Did I just blow my engine?

[calokie]

How does an AC belt put metal flakes in the sump?
Or make the other belts jump on to the wrong side of the idler?

Getting caught in the other belts, halting the cooling system, applying braking force to the main crank. If the 1fzfe harmonic balancer fails your crank/bearing etc will also fail.
Rubber has a 10 year lifespan wouldn’t be surprised to see his HB balancer separated from the force of an AC belt getting caught up in the system pulleys. Unless of course, his AC didn’t work and the belt wasn’t there prior to the 1FZ-FE giving up the ghost

 

[BTLSHP]

Getting caught in the other belts, halting the cooling system, applying braking force to the main crank. If the 1fzfe harmonic balancer fails your crank/bearing etc will also fail.
Rubber has a 10 year lifespan wouldn’t be surprised to see his HB balancer separated from the force of an AC belt getting caught up in the system pulleys. Unless of course, his AC didn’t work and the belt wasn’t there prior to the 1FZ-FE giving up the ghost

Ugh, so you are telling me this is the mess I barely missed a month ago.

 

[mudgudgeon]

I’m working on it. Honestly its taking a bit of time for me to process all this and come up with a plan.

Took me months to come to terms with my blown engine and make a decision, and then longer to pony up the cash and fix it, . . . each time

 

[calokie]

Ugh, so you are telling me this is the mess I barely missed a month ago.

I’ve hear of it happening (not my personal experience)
But I did replace my HB it had a wobble

 

[BTLSHP]

I’ve hear of it happening (not my personal experience)
But I did replace my HB it had a wobble

When I found mine it was the morning after my daughter drove it home from Richmond (120mi) I was putting around ready to replace the alternator brushes. Started it and things sounded weird peer into the engine bay see the belts are out of shape and nearly 1/2" of shiny metal between the timing cover and the HB. Got a lot of things done while I was in there .....

 

[Azca]

So a Land Cruiser restoration shop just told me its pointless to rebuild the 1FZ-FE engine, they are never the same again. Is this true, anyone out there had success rebuilding an engine?

I echo some of the statements made above, yes, it is very rebuildable, and yes, the shop doesn't know what they are talking about. I rebuilt mine about 7 or 8 years ago. Rushing it was the biggest mistake I made but I was under a deadline.

As far as power, I saw significant performance gains afterwards, it was a different animal after that. I had significant carbon build up on the combustion chamber and significant pinging prior to rebuild that I am sure robbed it of power.

As far as doing it yourself, as indicated above, there is a TON of info on this site. If not for the great people here, I probably would not have done it.

Another "advantage" is replacing and cleaning everything you can while it is out.

In hind site, if I had the $ at the time, I would have ordered a new short block and heads. You know it is right and it saves time. I have a quick summary after the build here: Engine pull and rebuild, final thoughts… - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/engine-pull-and-rebuild-final-thoughts.886406/

I will go with a swap if I ever have to do it again for power gain and, as the old lady continues to age, availability of engine parts.

 

[calokie]

When I found mine it was the morning after my daughter drove it home from Richmond (120mi) I was putting around ready to replace the alternator brushes. Started it and things sounded weird peer into the engine bay see the belts are out of shape and nearly 1/2" of shiny metal between the timing cover and the HB. Got a lot of things done while I was in there .....

Dodged a bullet

 

[sbman]

So a Land Cruiser restoration shop just told me its pointless to rebuild the 1FZ-FE engine, they are never the same again. Is this true, anyone out there had success rebuilding an engine?

That's a silly thing to say, I'd avoid whatever shop said that.

I rebuilt mine myself and have over 100K on it so far. You do have to use OEM parts and process for a good outcome, and not all machine shops or mechanics are willing to put in the time to do things right, if you half-ass it or rebuild it with 'jobber' parts, yeah it will never be the same. The shop that did the head work on mine did that and the head only lasted 60K, had to have it redone with all Toyo parts and actually check and measure ALL the things on the head, not just do a half ass job like the first shop. My rebuild thread is here in my sig if you want to see what's involved. I replaced all the rubber under the hood and A/C compressor, etc... so it was more than just a rebuild, more like a rebuild with a major refresh under the hood.

 

[Damcowboy]

That's a silly thing to say, I'd avoid whatever shop said that.

