98se5speed's 03 Vibe - 1ZZ engine pull/rebuild thread

[98se5speed]

Another 90 minutes in the garage, made some good progress. I got the old power steering pump removed, and the nut for the pressure line free to spin. I hooked up the new pump and filled the reservoir, then spun it for a while with a drill to pressurize the system. Zero leaks. At first I was nervous since the system kept emptying the reservoir over and over, but nothing was leaking out. After about 3 fills of the reservoir, the fluid level stabilized when the whole system was filled. Since that was taken care of, I figured I would do the final prep on the new engine (seals, swap a couple sensors from the old engine) and get it ready to hoist up. Since it was ready, I got it up in the air. Since it was up in the air, I figured it would be happiest in the engine bay of the car. So that's where I put it. Right now it's just resting on the support beam, and being held by the hoist. This engine weighs so little, I figure it will be just fine like that until I get a chance to mount it properly. Another awesome item I discovered under the hood was a missing brake reservoir cap, that had been replaced with masking tape! surely that will keep out all dirt and moisture. Unreal. Got a new cap from Toyota for $7, and I'll be sucking out all of that brake fluid and flushing the system with new before driving the car 1 foot.

[ShallowPockets]

Whoa. Yeah, suck it out...and bleed the lines...that crap on top is probably all in them. Don't need to rebuild calipers and such immediately after the engine, lol. (What can you expect from someone who drove their car hot until it just...stopped...going...haha)

[98se5speed]

Hopefully any debris just floated on the surface as seen in the picture. Regardless, I will be thoroughly flushing all lines. Kid I bought it from was really nice, and he loved the Vibe, but he sure didn't know much about cars. He tells me he's currently driving his grandma's 95 Sable. Can't wait to hear what he does when that thing blows a head gasket. Drive it til it melts!

[98se5speed]

Engine swap done. Took about the same amount of time putting it back in as it did coming out. Installing new exhaust bolts sure was a lot easier than removing old rusty ones. Of course, the power steering pump had to be a PITA again, such an awkward position to get at, and quite a tight fit. Finally got it back in though. Nice to see the car back on 4 tires, and have the hood closed. Engine fired on the first crank, ran smooth and quiet. I was a bit worried when I had massive amounts of white smoke coming out of the exhaust, but with the old engine failing due to overheating, it was just old coolant in the exhaust burning off. As the engine ran longer, the smoke was less and less. Unfortunately, the original cause of engine failure showed itself again, the power steering system. Despite my previous test with the power steering pump being spun by a drill, I ended up with a massive leak out of the steering rack once the engine was running. I'm not sure what the electrical connector is on the pump, but perhaps the pump doesn't put out any pressure until that connector gets voltage? Either way, the entire capacity of the system was pumped onto my garage floor and driveway within 1 minute or less. Area of leakage is the end of the steering rack on the passenger side. No fun Luckily, it appears I can get a rebuilt steering rack on RockAuto for about $150. I saw a rebuild seal kit on Autozone for $40, but I doubt I want to deal with trying that. Anyone know of a good DIY for replacing the rack in a Vibe? I'm guessing the entire subframe will need to drop out, which is no fun. Oh, the thought of getting back on the garage floor is not pleasant right now. But hey, the car runs!

[sideshowalan]

Congratulations.Good luck with the rack. There aren't many other problems the vibe can hide from you after that.

[98se5speed]

Thanks. So far, I'm not seeing anything obvious that will need attention right away. No other leaks or apparent issues. The brakes, while rusty from sitting so long, felt good during my 12' test drive in my driveway. Trans engaged forward and reverse just fine. I wish I could let it idle longer and really get a feel for the engine once it warms up, but I don't want the PS pump running dry that long. I guess I could keep feeding it small doses of fluid to keep it lubed, but that's a waste. Stopped by Toyota, they claim 5 hours for the job. Whole suspension subframe and support needs to drop out to get at it. Not surprised, and not something that sounds fun on a garage floor. Might try to talk my dad into sneaking it into the Nissan shop to do it on the lift. Would be worth the ~$45 tow. Right now, I just want to drive my car! So tired of rockin' the 95 Quest, and feeding it nearly $70 worth of gas per week.

[KITT222]

Wow. Great job! Once this is all said and done you'll know your way pretty well around the underside of a Vibe! Good luck with the lift at the Nissan dealer.

