Timing Belt replacement.

[Tim Whalen]

My honey was driving home from work one day. All of a sudden the engine died. We had it towed home. It was the timing belt.  Toyota dealer wanted $3,500.   94 LS 400 with only 64,000 miles? I did a U-tube research. Estimated time was about 4-6 hours. Took me 8 hours. I am very clean and attention to details. Replaced water pump ant belt tensioner, would be a good idea seeing the whole front of engine apart.  I put it back together. cranked it over to find I had missed timing mark buy two teeth [retarded]. I took the tensioner loose and advanced the crank two teeth.  Ran well, except the crank and cam sensor light came on. I don't know how to reset or replace them . 94 can't find them. I took it to the local toyota dealer to see if the could fix it for me. $900.00 later. I popped the hood to check it out. Low and behold there were 3 bolts missing on the manifold. Humm? what the heck!!! Told service Mgr. about and he said he would get someone on it right away. 3 hors later a tech showed up with 3 longer than needed bolts and proceeded to install with washers. I asked him if he was qualified to work on my 1994 LS 400 with 64,000 miles. I told him I was if he couldn't find the right bolts I would tow my baby home and go buy the right bolts. and install myself. I had a oil pan leak they said they fixed it. Not to long after say a week I noticed drops of oil on my driveway. I jacked up my car in discussed I saw the leak , it was the oil pan.  I called O'reilly auto parts for a gasket and a tube of RTV. Went home jacked up the car and removed the pan, low and behold, no gasket. SOB!!! The dealer used sealant. Obviously not enough. Sometimes its better to bust a knuckle or two if u know what u r doing. and save money and time to do things right. Take your time and take a deep breath. I have 66,000 miles now on my 1994 LS400.

[paulo57509]

Sorry you had issues.

You're lucky you don't have a later model with an interference engine.

FWIW, Toyota uses form-in-place gasket (silicone sealer) for the oil pan, oil pump, water pump and a lot of other places.

[Tim Whalen]

 That is why it leaked. The teck was at the bottom of the tube. Thanks for that, But I am old school. Built race motors in the 70s. Robert Gworts was my teacher at Fremont H.S., Big Daddy Dons Partner in crime.