I rebuilt mine myself and have over 100K on it so far. You do have to use OEM parts and process for a good outcome, and not all machine shops or mechanics are willing to put in the time to do things right, if you half-ass it or rebuild it with 'jobber' parts, yeah it will never be the same. The shop that did the head work on mine did that and the head only lasted 60K, had to have it redone with all Toyo parts and actually check and measure ALL the things on the head, not just do a half ass job like the first shop. My rebuild thread is here in my sig if you want to see what's involved. I replaced all the rubber under the hood and A/C compressor, etc... so it was more than just a rebuild, more like a rebuild with a major refresh under the hood.

I’ll check it out.

I am leaning to figuring out how to do it myself

 

[Damcowboy]

I echo some of the statements made above, yes, it is very rebuildable, and yes, the shop doesn't know what they are talking about. I rebuilt mine about 7 or 8 years ago. Rushing it was the biggest mistake I made but I was under a deadline.

As far as power, I saw significant performance gains afterwards, it was a different animal after that. I had significant carbon build up on the combustion chamber and significant pinging prior to rebuild that I am sure robbed it of power.

As far as doing it yourself, as indicated above, there is a TON of info on this site. If not for the great people here, I probably would not have done it.

Another "advantage" is replacing and cleaning everything you can while it is out.

In hind site, if I had the $ at the time, I would have ordered a new short block and heads. You know it is right and it saves time. I have a quick summary after the build here: Engine pull and rebuild, final thoughts… - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/engine-pull-and-rebuild-final-thoughts.886406/

I will go with a swap if I ever have to do it again for power gain and, as the old lady continues to age, availability of engine parts.

What are we talking cost wise for an LS swap? I’ve heard north of $25k

 

[Godwin]

Factory Service Manual, good tools and you can do it. The 1FZFE initially appears like a quagmire of confusing parts, wiring, and electrical connections but once you begin digging in you'll realize that the Toyota engineers did an excellent job of designing this engine. Reassembly, if you follow the FSM, is logical and the parts will come together as they should. The electrical harness was also designed such that the terminal wiring at each connection will only fit in one location (IIRC), thus the wiring harness is not as overwhelming as it may appear. I do recommend purchasing a new engine wiring harness if available as some of the old connectors will break.

 

[Azca]

What are we talking cost wise for an LS swap? I’ve heard north of $25k

I can't speak knowledgeably about it, a lot will be based upon the work, will you do some, most, or all of it or farm it out. Based solely on memory, the 25K sounds about right. There is a great thread pinned on the top of the 80 series page on the swaps that Beno started, that is the place to go for info.

My guess, at today's prices, my rebuild would have cost me $10k now using the new block and heads.

 

[Damcowboy]

Factory Service Manual, good tools and you can do it. The 1FZFE initially appears like a quagmire of confusing parts, wiring, and electrical connections but once you begin digging in you'll realize that the Toyota engineers did an excellent job of designing this engine. Reassembly, if you follow the FSM, is logical and the parts will come together as they should. The electrical harness was also designed such that the terminal wiring at each connection will only fit in one location (IIRC), thus the wiring harness is not as overwhelming as it may appear. I do recommend purchasing a new engine wiring harness if available as some of the old connectors will break.

I gotta download the FSM

 

[mudgudgeon]

Factory Service Manual, good tools and you can do it. The 1FZFE initially appears like a quagmire of confusing parts, wiring, and electrical connections but once you begin digging in you'll realize that the Toyota engineers did an excellent job of designing this engine. Reassembly, if you follow the FSM, is logical and the parts will come together as they should. The electrical harness was also designed such that the terminal wiring at each connection will only fit in one location (IIRC), thus the wiring harness is not as overwhelming as it may appear. I do recommend purchasing a new engine wiring harness if available as some of the old connectors will break.

I agree.

FSM along with Otramm tutorial videos on YouTube, and you have all the info you need.

 

[sbman]

I gotta download the FSM

If it's not your daily driver and you can take your time, you can do a full rebuild, it still won't be cheap, at least $5K, and more depending on how many "while you're in there's" you do and you'll probably need quite a few tools you don't currently own, maybe another $1K in tools. Plan on 6-12 months of working, waiting on parts, waiting on machine shop, cleaning parts for re-assembly, painting parts prior to reassembly, all assuming you work on it a couple of evenings a week and Saturdays fairly often. The big removal/install is at least an all day affair. Take the transmission/transfer case all out with it at the same time, much easier.

