1990 Upper Control Arms & Timing Belt

[IS400]

I just finished a major repair job on my 1990 LS400. Took 3 days of wrenching and two days in between resting.

As a 120lb girl working by herself, I don't think I did too bad. The results are amazing.

1. Got Timingbelt/waterpump kit from CA via E-bay. All Japanese parts and lots of extra stuff like s.plug seals etc. ($200).

2. Lower ball joints and tie rod ends for the front. Wish I had not done them, the old ones were pristine and were tight, but once that pickel fork cuts the seals, not much you can do but replace them. Got the parts off e-bay as suggested by a site member here and it was a nightmare. Three attempts and I still had to settle for a mismatched set of tie rod ends. ($120 for all four parts + my own grease and tie wrap to make the driver's side tie rod work until I can get a spec part to replace it.) Watch out for Miami suppliers.

3. Upper control arms (pair) from Arnott Industries. Beautiful pieces. My god they are sweet looking. ($199 pair) Drop the spindle to the floor using a jack and the spring gets out of the way to unbolt the old ones and put in the new. Jack it back up in place to re attach the strut and you are done.

4. Replaced the PS control valve as a cross referenced tercel part and cleaned out the screen of the servo by the rack again. ($80 + fluid)

5. Two bags of cotton rags to sop up all the oil and fluids that seeped by the drivers side valve cover where the last mechanic from lexus failed to tighten either the bolt on the valve cover at the corner or the distributor housing at the bottom corner. (That is where I had been losing a quart of oil an year and could not find the cause.)

The timing belt had been slinging it everywhere! Used nearly a whole can of degreaser just cleaning plastic covers and crevices around the timing system and crank!

Analysis: The engine had been serviced by someone regularly. That someone, probably a mechanic and not the owner, did not seem to think of failing to torque things that are designed to keep fluids and dirt from migrating into the engine.

My distributor housing, with the cam sensors (look like little silver coins) were covered with a 1/16th of an inch of crud. All from the housings not being tightened or gaskets jammed on and showing gaps and warped edges. Lots of places for things to invade the timing belt cavity all day long in what ever weather or debris the car encountered.

The radiator had pounds of stuff between the condensor and radiator. Surprised the car cooled itself at all.

The throttle linkage had about 1/2 inch of play before the pedal moved the throttle plate. Adjusted and now the car takes off smartly from a stop. Speaking of which, the car is SMOOTH running again. That timing belt had stretched a lot. The new one is much thicker in construction and looks like it is either a factory redesign or the maintenance on my car had been fudged. The timing belt looked old and had cracks everywhere. One crack was 9/10ths the way across the non toothed face of the belt and when I twisted it I heard fibres breaking. I was probably a few weeks away from being stranded.

The seal around the thermostat was torn and needed to be replaced. It looked like the person that installed it was in a hurry and just jammed it on and threw it in there no matter how it was oriented. The steam hole with the little pebble sized flapper was not pointing straight up like it should either. Replaced both pieces along with the o-ring for the housing ($40) at the local Lexus Dealer. Ouch! Glad I was not forced to buy the other parts there!

The car runs smooth now and does not clank or bang over expansion joints or irregularities. Now though, those rear carrier bushings are obvious and the next thing on my list.

BTW the best method I found to keep the engine from turning while removing the harmonic balancer when doing the timing belt, is quite simple and a tool we all have at home.

Get under the car, look for the access panel where the trans meets the engine and take off the two bolts and look for the round holes (big) in the flywheel. Take the largest Allen Wrench you have (90 degree style with a short and a long end, not the T handle ones) and slip the short end of the wrench inside one of the large openings. Slowly turn the engine over with your breaker bar and you will feel sudden resistance in about a quarter turn or less. Now you can take off that 180 foot pound bolt with no problem. I had to get on the fender and use my legs since i am a girl, but it is the perfect tool to make it a one person job.

Just remember to take it out before you start your engine! Eeek!

Alert: My 1990 did not have obvious timing marks for the cams. I marked the cams with a sharpie and eyeballed a fixed point behind them on the sparkplug wire holder. Kind of like dead reckoning in the woods. See a tree on the heading, go to that tree, pick another tree on your heading, etc...

Well I had set everything and had marked the crank and taken off the belt and was about to go to lunch and thought I really can't see any marks to interpret on the cam gears, so i made my dead reckoning marks and ran the new belt around to see how the stiff new one was going to be getting in place and --whizz, the passenger side cam gear rotated on its own about a 1/3 of a turn in a split second.

My heart jumped and I thought oh no, I lost my timing! I took a look and turned the gear back to the mark and realized it was under compression or at the top of its stroke or something. I felt a good amount of resistance until I got it back on mark and it rested there and did not move again. I have a feeling if I had not made that mark I would have had to guess or at least not felt confident I had done the job right when I turned the key to start it up the first time.

