Which engine have I got?

[Ewen]

Hi folks,

I recently bought a second hand LS400 engine for a project I'm working on. Something tells me it might be a tad older and higher mileage than the vendor suggested. So, I was wondering if anyone could pin the following down to a year / spec please:

Engine no: 1UZ 61747
ECU part no: 89661-50050 (hope it's not the dreaded 90 - 92 one which causes all the problems!)

Thanks in advance for that. Also, when removing the cam belt cover from the left hand bank (not done the right hand one yet) there was a fine, sooty, black powder had built up liberally in there. Is that normal? If not, does anyone have a view on what it might be indicative of?

Thanks!
Ewen

 

[skid]

Belt rubbing.

If the current cambelt hasn't gone, then a previous might have. Don't worry there wont be any damage.I had several bags of the stuff in mine.

Also dreaded 90-92???????? Don't know where you got the idea any were problems from mate?

 

[Cobber]

Welcome Ewen,

Have a look on the plug wires and the main wiring there will be a date on the wires. I had a 91 ls 400 ecu and there was no issues. There may be a problem if you do not wire it up correctly. All the info is on this forum.

Have fun.

 

[Lextreme II]

Check the spark plug.... there should be a date on it...... It might not be orginal but check it out.... I called the dealer many times and ask for year and model base on the block is no go. Dealer can not determine the car year by the block number.

 

[Ewen]

Thanks guys,

I'm glad the belt rubbing thing shouldn't mean any damage - I was worried that I might have to rebuild the thing.

Dreaded 90 - 92 ECU - I've had a good look all around lextreme.com researching lots of stuff (great site BTW). I was reading through the FAQs doc by Phil Bradshaw, looking at the various bits and bobs involved in transplanting the 1/2/3UZFE. In there he'd said he'd found 90 - 92 LS400 ECUs to be a bit of a problem, something like 70% of them being unwilling to let the engine rev beyond 2,800rpm. I guess that (unless he's just been really unlucky with some) maybe they're not so happy when not actually in an LS400?

I've now just checked the plug leads and they say Yazaki 1990, so I guess we've found the year of the engine - thanks for that. My next question then, is if you guys had just bought a 1990 1UZFE of alleged 149,000km (but uncertain) milage what would you do? Would you give it a go as is or go for a rebuild? I'm hoping with them being so massively over-engineered that potentially high milage shouldn't be a problem?

The original plan had been to get a good standard / stock 1UZ persuaded into the car initially then take some time to build up a hotter version to swap in. However, what do you think? Is it being a 1990 potentially going to be problem. I know it's all a 'how long is a piece of string' thing, but if there are accepted rule-of-thumb guidelines then it'd be good to know what those are.

Thanks again,
Ewen

 

[Lextreme II]

I think its all depending on the budget. Its cheaper to do it now then later. If nothing else, I would suggest the timing belt/waterpump and all of the timing pulleys with all the seals replace. Possible recondition the starter too. Those are hard item to change later once the engine is installed.

 

[Ewen]

Timing belt etc does sound sensible. Budget-wise it's all a bit up in the air, but the general idea is 'limited' for now.

I reckon I'll make the plan to strip it externally for now, get it cleaned down, replace the belt, WP and seals etc as suggested then go ahead see how it runs from there. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it won't need any internal work - the guy said it was 'good' and that it didn't burn any oil. It does have a bit of oil build up on the block though. Hopefully, that'll just be normal for a 16yr old engine, rather than an indication of failed gaskets etc.

Thanks again!

 

[Lextreme II]

Sorry,

I would also suggest a compression test before installation.... that way its much easier to fix things.

 

[Ewen]

That would make sense. I seem to remember their being a compression test doc on this very site, so I'll go and check that out.

Cheers!
Ewen