Minimum To Remove To Inspect Timing Belt ('99 Ls400)

[dthouston]

I've got an oil leak at the (top?) front of the engine on my '99 LS400 with 240K stop-and-go miles. The oil level only drops about 1/8" on the stick between 4K mile oil changes.

So if the timing belt isn't getting saturated, I'll probably just ignore the leak for a while.

But what's the minimum that I have to remove to inspect the timing belt? Since it's a VVTi engine, there's a lot of stuff in that area!

DT

[steve2006]

At least one of the top timing covers needs to come off to see any of the belt,sounds like one of your camshaft oil seals has failed,best to replace sooner rather than later.

The tutorial below will help.

http://www.shastaanesthesia.com/Lexus/Page1.html

[landar]

Since yours is a 99 LS, it should be the same as my 98 was. I think it would be easiest to remove the LH (drivers side) aluminum cam cover if I remember correctly. Study the first dozen or so pics from my gallery on the 98 and see what you think is do-able. Of course you will not need to drain the coolant, nor remove the fan clutch and so on. Just use your best judgement and I think you can get a look at the belt with a minimum of teardown. Still, takes several pics along the way and bag parts as a precaution.

Here are the gallery pics of a 98 LS400 -> https://www.flickr.com/photos/landar/sets/72157622883357340/