Timing belt failure, 07 LC

[studawg]

Tow truck is en route to the dealer to get it out of there.

Ive got a guy in nearby Aiken SC who has been a family friend for decades. He's a full blown engine builder who has worked for professional drag racing and high speed off road racing teams. He's a guy that I completely trust that we can drop the car off with and say, fix it, just let me know when you're done. He's gonna pull the heads and if it needs more than a head job, like there is damage to the pistons, he says we can find the engine and have it sent to him and he'll put it in. Either way, I think we'll save thousands going this route.

The dealership is trying to sell us a product that we just don't need. They have a certain way that they have to do business I guess, and it just doesnt work for us. At the end of the day, they would have ended up charging us $10k for a "new engine" knowing it probably would have been a reman, or $8k for a @220k mile one. I think its still possible that all it needs is to have the heads redone with new valves, etc.... which would be considerably less than either of those options. Either way, its gonna be cheaper because of lower labor rates and better price on parts than a dealer charges.

 

[savirc]

Tow truck is en route to the dealer to get it out of there.

Ive got a guy in nearby Aiken SC who has been a family friend for decades. He's a full blown engine builder who has worked for professional drag racing and high speed off road racing teams. He's a guy that I completely trust that we can drop the car off with and say, fix it, just let me know when you're done. He's gonna pull the heads and if it needs more than a head job, like there is damage to the pistons, he says we can find the engine and have it sent to him and he'll put it in. Either way, I think we'll save thousands going this route.

The dealership is trying to sell us a product that we just don't need. They have a certain way that they have to do business I guess, and it just doesnt work for us. At the end of the day, they would have ended up charging us $10k for a "new engine" knowing it probably would have been a reman, or $8k for a @220k mile one. I think its still possible that all it needs is to have the heads redone with new valves, etc.... which would be considerably less than either of those options. Either way, its gonna be cheaper because of lower labor rates and better price on parts than a dealer charges.

That's a sounds like a good plan. You will save thousands.

 

[Ali SC3]

you can drop any of the vvti motors in there, just have to reuse the engine harness from the original motor if the enigne is from a different model, there are no differences on the engine itself. nothing to adjust or tune, the throttle bodies are all electronic since '03.
have them install the block off plates for the air injection while your guy is in there.

 

[studawg]

If it looks like it makes sense to swap in a replacement motor, we are going to get one from Jarco. $3995 plus $2k labor, plus fluids I guess.

 

[savirc]

If it looks like it makes sense to swap in a replacement motor, we are going to get one from Jarco. $3995 plus $2k labor, plus fluids I guess.

This is what I would do, I would cut losses on that motor no sense in spending too much time taking it apart and associated time and labor lost on a "maybe" get it back into shape, who knows if there are other gremlins that won't pop up till later that are associated to the TB failure. You can pull motor out and drop one in probably similar times and replacing heads and diagnosing the possible damage.

 

[jgray]

Any more updates?

 

[n55luvr]

Just to add fuel to the interference vs non-interference debate. I went into my local toyota service dept for the first time ever this morning. Taking advantage of an alignment special. Anyway, one of the senior service writers was telling me how much she loved the LC's and with a little maintenance they last forever (this we know). She then says the most critical thing is replacing TB @ 90k as this motor IS an Interference motor. I said I've seen quite the debate about this but she said she was certain both vvti and non vvti were Interference. Just more food for thought...

 

[BamaHeel]

That settles it. I mean a SENIOR service writer said it ...

 

[OGBeno]

If it looks like it makes sense to swap in a replacement motor, we are going to get one from Jarco. $3995 plus $2k labor, plus fluids I guess.

Jarco builds good engines. They get most of the seals/gaskets/orings directly from Toyota here in ATL.

 

[studawg]

Jarco builds good engines. They get most of the seals/gaskets/orings directly from Toyota here in ATL.

Thanks Beno,

Update, long story short, replaced engine with a Jarco unit. It is confirmed that timing belt failure on a 06-07 VVTi engine can cause major damage.

 

[RND1]

I've followed your story from the beginning - glad your Uncle got his LC back. Still very odd that a belt would break after only 45K miles on it especially considering Lexus replaced the belt at 91K (right on schedule). Did you ever get any resolution from Lexus on this?

 

[studawg]

Water pump failed because it wasn't replaced when TB was done, caused the TB to jump