cam bearing caps and just popping the seals out. This was because I already had the valve covers off adjusting the valves and such. You cannot remove the bearing cap without removing the valve covers. To remove them with the valve covers on you need to use a very very small drill bit to drill a pilot hole in the middle of the circumference of the seal. On that small of a seal it's easy for the bit to want to walk into the cam or head, which is NOT good if you let it. A small enough drill bit should allow you to drill a tiny hole. Then slowly step up the bit until you can thread a wood screw or something into the seal, I mean just barely screw it in. You don't want to screw it in to far as it will bottom out and damage the head behind the seal. Then just grab ahold of the screw with some side cutters, or even better tile cutters, and pop it out. I actually usually find appropriate sized PCV couplers and such to drive seals in. Offset the pipe on the seal so the pipe sticks out one side or the other so it will bottom out on the metal. The seals need to be installed flush.

Before installing the seals insure the sealing surface of the crank and cams is completely clean. If there is a noticeable groove you're not going to get the new seal with work properly. It will need to be sleeved. I see this on lots of other engines, but not the 1UZ for some reason. I'm usually able to clean the crank and cam sealing surfaces and they're perfect. Don't install the seal with engine oil. Sometimes I use a very thin film of synthetic grease but I've found that a film of soapy water is probably the best for installing seals. Just don't pinch the thing going on of course. It will be obvious.

I should have a photo in the previous pages of this thread showing how to lock the crank with a socket in the between the transmission case and a flywheel bolt head. There is enough leverage between the bolt and center of the crank that I don't think there is much stress down there during the 181 ft/lb torque. I've also heard of people using an old drive belt and wrapping it around the crankshaft pulley then around a suspension component or something to lock it. I've never tried it that way but I'm sure it would work if you spent a few minutes figuring out how to route it and all.

Superfast1

Banshee365- I'm considered myself a car guy but am nothing compare to you. What a great DIY tutorial. You're such an asset to this community. I take my hat off to you, buddy.

Banshee365

Thanks for the kind words. I like to see these cars kept on the road rather than junked because repair costs are starting to outweigh the value. Parts are still plenty available and the cars are really great reliable drivers so anything I can do to help some people do their own repairs allowing them to keep the cars on the road rather than squashing them makes me happy.

Superfast1

Banshee365, I feel exactly the same way that's why I like to help out the folks on the forum as well.

oldgregg

quick question i know you recomend denso but i was looking at ngk wires and plugs (double plat or iridium) would they be a little bit better and if so should i go (double plat or iridium) im not worried about the cost of the parts i am looking for high quality. and for the crank seal and other seal i need any suggestions on those. while in there i might as well do it all.

Banshee365

This post would probably have been better off in the thread that you created for your car as none of the question pertains to the timing belt or water pump. But, I'll obviously answer anyway!

I don't recommend Denso because Toyota say's so or because they are cheap. I recommended the parts that I linked to you in your thread because I feel they are the best. I'm sure NGK wires would work. I'm not sure if they will fit in the wire clamps though. I'm sure some different type of plug may work but I know many high end plugs run like crap in the LS400. Cost is a low priority when I buy parts as well and I want to best. I would buy, and have bought, the parts that I linked to in your thread. I recommend the exact parts I linked to. Don't just pick a plug that says Denso and throw it in there.

As far as seals, I like the seals to be from Toyota/Lexus or their OE manufacturer. They are pretty cheap from the Toyota dealer so I usually just buy them from there for convenience. They are going to be either made in Japan or the USA.

ankurdave

Thank you so much for this excellent tutorial! It's the best LS400 tutorial I've seen so far on any topic. Though this is only my second repair, it allowed me to get almost all the way through the timing belt job over the past two weeks. Along the way I also replaced the cam and crank seals, valve cover gaskets and PCV valve, radiator and thermostat, and engine coolant temperature sensor.

I just have one question before I start the engine back up again. When putting everything back together I noticed the crankshaft position sensor wire is worryingly close to the drive belt. My current wire routing has it originating from a wire bundle clipped into the LH timing cover, passing between the AC compressor and the fan pulley, and then connecting to the crankshaft position sensor. This seems to be the only way since the wire isn't long enough to route under the AC compressor, and there isn't any clip to keep it away from the drive belt. See picture below.