Mark your stuff as soon as you get the crank at top dead center. Do not mess around with knowing where you started from because weird things can happen when you least expect it.

Last FYI. The tutorials do not list the huge bolt running perpendicular in plane to all the other bolts. It runs through the housing under the ac compressor and needs to be removed to take out the water pump. When your engine is covered in crude you cannot see the seams where the metal meets. Look at your new part and use it as a guide. When you remove the old pump don't use a chisel like the tutorial says, there is a tab on the pump in the passenger side quadrant that lexus designed into the part to make it easy to pry off. I just used that same allen wrench like I would open a beer bottle. A flick of the wrist and the seal is broken and you can pull the old pump off a little at a time until it slides free.

Happy Holidays everyone!

[etex]

Good write-up there, IS400. I must say that I am impressed. I'm not far from going into my 1997 LS to do a similar job. Just hope I can be as effecient as you were. My parts, however, will come from Carson. This is priojected for January or February.

Thanks for the information, and Merry Christmas.

[IS400]

Good write-up there, IS400. I must say that I am impressed. I'm not far from going into my 1997 LS to do a similar job. Just hope I can be as effecient as you were. My parts, however, will come from Carson. This is priojected for January or February.

Thanks for the information, and Merry Christmas.

Thanks! That really means a lot to me. You have an non interference engine? I think those engines started in 98 right? Those must have the belts changed like clockwork or you risk it imploding if it breaks from what I understand.

Cheers!

[VMF]

good thing to know that you suceeded.

as i see my suggestion about the flywheel worked.

[etex]

Actually, Interference engines came out in 1995.

[etex]

Actually, Interference engines came out in 1995.

[patcom]

Good write-up there, IS400. I must say that I am impressed. I'm not far from going into my 1997 LS to do a similar job. Just hope I can be as effecient as you were. My parts, however, will come from Carson. This is priojected for January or February.

Thanks for the information, and Merry Christmas.

Thanks! That really means a lot to me. You have an non interference engine? I think those engines started in 98 right? Those must have the belts changed like clockwork or you risk it imploding if it breaks from what I understand.

Cheers!

Very good job Ls400,I sold my 1993 LS400 at 103K miles before it needed this kind of repair.And sold my 2000 LS 400 with 77K,also not needing any repair.I wish I was able to do what you did.Hopefully my 2006 LS430 will last longer than I do.I turned 65 last August.

[90LS400Lexus]

Great work!

[Leadfoot]

Great write up, excellent tips too. Brains, not brawn, win out in the end.

[IS400]

Great write up, excellent tips too. Brains, not brawn, win out in the end.

Thanks for all the kind words! I really appreciate the time you all took to post your opinions on my overhaul job. Looking forward to helping in your repairs if I can. The Lexus Dealer was stunned with the price on the Arnott UC arms and took down the website to see if they can recommend their product to others with clunky lexus front ends. Shipping was $10 and no tax! Pretty hard to beat.

[IS400]

If you are worried about if your belt is cracked or showing age, there is an easy way to check it. At least on early model LS's.

Take off the distributor cover on the drivers side. There are four little bolts. 10 or 12mm I think. One is hidden under hoses on the ac side, but the rest are obvious. The cover is long because it incorporates with the spark plug cover. I'd guess it is nearly two feet long and shaped like a club, with the distributor cover at the 'big' end.

Once it is off you can see a large portion of the timing belt as it sits on the driver's side cam bank.

Mine had deep spider web cracks all over it and it looked like it was heat cycled a million times by the look of the rubber surface.

Crank the engine without starting it and check more areas of the belt. If you are lucky you will spot any big crack or defect like mine had and know it is time to schedule a replacement.

On the other hand if it is pristine and new looking you can breathe more of a sigh of relief that either you have time left or that the shop ACTUALLY REPLACED it as you paid them to do. I'd check it and mark it before the repair if someone else is doing it and check it at home after. Trust is earned and I don't trust mechanics anymore unless I know them personally. Especially with a repair that is going to take them 15 hours if they do it properly. Too tempting to cheat, especially if they figure out the owner is not mechanically inclined.

IMO take it to Lexus and pay the big bucks, do it yourself or check the belt before and after to be sure.

If I'd have known how to check the condition of the belt I'd have done it a long time ago. Wondering about that belt keeps us up at night as many of you I'm sure can agree.

[raymsixsix]

I'm really impressed. Such a thorough write up, I wish I knew that much about mechanics to work on my car myself. Great Job!!

[eddielasvegas]

+1 for a nice write up IS400 and a job well done.

I really, really want to do the same work on my '98, but living in an apartment has stopped this kind of work for a couple more months.

