Landar

[Vegan]

Need your help. Major engine issues and thinking of doing rebuild: timing belt, head gasket, intake..any advice?

[landar]

Huh?? Let's back up a moment. What problems are you having, specifically, which lead you to believe that you are in need of some major engine work? BTW, you should always try to pick a title which best describes the question(s) you would like addressed. "Landar" is not a good one, unless I am your problem/issue? ;-)

[Vegan]

Large amount of steam coming from under hood. Got code for coolant temp sensor, which I changed, but maybe overheated without me knowing. Crankshaft position sensor fell off. Got a new one, but is still running rough, like missing a cylinder, so thinking of doing overhaul.

[landar]

I would want to know just where this steam is coming from by pinpointing the escape point. Could be due to lots of things but consider the simple things first. Rather than pulling the heads, why not do a compression (or cylinder leak down) test first to gain some insight.

You may very well need a new timing belt and water pump but that is really not a 'rebuild', just scheduled maintenance every 90k miles.

So, I would encourage you to take a deep breath and consider how to attack this steaming issue. I probably do not have all of the facts as is often the case but start with simple checks first. These engines are pretty hardy and usually do not require major rebuilding.

[Vegan]

Steam is coming from somewhere near thermostat. Are there any good ways to test the water pump?

[AzHotLS]

[not landar]

These "how tos" may not address your issues specifically, but worth checking out:

http://www.lextreme.com/tech_maintenance.html

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/

[/not landar]

[landar]

[not landar]

[/not landar]

Interesting AZHot. How does this tagging work?

[AzHotLS]

He he. I just stepped in for one dance. Back to you...

[landar]

Ahh, that makes sense.

You can step in any time! I am more than happy to share the dance. Dance away ;-)

[Vegan]

Makes me want to use profanity and get a blow torch. I've fixed airplanes for 25 years and this piece of junk needs to get wasted.

[landar]

Brian, it is very difficult for anyone on a forum to pinpoint your particular issue(s). We can try to help but you will have to be extremely patient using the forum to get to the root cause. It is, for me, like trying to troubleshoot your car by looking thru a soda straw.

So, to get us up to speed on you issue, are you still trying to figure out the overheating? Since you mentioned the engine running rough, have you checked the coils to make sure they are working?

[Vegan]

I've changed both coils, plugs, wires, tps, coolant temp sensor, cranckshaft sensor, Whatever my profile picture is, ecu, distributor caps, and alternator. Right now I'm just focused on the rough idle. Lexus said they would diagnose for $135

[pj8708]

Dumb question probably, but have you pulled the codes??

Paul

[Vegan]

Yes, no codes. Also cleaned throttle body, and changed the fuel filter and air filter. Sometimes will run better than normal, but has about a 200 rpm drop every 20 seconds or so.

[Vegan]

Finally figured out the crankshaft pulley's outer edge where the belt goes had seperated from the rest of the pulley and was slipping and wearing a hole in new crankshaft sensor. Reading about allen keys and special tools to remove the bolt that attaches the pulley. Any advice?

[landar]

I was reading on a forum somewhere (I think CL) about how someone put the crank pulley back on but did not properly align the pulley key with the slot in the crankshaft. They just 'mashed" it together and let it go. Well, the engine ran for a while but then started performing poorly. That's when the guy found the problem. The crank pulley was literally slipping on the crankshaft. Almost unbelievable but here it is -> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400/726021-1997-ls400-timing-belt-possibly-skipped-teeth.html

There are several pulley holding tools that you can use to get the crank bolt loose. The best way is with a strong impact wrench but if you do not have one or it is too big to fit in there, then you will need the holding tool or you can slip an allen key in the flex plate (that is what I did although it really is an 'unprofessional' way to go ;-)

[Vegan]

Got the bolt out. Still trying to get pulley off. New ones are almost 300. yea. Thanks for telling me about the cs slot

[sha4000]

Just spray some lithium grease on it and tap it lightly with a mallet from all sides until you see it move.