VTEK-THS

so the deal is, my dad has a '99 RX300 AWD that he drives a LOT. he puts probably 50-60 thousand a year on it. he just had to rebuild the trans last year, cost him about 3400 dollars. He's now been fighting off some oil leaks, but he called me yesterday and said the motor threw a rod. Not good news...

I priced out a used motor at MY cost (i work as a GM Dealer Technician) and a 63k mile motor is 3850 dollars! Reman from Jasper is about 4700 dollars, and used from another place with a lifetime warranty it was going to cost about 5300 bucks! and thats discounted price on just the motor!

why is this engine SO expensive? it's the same engine as the camry and other toyotas, right?

so the situation is, he simply cant afford to buy a motor at a price like that - this truck has probably over 250k miles on it, but we need a motor. I found a motor on ebay with no warranty, dont know how many miles, truck was on fire, it states some parts of the motor were damaged. They want 500 plus shipping for it. i'm pretty tempted to get it and pull the heads off his motor, just use the short block from this fire damaged motor, and put it all back together. Its not what i want to do, at all, but the only other option would be to find a motor used in a toyota vehicle that we could get for a lot less money. can someone PLEASE give me some input on this kinda quickly before this ebay auction ends? which motors can be used from a toyota to match up in a 99 RX300. Can any 1MZ-FE bottom end be used interchangeably? i know it's got variable valve timing, which i think came out on the toyota models in 01? is that right?

anyway i know you guys would know a lot more about this than i could possibly learn in the amount of time we need to have this resolved in. thanks for the help everyone!

Lexmex

Welcome to the Club.

1MZFEs are not quite the same. If you take a quick look on wikipedia of Toyotas/Lexuses or any site showing hp ratings, you'll notice some differences. That also goes for things like intake manifolds, throttle bodies, cooling piping, the ECU. The real closest Toyota twin is the 1MZFE that came out of the 1st generation Toyota Highlander. I think we've had a few people over the years go through the same issue and wind up paying the $$$ and getting the correct motor.

VTEK-THS

thanks for the welcome-i'm a big toyota/lexus fan myself, just not in my price range lol. my next car will probably be a used avalon though. really reachin for the stars, huh? lol

so the closest match would probably be a highlander? I looked up the cost on those motors as well, they arent much cheaper. I also just looked up the replacement time on a short block.... just shy of 24 hours.... and i'd be doing this back yard style. not excited....

any other options for a correct motor application? even if it's just the short block that's the same, i'll take it. it seems my only option at the time is to go with that fire damaged motor, which would require me to pull the short block anyway. I've got the guy sending me more pics tomorrow.

thanks for the reply, and anyone else with input PLEASE let me know anything you can share

VTEK-THS

crap-i just looked up the kelly blue book value on that truck, and with that mileage, in fair condition, the whole truck isnt even valued at 5 grand. paying full price for a motor plus the trouble of putting it in, the truck's basically mechanically totalled. It also needs a new A/C compressor, rear struts and a tire. sounds like this could be a total loss. still, i'd like to explore my options of trying to fix this without spending a bunch of money.

thomas1

YOU know, rebuilding it yourself is probably the cheapest bet. I know that is quite a project, but if you are a mechanic, there it is, just take your time.

VTEK-THS

I've thought of that too. but im a little afraid of any metal that could have gotten loose in the motor and caused block damage at a bearing journal or something, or maybe even cylinder side wall damage. i dont wanna pull the subframe out of the car and have it sitting in my back yard only to find out that we need a motor anyway and cant afford it at the time.
i think the plan as of right now is to buy a cheap truck he can use for work right now, put the lexus in his shop and just wait till we can get our options together, inspect what we can about that motor in NJ from the photos we get, set some money aside, maybe once it's taken off the road and he's got a replacement vehicle for a while we can afford the time to pull his motor down and see if maybe we can rebuild it.
I'll let you guys know how that motor looks-it sounds very promising