I will definitely eyeball the belt this weekend and pay someone if I must have the work done. I'm not sure what is more important to me: Saving the big money for this kind of work or knowing it was done right. I'm thinking the latter is more important.

Eddie

[vyhanh]

You woudn't happen to be the 'mechanic' girl in the movie 'Transformers' ? :whistles:

[IS400]

You woudn't happen to be the 'mechanic' girl in the movie 'Transformers' ?:whistles:

I'm blonde with bigger !Removed! than her, as the guys that saw my pics on here previously, before I took them down, . I'll post a fully clothed pic here if you want it, but I do not want to offend those that did not appreciate me in bikinis again.

[etex]

One vote for current photo!

[nc211]

You woudn't happen to be the 'mechanic' girl in the movie 'Transformers' ?:whistles:

I'm blonde with bigger !Removed! than her, as the guys that saw my pics on here previously, before I took them down, . I'll post a fully clothed pic here if you want it, but I do not want to offend those that did not appreciate me in bikinis again.

Please God, please! Jessica Simpson with a torque wrench in one hand, and a pint of oil in the other!

Oh Please Santa...Please!!!

All kidding aside though "before Rya finds out and kicks my butt", seriously, congrats on your project! That's far more than I could have done on my own. I don't think I would of even attempted it to be honest. The timing belt replacement is no joke of a project! You're going to make some boy, a very very happy man someday!

[IS400]

Maybe I'll get one of my girlfriends to take a pic of me in the car tomorrow. How about a quart of synthetic atf instead? I used all my oil when I changed it after the timing belt. Broke the torque wrench. It only went up to 150 pounds. Damn harmonic balancer bolt! :chairshot:

[Lexls]

Congrats on getting these big jobs done yourself! It feels good to know it was done right :)

[IS400]

Here is a pic of the allen wrench I used to keep the engine from turning so the balancer bolt could be removed.

The other two are the current photos you guys asked for. I love the miata because it turns corners like a road going razor blade. It also gets about 30 mpg and is saving me a ton on gas for commuting. All the vehicles are paid off now and I am happy to have something for every need I might have. My V-6 Isuzu has got like 220 horse. That thing moves! But the soft top is a pain in the butt to see out of.

[Alfalfa]

Love your black cars, I have two myself. I tell people that say they are hard to keep clean, "they are not for unmotivated people".

PS: I like the picture of the Miata best!

[IS400]

My black cars look best from 5 feet away. I like the color on the Miata better because it hides scratches and is still a darker color. I think it would be a good lexus color, but they tend to be more bright or pastel shades.

[nc211]

Beautiful, and likes to work on cars? Hubba hubba hubba! ;)

Hahaha.....

Curious, you're picture says you're off to the boat...what kind of boat? I'm into boats, being as though I lived on the beach for 8+ years down on the coast, worked my way through school by pumping gas at the marina and parking boats for those who couldn't.

[IS400]

Thanks for the compliment. It is just a cabin cruiser with a 5.7 I/O. I bought it for 7K with a dual axel trailer. I have a friend with a house on Lake St. Claire and he lets me keep it there for free all summer. Seems like having me around is payment enough! I think he nearly has a heart attack each time me and my female friends clean and wash down the boat in our bikinis after or before a trip to go tanning or partying.

Here is a pic of it (stupid looking golf cap I know, but its pink!) Yea it is a bayliner, but I not trying to impress anyone and I hate payments. The depreciation on a new boat is one of the most horrendous things I have seen my friends make the mistake of getting into. They buy a 250K luxury brand boat and five years later it has lost 50K of that value. Let alone the interest on the principal that they pay! I am on the same water and get to do the same things they do.

To keep this post on topic about our cars. I noticed when I put on my winter tires that they mounted two of them so that the wheels are not facing in the proper direction (swirl of the fins facing backwards.) Are these wheels directional? Am I going to have vibration issues and need to remount the tires? I have the two narrower tires on the front and the wider ones on the back, so I can't just turn them around and make them face in the right direction without !Removed! that up.

The manual says not to run them backwards, but is it just for looks or are they really directional wheels? (1990 LS400)

[nc211]

Hey...water is water...and getting on it, is top priority! Being a coastal carolina guy for 8+ years, with a 22' Century, I can asure you, the only ones complaining about the brand name of a boat, are the ones sitting on land! And, if you can avoid the "open hole in the water sucking cash out of your wallet" feature of boating, then all the better! I can't tell you how many times I've seen a John boat with a 30 hp outboard, packed with dudes, about 3 miles out in the ocean at the nearest fishing marker! I have no idea, absolutly no freakin' idea how they don't sink and drown out there....just baffles the mind, and puts Jeff Foxworthy's voice in your head. You've got quite a nice collection of toys! And sounds like you've been smart in your buying practices!

I can only image the tortue you and your friends put on that poor dude where you keep your boat.