3VZ FE Head Removal - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

scprandy · 01-16-2006, 10:56 AM

Hey, I'm new here. ( and yes, I did alot of searching allready)
My daughter has a 92 with the 3VZ FE, the stealership diagnosed blown head gaskets.
I have the car torn down to the point were the exhaust and intake manifolds are off, just need to take the cams out so I can get the heads off.

I have a couple of questions at this point and I was hopeing that I could get a little input.

#1. Do I have to completely remove the wiring harness from the backside (firewall side) of the motor just to get the head off?

#2. Do I have to tilt the motor forward to get the back (firewall side) head off?
If so, do I detatch or remove motor mounts?

I also found out talking to some friends that the head bolts are "torque to yield bolts" and need to be replaced after they have been removed , is this true?

I'm new to working on this new of vehicle and would really appreciate any input I could get,
thank you in advance

Camryamnesty · 01-16-2006, 11:17 AM

im not a 3vz guy, but i know to watchyour timing marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol i fucked up on my 5sfe there were 3 different marks on intake cam, and i didnt know which mark to use and of course, i got it on the 3rd try.....

Cyorke · 01-16-2006, 11:54 AM

Quote:

#1. Do I have to completely remove the wiring harness from the backside (firewall side) of the motor just to get the head off?

Shouldnt have to remove wiring harness completely. It is most likely jsut held on with clips to the cylinder head, intake, or engine block. You can remove the harness form teh clips or unbolt the clips from whatever part of the engine it is attached to.

Quote:

#2. Do I have to tilt the motor forward to get the back (firewall side) head off?
If so, do I detatch or remove motor mounts?

You dont have to but it may make it slightly easier. If you do decide to tilt the engine forward then you willa t a minimum have to remove the dogbone mount on the left hand side of the engine as you are looking aat it. You can probably get away without tilting it though.

Quote:

also found out talking to some friends that the head bolts are "torque to yield bolts" and need to be replaced after they have been removed , is this true?

NOt so sure about this. I have replaced headgaskets on many 3VZ trucks and I can not remember ever replacing the head bolts. I worked for Toyota Service at the tiem the infamous truck headgasket problem was going on. During the time there between myself and 7 other techs I can not remember ever replacing he head bolts. IT could be different in teh car based 3VZ though. I cant see why it would be though.

scprandy · 01-16-2006, 01:55 PM

Thanks for your input , I was concerned about the motor being a four cam set-up and getting the timing set right and not screwing it up.
I got the rotor pointing towards post #1 on the distributor cap , pulled plug #1 and felt with a coat hangar to make sure the piston was all the way up, and finally looked down the intake ports to make sure the valves where both closed.
Now I'm reasonably sure that it is at TDC on the compression stroke, I guess all I have to do now is make sure the cams come out with good marks on them?
And get them put back in the way they came out !!
Any tips for this manuver ?

Cyorke · 01-16-2006, 02:21 PM

You can try using the sticky for the Gen 3 Camry that is posted at the top of the page. I believe it is atually for a 94 so the engine is different but the tear down process is pretty much the same. The torque specs and all will be different so those wont work for you. But it should give youa pretty good idea as far as tear down. It has beena hile since I took one apart but on one cam in each bank you will need to put a bolt in the ghear to keep the spring in place. If you look at the cam gears you will notice one of them is split. this one has apsring in it to keep tension onteh the teeth between the two gears. you should be able to use a 10mm bolt to hold it before you loosen the cam retainers. obviously make sure you mark everythingas well as possible and you should be good. The nice thing about Toyota engines is they are marked very well from the factory as far as alignment marks and all that. Well I was looking at the Autozone.com and here are the instructions they give for removing the cams. Unfotunaltely they make you jump around from section to section to get it all. Youmay have to sing up for autozone.com to view this. It is not that big of a deal. pretty much name and vehicle type. Youdont hve to put any personal info or anything like that. http://autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker...3d8013e6a5.jsp when you get to this page you will want to scroll towards the bottom to get to the 2vz/3vz section.

As for the timing you don have to wrry so much about it being right before you disassemble. the biggest thing you are going to want to watch for is the cam gears like I mentioned above. As long as you have those installed correctly you can line everything up afterwards. there are marks on the crank gear and the cam gears that you can line up when you are ready to install the timing belt. I never lined anything up before I disassembled an engine. I knew that I could do it after the fact. the engine you are working on is a non-interference engine so you can turn it without having to worry about damaging anything.

Luckynumber5 · 01-16-2006, 02:32 PM

Remember to set the exhaust cam sub gears with a service bolt very very important and it will make your like so much easier later down the road. The bolts DO need to be replaced, they stretch and will not hold torque well the second time. Good tips Cyorke

edit: also its a good idea to have the valvetrain rebuilt while the heads are off