Finding a good machine shop is difficult. You want someone that is willing to measure everything and to either order OEM parts or allow you to supply them. I'd want invoices or parts bags/boxes if they are supplying them. When I had my head redone a second time, it needed all new valves, valve springs (not bothering to measure the springs is what killed the head the first time) and exhaust guides. There were only a few exhaust guides in the country, so i had to wait a week or two for some to come out of Japan. Pistons were the same story, I bought all the ones available in the US and had to wait a bit for more to come from Japan. Mine were .020 over. If you decide to use studs on the crank bearing caps, let your machinist know before hand so they can be installed during the line bore, different fastener types have an effect on the way the caps sit so you can't just change out fasteners willy-nilly.

Anyhow, my thread covers a lot of this and if you dive in you can ask questions here as well, there are quite a few of us that have been down the same path.

 

[White Stripe]

Your in Florida? Did you check with Matt? I think he's in Aspen Florida. He does LS swaps. If your going to keep it for say more than 5 years, do a LS swap if you can afford it. Usually a LS swap is 30k ish.

 

[Damcowboy]

Your in Florida? Did you check with Matt? I think he's in Aspen Florida. He does LS swaps. If your going to keep it for say more than 5 years, do a LS swap if you can afford it. Usually a LS swap is 30k ish.

I have spoken with Matt. I trust him to do the work if I decide to go that way. I cant see dropping another $30k into this vehicle. I’d be well north of a brand new truck if I did that. At some point enough is enough.

 

[Damcowboy]

If it's not your daily driver and you can take your time, you can do a full rebuild, it still won't be cheap, at least $5K, and more depending on how many "while you're in there's" you do and you'll probably need quite a few tools you don't currently own, maybe another $1K in tools. Plan on 6-12 months of working, waiting on parts, waiting on machine shop, cleaning parts for re-assembly, painting parts prior to reassembly, all assuming you work on it a couple of evenings a week and Saturdays fairly often. The big removal/install is at least an all day affair. Take the transmission/transfer case all out with it at the same time, much easier.

Finding a good machine shop is difficult. You want someone that is willing to measure everything and to either order OEM parts or allow you to supply them. I'd want invoices or parts bags/boxes if they are supplying them. When I had my head redone a second time, it needed all new valves, valve springs (not bothering to measure the springs is what killed the head the first time) and exhaust guides. There were only a few exhaust guides in the country, so i had to wait a week or two for some to come out of Japan. Pistons were the same story, I bought all the ones available in the US and had to wait a bit for more to come from Japan. Mine were .020 over. If you decide to use studs on the crank bearing caps, let your machinist know before hand so they can be installed during the line bore, different fastener types have an effect on the way the caps sit so you can't just change out fasteners willy-nilly.

Anyhow, my thread covers a lot of this and if you dive in you can ask questions here as well, there are quite a few of us that have been down the same path.

Very intimidating. Most of what you wrote sounds like greek to me. All my skills stop at the outside of the engine. So frustrating, I bought this thing exactly for the legendary reliability rather than stay with my 96 Bronco. Oops!

 

[White Stripe]

Very intimidating. Most of what you wrote sounds like greek to me. All my skills stop at the outside of the engine. So frustrating, I bought this thing exactly for the legendary reliability rather than stay with my 96 Bronco. Oops!

Well it could be time to investigate the wix filter more seriously. I've had loss of oil pressure using wix myself. It will be difficult to get them to admit to it I imagine.

 

[sbman]

Very intimidating. Most of what you wrote sounds like greek to me. All my skills stop at the outside of the engine. So frustrating, I bought this thing exactly for the legendary reliability rather than stay with my 96 Bronco. Oops!

If you have wrenching skills already, then you are ahead of the game. The engine is nothing more than an assembly of parts. Quite a few of them, but it's just parts at the end of the day and there are step by step instructions for assembly/removal/re-assembly in the factory service manual. I believe you can still buy a long block (entire lower end) from Toyota brand new, and it becomes more of a parts swapping exercise. Take out your engine, take it partially apart and reassemble all of it onto the new long block. Probably want to have a head job done 'while you are in there' by a competent shop, but even that would be optional.

If you just want to drive it and aren't into wrenching as a hobby in and of itself, I wouldn't tackle it. For myself, I just could not afford to drive old vehicles if I didn't wrench on them, plus I enjoy it as it's own thing.