2000 Toyota Avalon

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Got the oil pump installed, Along with the upper & lower oil pan cleaned & sealed-up. No sludge in the pan & the pick-up tube was clean.

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Making great progress by the looks of it! I approve of the Ultra Gray sealing the lower pan and new oil pump. Did you have to pull the upper pan to change the pump or just the lower?

My 3MZFE went to its new owner with 190k on it, really a sweet engine, easy on oil and butter smooth and quiet.
 
Originally Posted by FlyNavyP3
Making great progress by the looks of it! I approve of the Ultra Gray sealing the lower pan and new oil pump. Did you have to pull the upper pan to change the pump or just the lower?

My 3MZFE went to its new owner with 190k on it, really a sweet engine, easy on oil and butter smooth and quiet.


It's possible to swap the oil pump without removing the upper pan, But I would consider it less than ideal. I HATE oil leaks no matter how small.....Drives me nuts! So I pulled the upper pan.
 
Thanks for the update. I've never had to pull a pump on one of these so I wasn't sure if pulling the upper pan was required or just desired. I'm the same way I absolutely positively HATE oil leaks even of its just a weep. If the 341,000 mile rear main started weeping in my 4Runner tomorrow it wouldn't make it a week before I had the engine or transmission out to fix it.

Hope all is well.
 
Rounded up some bolts for the Timing Belt Tensioner......8mm-1.25 Main cap cross bolts from a LSx engine work perfectly! 10.9 grade as well.

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Got a couple hours in on the project today.....I'm unusually busy for the time of year with this new job, When I was working on Race/Custom/Show cars, This was our slow time!
As soon as I get the time, I'll pull the engine out of the car. I need some parts off it to finish-up, Like the lower timing cover, Water outlet, & Power steering bracket.

Bank 1 VVT Solenoid is supposedly discontinued & my local Toyota dealer can't get one, I'm not about to use Dorman junk.....So I'll search for a NOS one, Or try to clean the one that in the car.

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This looks to be coming along nicely, i bet its going to run like new. You already know it but for the guys who don't. Ace hardware has a good selection of 10.9 and 12.9 metric bolts and nuts in regular hex and flange head along with hardened washers,
Some even have hardened stainless, good USA made stuff.
 
Wow, looking good!
Love the Snap-On hand tools, by the way.
I inherited a wonderful set from my older brother, who passed away in 1995 at 44.
He owned a 4 man shop in Santa Cruz, CA.
He used to tell me his job as owner was to keep the tools clean and lubed.
 
Pulled the lower intake manifold, Replaced the hose from the thermostat housing to the water outlet manifold.....It was in good shape like every other gasket/seal/hose I've replaced on this engine! I did not reseal the valley plate because of this.

Replaced the thermostat along with the O-ring on the Inlet Pipe.

Flowed the Injectors with straight GM Upper Engine/Injector Cleaner followed with straight E0 93 octane gasoline, If ya'll want pictures of my Injector Cleaning rig....I'll post pics.
They cleaned-up nicely......I'm not quite used to seeing the "Split" spray pattern used on engines with 2 intake valves as I've worked on LSx engines the bulk of my career.

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Where did you get the hose under the intake manifold?

My brother had a 96' ES300 and was up in Montana on vacation in 2014. He called me and thought the head gasket was leaking. I drove up there to bring him down and we discovered it was the intake manifold gasket. After taking that apart we found that hose, and while it wasn't leaking yet it was about to, was bulged etc.

We searched and searched for a hose, called a Toyota dealer and had them order one for a Camry, ordered one from O'Reilly's, and both were sort of S shaped. Had 2 bends. The hose we pulled off had one bend. We had no choice but to use it, but trimmed it to make it fit.
 
Looks great! I see a lot 2 and 4 spray pattern injectors on 2 intake valve heads, notice one spray stream aims at each valve, some older multi valve turbo engines have strange patterns (eg 2 sharp needle streams with no real atomization) as they like a straight shot, DI is a perfect solution for these units.
 
Originally Posted by Nick1994
Where did you get the hose under the intake manifold?


Freeman Toyota in Hurst TX......Part# 16261-20010, Like most dealership parts departments.....They are lost without a VIN. As you probably know Toyota dealers can't look up Lexus VIN's, In a situation like that.....I would have called a Lexus dealer & gotten the part number. I do this for my moms 2007 RX350 as I'm not driving across town to Sewell Lexus for a Toyota part!!

On the other hand....Any GM dealer can procure & look-up parts per the VIN regardless of marque!

Some good news is......Sewell Lexus of Ft. Worth had the VVT solenoid I needed in stock. So I guess a Toyota dealer can't browse Lexus part inventory either!!!
 
Originally Posted by Trav
Looks great! I see a lot 2 and 4 spray pattern injectors on 2 intake valve heads, notice one spray stream aims at each valve, some older multi valve turbo engines have strange patterns (eg 2 sharp needle streams with no real atomization) as they like a straight shot, DI is a perfect solution for these units.



Thanks man!!! I'm not really that happy with the way it LOOKS.....But I don't have the time to detail things like I normally would, (I don't have keys to the shop yet), At least it will run good & not leak.

