SC430 Engine Maintenance

This weekend I tackled the engine maintenance started on Saturday and finished up on Sunday, you'll see why. Unfortunately the battery on my shop cam was low so didn't get a lot of pictures.

Here is my parts list for the engine maintenance: 

Toyota (90916-02586) Multi Rib Belt 
Toyota (13540-50030) Timing Belt Tensioner 
Toyota (13505-0F010) Timing Belt Idler 
Toyota (13503-0F010) Timing Belt Idler 
Toyota (13568-09070) Timing Belt 
Toyota (16100-59275-83) Water Pump 
Toyota thermostat (90916-03100) 
Toyota thermostat gasket (16346-50010) 
Toyota Oring thermostat housing 
Toyota Front Main Seal (90311-A0001) 
Toyota Cam Seal (90311-A0004) (x2) 
Toyota Long Life Antifreeze Coolant (002721LLAC01) x 2 
Toyota Valve Cover gaskets (11213-50031 & 11214-50011) 
Toyota Spark Plug Gasket (11193-70010) x 8 
Toyota Throttle Body Gasket (22271-500042) 
NGK Plugs IFR6T11 
K&N Air Filter (33-2220)

Everybody here should check their valve cover bolts, there are many instances that I've read on where the bolts were loose. Well that was definitely my case! Cleaning the engine bay helped verify that my oil leak was from the valve cover gasket.

This motor is really well laid out and taking everything apart is pretty systematic and went fairly quickly. It took me about two hours to get everything apart including getting the valve cover and cam covers off. Wow were the plastics brittle! I cracked two connectors near the throttle body, everything still plugs in but I'll probably swap those out soon. Also I bagged all the bolts in zip lock bags and labeled them, makes assembly easier.

There wasn't as much gunk build up as I had expected, pretty sure the seafoam helped. The little traces of gunk on the head and cams I took a nylon brush and some seafoam spray to and that cleared it out easily. The valve covers on the other hand was pretty bad.

Took some purple power to it and some steel brushes and a pressure washed it. Did this a couple of times to break down more and more of the gunk till I got most of it off.

The spark plug grommets were really brittle. There were two spark plugs with a little bit of oil on it so definitely needed to be changed. Wish they came out with a better design, this was not very easy to get off. I used a flat nosed plier to bend the tabs back.

Used a flat head screw driver to wedge between the grommet and the metal seat. Hammered it in to wedge the screw driver to bend the grommet and pop it out.

The grommets came apart in multiple pieces, very brittle with age. Cleaned up all the debris, I used a little bit of oil to lubricate the seals and the seat and used a socket to hammer in the grommet.

Also used a socket to press the tabs back in.

All done!

While the valve covers and the cam covers were out I prepped them, taped them up and had them ready for paint. Had a couple of parts ready for paint so the plan was to get everything painted on Saturday and give it time to cure and install everything back on Sunday. Shout out to my boy Jeremy for painting all my parts.

While the parts were in the booth, I went ahead with the rest of the maintenance items. Cleaning these parts take the longest time. Pulled the throttle body out and there was a lot of carbon build up but got it pretty clean. Slapped a new throttle body gasket on there and installed it back.

Changed water pump next and cleaned up the block some. All the bolts that came off were de-greased and every bolt got a little blue loctite before going back in. With everything cleaned and ready to be installed, called it a night.

On Sunday I had asked a friend of mine who is one of the best techs I know with help with the cam seals. I was not comfortable doing it myself. Well he showed up and replaced them including the front main seal.Thanks a lot Danny!

I continued with installing the timing belt verified all the timing marks were right, buttoned everything back up. Notice all the pulleys? They were all cleaned and a fresh coat of black paint was used to freshen them up.

Also painted some of the bolts.

The radiator was pretty dirty on the outside, aired out all the dust through the fins etc and rinsed it out. Installed the radiator, filled it with distilled water and also poured in a radiator flush. My plan is to drive it around for a couple of days and then rinse it out and install a new thermostat with Toyota coolant. Also filled the engine with Mobile 1 synthetic blend, going to drive with it for a couple of days as well just to get all the sea foam out and replace it with Amsoil. Also installed the K&N air filter as well along with new plugs, had already cleaned out the MAF with some MAF cleaner.

Everything went pretty smooth, going to keep an eye out for any leaks etc over the next couple of days just to be on the safe side. So far so good, I'm quite happy this is all taken care of.

-AJ Abraham

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