Any tips on how to route this wire, or should it not be a problem?

Banshee365

Great! Be sure to turn the engine over by hand a couple of turns before starting it. Alway's do this to at least make sure you didn't make any big mistakes. I tried to make the tutorial thorough to prevent that but it is still a complicated procedure.

That harness should be routed behind the fan bracket. I just checked a bad engine that I have laying around and the connector and harness looks to be fairly easily routed behind the bracket properly without too much trouble. You may have to finagle it a bit but the connector housing will fit through the routing fine. Worst case scenario you may have to drop the compressor down to be able to fit your fingers behind the bracket to guide the wire but I bet you can do it without doing that.

Here are a few photos I just took of the proper routing.

ankurdave

Thanks, that was very helpful! I was able to route the wire behind the fan bracket by attaching it to a long zip tie fed up from underneath and pulling it through.

The engine started up fine, no sign of leaks or any warning lights. However, the cold idle was lower than normal (something like 900 vs 1800 RPM). There was also more vibration than usual. After 10 minutes of idling I was alarmed to see that the front RH catalytic converter was glowing red-hot and the exhaust smelled like sulfur. There was no smoke in the exhaust as far as I could tell, only water vapor. I turned the engine off immediately after noticing the glowing cat.

From reading up it seems like some of the RH cylinders must be misfiring. I gather this is a pretty serious problem. Here are some guesses:

- One of the wires connecting to the RH ignition coil or spark plugs might not be seated properly (based on this thread). I did remove and clean all the spark plug wires, so it's possible there's a problem there. I'm going to check all of these soon.
- I suppose the timing could be off. I'm pretty sure I got it right since I checked many times while installing, but I could remove the upper covers and make sure again.
- I noticed the distributor rotors fit on the distributor housing in two possible ways, 180 degrees apart. I assumed this meant they could go on either way, but maybe that's not true.

Have you seen this before?

Banshee365

The rotors do NOT install more than one way. Take one off and look at the inside. There is a tab that fits into a notch on the cam gear. If you installed a rotor backwards it will spark on the exhaust stroke. That will pretty much light a fire in the combustion chamber being that it isn't on the power stroke. I really don't see how the engine could run on one bank of cylinders but I haven't tried it.

You need to remove the top timing covers, turn the crank to TDC (while only turning the engine clockwise, never the other way as it will mess up your timing check), and look at your cam timing marks again. If you don't see them turn the crank another full turn. We are talking about the marks on the cam gear to the backing plate, not anything on the belt. Those are useless now. Are you sure you put the wires back on the right spots on the caps? Did you do them one at a time or is there a possibility that you crossed a couple?

ankurdave

I did remove all the spark plug wires at once, but I was very careful when reinstalling them to match the wiring diagram. I just removed the RH upper timing cover and all those ones were wired correctly.

It does seem to me that I must have installed a distributor backwards. That would explain the engine seeming to run at halfn power. The only thing it doesn't explain is why only one catalytic converter was red hot rather than both (since each distributor powers spark plugs on both banks). I'm now draining the coolant and preparing to take everything back off to see.

Banshee365

Be sure to check the timing on the right cam especially. Get a good straight eye on it. Use a mirror if need be. Cam timing being off can mess with spark timing and cause excessive cylinder temps. Feel free to post photos of your cam marks straight on with your crank perfectly at 0° TDC so we can take a peak.

ankurdave

Will do. When draining the coolant I also realized why only one cat might be glowing: they're of different types with different amounts of heat shielding. The RH one is a cylinder-shaped one that could be aftermarket, while the LH one is flat, has visible heat shielding with holes, and looks to be OEM.

Banshee365

No, the cat should not glow. Period. Usually cats glow in the LS400 for reasons like bad ECM capacitors where the computer dumps way too much fuel in because it doesn't see the car warming up. Not saying that is your problem since this is all immediately after the timing belt change but it has to do with unconfined combustion or a very very rich mixture.