These are 4 hole injectors with 2 streams per valve, They looked like 4 needle streams when hit with a 500 Millisecond single-pulse, Though I doubt they ever see that kid of duty cycle in service.
I don't know injectors like you....Just observations.
 
So what's the word on those JDM engines these days? When I worked on consumer cars, the spiel was that they all had 30k miles. Some were decent, and some had clearly never had any maintenance at all.

As to the guy that mentioned the 1MZ-FE being sludge monsters, I was working at a Toyota dealer when they came out. The BIG issue was that people bought or more often leased vehicles due to the sterling reputation for reliability Toyota had/has, and then people NEVER changed the oil. I'd see cars come in at 30-40k miles, with the original factory fill, because the engine was making a "funny noise". Invariably the goop that used to be oil, was no longer able to do it's job...
 
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Originally Posted by clinebarger
Originally Posted by Trav
Looks great! I see a lot 2 and 4 spray pattern injectors on 2 intake valve heads, notice one spray stream aims at each valve, some older multi valve turbo engines have strange patterns (eg 2 sharp needle streams with no real atomization) as they like a straight shot, DI is a perfect solution for these units.



Thanks man!!! I'm not really that happy with the way it LOOKS.....But I don't have the time to detail things like I normally would, (I don't have keys to the shop yet), At least it will run good & not leak.

These are 4 hole injectors with 2 streams per valve, They looked like 4 needle streams when hit with a 500 Millisecond single-pulse, Though I doubt they ever see that kid of duty cycle in service.
I don't know injectors like you....Just observations.


Yes I see that also on some of them. Some maintain that pattern at operating psi while others will only show it at low psi and blend 2 streams to form one side of a fat atomized V. When testing I run them at low psi to insure I can see all 4 streams before turning up the pressure.
I will see if I can find an old paper I have here that shows the over a dozen different commonly used patterns and scan it so I can post it.

I know what you mean about detailed painting but these days I use paint for outboards and marine lower drives. A friend of mine put me on to Moeller engine paints for the block and green or yellow phosphate primer for aluminum and green or yellow chromate for iron.
I use the 1258 Mercury Phantom Black for VW iron blocks with the green primer, it looks amazing and last seemingly forever.
 
Originally Posted by 02SE
As to the guy that mentioned the 1MZ-FE being sludge monsters, I was working at a Toyota dealer when they came out. The BIG issue was that people bought or more often leased vehicles due to the sterling reputation for reliability Toyota had/has, and then people NEVER changed the oil. I'd see cars come in at 30-40k miles, with the original factory fill, because the engine was making a "funny noise". Invariably the goop that used to be oil, was no longer able to do it's job...

I know that the sludge problem was mostly due to a lack of proper maintenance. Some people think that Toyotas are indestructible and don't need regular maintenance, in particular, some of the people I have known that trade them every 2 or 3 years or lease them.
I had a 98 Camry V/6 and changed the oil every 5k miles using Mobil 1 exclusively. I also check my fluid levels and tire pressures at least once a month. When I got rid of the car it had 220k miles on it and never developed an ounce of sludge buildup.
Toyota can certainly take part of the blame on this one though. During that era they went to a 7500 mile oil change interval recommendation. This could be problematic (and was) when using cheaper conventional motor oils combined with certain types of driving, and letting the engine run low on oil for a couple thousand miles during each oil change cycle exasperated the problem. Because of this, the 1MZ-FE wasn't the only Toyota engine that exhibited a sludge buildup problem, just the most severe. Also, you didn't see the problem as much in Lexus products with the 1MZ-FE because of the fact that most Lexus dealers were selling/using synthetic oil in their service departments.
 
Originally Posted by 02SE
So what's the word on those JDM engines these days? When I worked on consumer cars, the spiel was that they all had 30k miles. Some were decent, and some had clearly never had any maintenance at all.


More like 45k to 65k according to the guy I buy from, It's hit & miss....No one knows the history of these engines. He gives 30-days for you to find out!!
He said he got burned on some flooded engines a few years ago....But other than that they have been good engines for the most part.

The local wreaking yard scene around here is scary, If they tell you 90k.....It has 290k!!! Buying JDM is a safer bet especially with older Japanese cars.
 
Originally Posted by Trav

Yes I see that also on some of them. Some maintain that pattern at operating psi while others will only show it at low psi and blend 2 streams to form one side of a fat atomized V. When testing I run them at low psi to insure I can see all 4 streams before turning up the pressure.
I will see if I can find an old paper I have here that shows the over a dozen different commonly used patterns and scan it so I can post it.

I know what you mean about detailed painting but these days I use paint for outboards and marine lower drives. A friend of mine put me on to Moeller engine paints for the block and green or yellow phosphate primer for aluminum and green or yellow chromate for iron.
I use the 1258 Mercury Phantom Black for VW iron blocks with the green primer, it looks amazing and last seemingly forever.



Thanks Trav......I was running them a 30psi, I was clamped onto the cut-off nylon feed pipe.....So I didn't push my luck with more pressure.
 
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