VTEK-THS

so, sorry i keep posting over and over, but this problem has been my main focus for the last 2 days.
question-what about a 2005 camry 1MZ-FE? it's got VVT-i
if nothing else, could the motor be picked up and then put the cams and timing system from the RX in it (cause im sure they are different with an application split like that)?

code58

VTEK- I wish i could answer your question about the different motor exchangability but My Lexus/Toyota knowledge doesn't run THAT deep. One thing that I did think about though- how hot was the fire? A little bit of heat might be OK or even a moderate amount with a cast engine but that engine is all aluminum and I don't think would tolerate a great deal of heat without potential damage. How much can you get the Camry engine for? How many miles on it?

lexus114

vtek,maybe an other option is to pick up another 99,or 00 on e-bay (they have come down a lot in price) and if you have available storage,keep his around for a while as a parts vehicle. Just a suggestion. I know he has pretty many miles on his RX, but what do you think caused the problem?
rm

thomas1

If you go on the Lexus owners club site there is a gentleman called Toyrme, he is very knowledgeable about that engine. You might ask him....

ArmyofOne

Ill call him and tell him about this thread. Im reasonably sure that any block from the same year camry or highlander should do the trick. the motor doesnt know the difference between what car it is in.

Also, look here:

http://www.nyblock.com

Edit: the website is down for service...a rebuilt trans for my 1990 ES250 was $400 shipped. should give you an idea of the prices.

Lexmex

CL member Pheonix, though he hasn't been on for a while but you can shoot him a private message and yes he is an absolute whiz on the 1MZFE

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/members/35660-pheonix.html

VTEK-THS

code58-That was my question as well. Id like to know the extent of the damage to the motor. the listing says everything that was damaged from the fire was removed from the motor. you can see the plastic timing cover is off of it, so that probably melted. the timing belt idler is rusty, probably from sitting outside or something, but all the holes in the motor are plugged up. So new timing belt, idler and tensioner should be all it needs to take care of that. The intake manifold is about 50% dark and 50% clean looking, so im kinda thinking that the flames themselves didnt even reach the whole motor. probably stopped somewhere near the firewall. I was supposed to get some detailed pics today in my email, but i just checked and they arent there. if they dont show up tomorrow then i'll call them again. i'd like to show you guys what it looks like once i get em. there's a camry/avalon/solara motor up to 2001 with 71k miles on it for 350 bucks in canada, plus 350 for shipping, so if the block is the same i'd like to go with that engine. aside from that, the 05 camry motor i was looking at is currently at 450 bucks and it's only got 34k miles on it!! it's the same motor as the ES300 from what the listing says, and isnt that the same as the RX300??
they also have buy it now price on 03-06 camry 3.0 with 55k miles for 999.95 plus shipping, but i think there are probably better options than 1000 bucks if i'm going to be swapping the heads anyway.

lexus114-yeah he's toyed with the idea of scrapping the car, but if he ended up buying another rx i doubt he would keep this one. the only thing really good on it is the trans at this point, and maybe the factory radio/screen display. i think what caused the problem was low oil. after it happened i told him to check it, he said there was just a tiny bit on the end of the stick. but that can be from just dragging the dip stick in and out of the tube, doesnt really mean there was enough oil to actually show on the stick.

thomas1-thanks! im on my way to chilis and bar louie in just a second for wed happy hour always a favorite. but either after that or tomorrow i'll try to hunt him down and see what he has to say. sounds like he's the man who would know.

ArmyOfOne-i'll definitely check out that site! i love places that wholesale powertrain parts. makes me wanna build some kind of frankenstein car or all wheel drive go shifter kart lol. so you know this other guy personally? what's his knowledge level like?

ArmyofOne

Who Brandon (A.K.A. Phoenix, Toysrme)?...lets just say he has had his engine out of his ES300, had it in 2 other vehciles (an ollllld honda civic and again in a diff lexus), its been turboed twice...his knowledge is unsurpassed...he could rebuild it in his sleep (and may very well do so already )