My 159K Service

[Tony Prodigy]

Hey Gents,

Sorry for my absence over the last several months. It has been a very busy time for me juggling various things in my home life. I am glad to report that I am on the home straight now and will try to post up on a more regular basis.

Anyways, As fast as the previous year went, I was shocked to realise that I almost missed the service of our beloved Aurion. When you're so busy, a month flashes by like a day and one day I had a flash in my head saying to go check the ODO. As I don't drive the car, I have no idea. So when I discovered that 12 months had passed and nearly 9K later, I had to act. I caught it just in time.

The last oil change was at ODO reading 150,244 less current reading gives me 9,561.

I got out the usual kit consisting of Nulon 5W-30 from my oil stash, a fresh Genuine Toyota oil Filter, Air Filter (Aftermarket)  and necessary tools.

Service kit

This service consisted of not only the oil service but the replacement of both tensioner and idler pullies.

I had also noticed the idler pullies, both the tensioner and idler pullies had become worse despite my last effort to regrease them. During the year, I had purchased a nice war chest of new parts through Amayama and that also included new Genuine Toyota Tensioner assembly and Idler pulley among other items.
Toyota doesn't supply the Tensioner Pulley separately, so you have no choice but to buy the whole assembly. Thankfully Amayama's pricing structure is way better than that of the local Stealer, so it made economic sense to buy through them.
With that in mind, I had previously purchased an aftermarket set of idler pullies, both the tensioner and idler pullies in the Febest brand. I also had a spare Genuine Toyota Idler pulley which I purchased long before, so now I had two Toyota Idler Pullies, one aftermarket, one Genuine Toyota Tensioner pulley (courtesy of purchasing the whole assembly) and one aftermarket tensioner pulley. 
I decided to use one Genuine pulley for the Idler and The Febest Tensioner pulley for this service. I will leave the Toyota Tensioner Assy and the other Genuine Idler pulley for it's next major service, which should hopefully be another 150K or so. The pullies I replaced were still the factory items and have done well to last 159K with only a light squealing noise evident on cold start up. After the engine warmed up, the noise went away, but that's no excuse to ignore the warning signs.
The serpentine belt was also shot. Lucky I checked it thoroughly during this time too. It was ready to go at any time.
I had a new belt soaking in 303 Aerospace for several years. After purchasing it, I sprayed and soaked it, then placed it in a plastic bag and put it away in my parts container. Hopefully this would have a long term effect in preserving it better. Who knows..

 

These are the pair of Aftermarket Pullies. I only used the one on the right for now.

 

I took the car for a short drive to warm it up and get a general feel for the car by checking brake operation and for any other noises. Car ran like clockwork to be totally honest minus the pulley squeak. Smooth as always.

 

Got back and proceeded to drain the oil and let it drain to the last drop.

I removed oil filter cartridge, degreased it internally, installed new filter, primed it with oil and screwed it back on. Hand tight then a light nip up with the special tool. Sump plug back on, it was time to fill it with fresh Nulon goodness.

The old oil didn't look too bad for nearly 10K either.

 

Then got to work on the pullies. Usual job of jacking the car up and the placement of safety stands, removing the engine side access cover on the driver's side wheel well and tensioner tool at the ready.

Removed the serpentine belt and both pullies. The Tensioner pulley has a reverse thread to the upper Idler so be careful if you plan on doing this yourself.

If you are doing it by yourself, you'll be better off releasing the tension from the underside so you can fit the locking pin at the same time, other otherwise if you had help, you could lever it from the top using the extender bar from the serpentine belt remover kit.

I found it easy enough just with the ratchet wrench provided. I placed an Allen Key in the hole to lock the tensioner.

 

Installed new pulleys and serpentine belt then released the tensioner and ensured belt was located perfectly in the ribs.

New Dayco Serpentine Belt

 

Split and Micro Cracking on the Original Belt. 

 

Febest Tensioner Pulley (LEFT) and Original Old Tensioner Pulley (RIGHT)

 

Comparison of Aftermarket and Genuine Idler Pullies

 

This is a shot of the New and Improved Genuine Toyota Pulley on the left. The right is the old Original part.

Air filter got replaced and I also used compressed air to blow out the filter box of any loose debris. Gave the engine bay a once over too. It's still pretty clean under there but I will give it a nice detail later down the track when time permits.

 

For now, the oil service and pullies are done and now I'm thinking it will be time to do a pan drain of the transmission and flush the brake fluid.
I'll post back when I do.

 

Cold start, the engine is running sweetly now. No more pulley squeaks. 

Happy days.

Thanks for reading

Regards
Tony

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 25 by Tony Prodigy

[ZZT86]

Another awesome detailed write-up - thanks for sharing 🙂

[L4WL3SS]

Nice work mate

I had all my pulleys & belt done by my mechanic, it didnt look like a fun job.

They did give me back my new tensioner assembly, stating that only the pulley from it was needed, as the rest required water pump removal i believe?