[98se5speed]

Well, sadly I won't get access to the lift, I would need him to agree to doing the job. That might be the hardest part! He's on nights this week though, sometimes he can be convinced to go in early and do jobs for the family. The friend of mine with the engine shop used to have a lift in his place. But he found himself needing the space for engine work more than auto work, so he got rid of the lift. Damn I miss that thing.

[98se5speed]

Well, so much for getting dad involved. I sent him a txt at work yesterday, the conversation went something like this:me: So, any chance you can get the Vibe into the shop and handle this rack for me?dad: If you can do the engine in your garage, you can do the rack. It can't be that bad. me: I need to drop the whole subframe, which will be a pain in the garage, and my back could use a break.dad: you're youngAh well, doesn't seem that bad really. I already stopped at my buddy's engine shop and borrowed some really tall jackstands he has. As long as I can get the car high enough, it shouldn't be too terrible to drop the subframe and get the rack out. Hopefully I can carefully measure everything before I take it apart and avoid needing to get an alignment.

[98se5speed]

Finally started on project steering rack. My friend at Toyota got me a deal through one of their local vendors, $212 plus tax. So far, got it up on jackstands, removed the tires, splash shields, disconnected the steering column to rack connection, inspected and soaked all nuts and bolts that need to come off. Hopefully everything comes apart ok, with no broken or stripped nuts/bolts. Pretty annoying that some bolts are corrosion resistant, others are a rusty mess.

[98se5speed]

Oh, and before getting the car up in the air, I couldn't help but run the engine for a while, allowing it to come up to full temp. I kept adding a tiny amount of PS fluid to keep the pump lubricated. Once fully warm, the engine runs nearly silent, all the "smoke" in the exhaust is gone, and it circulates good heat. Zero leaks anywhere. So annoying to have the engine swap go absolutely flawlessly, only to have the car still out of commission due to the steering rack. Hopefully I have it on the road no later than Sunday.

[KITT222]

On the bright side, you know you won't have any issues for a long time!

[MrHatchWagon]

That's true, and by now you'll know the car inside and out, as well as knowing that the job was done right the first time around.

[98se5speed]

Yes, I'm definitely hoping that there's nothing left to be done after this steering rack. However, I still haven't driven the car more than 15', so I am fully ready to accept that I may discover other items once the car is on the road. While I am definitely certain that the engine install was done right, and that the steering rack will be done right, I did go cheap on some of my install. I didn't bother to replace any hoses, as all the ones in the car seemed fine. How much they degraded due to the original engine overheating, I don't know. They are all pliable and the engine has zero leaks. I also skipped replacing the thermostat, water pump, and main seals. Part of this decision was for budget reasons, hopefully I won't be paying more (or doing labor again) for possible failure later. So far, all seems well. Got the subframe dropped this weekend, job went pretty well. Only sticking points were the sway bar links and tie rod ends being difficult to remove, due to the usual age/rust issues. But nothing broke, and it all came apart in the end. I also learned that you need to fully remove the bolts for the steering linkage, otherwise the parts do not slip apart. There's what seems like a "safety step" that makes sure the linkage does not come apart unless the bolt is fully removed. Live and learn... Wife and child are heading to CO for a few days this afternoon, so I should have no problem finishing up the car while they're gone. That's what I say now at least...

[journeyforce]

Congrats on your project. It looks good. Did you try spinning the waterpump pulley by hand with the belt off? did it spin without binding? When run was it leaking out the weep hole? If not then all should be good. The 1.8l engines had good water pumps. The 2.4l engines eat water pumps(for all you 2.4l engined Vibes, if you see a pink or red(depending upon which Toyota coolant you are using) line on the underside of the hood then check your water pump. It is leaking and the belt is slinging it on to the underside of the hood) It is not difficult to change the WP in the future with the engine in the car. It is a easy task (It is not like the pain in the @$$ one in the Chrysler 2.2/2.5l engines(what a pain that was) )Every year in the USA , Toyota sells a lot of Corollas (to the tune of 250,000-400,000 cars) the USA plants cannot keep up so a good deal are made in Japan and shipped here. I think Japan made cars have a VIN with a J as the first letter and the USA ones have a T as the second number/letter in the VIN. My Scion XB was made in Japan by the Kanto Auto WorksI hope you will take it for an alignment since the rack/tie rods were disturbed.

[journeyforce]

Quote, originally posted by 98se5speed »Hopefully any debris just floated on the surface as seen in the picture. Regardless, I will be thoroughly flushing all lines. Kid I bought it from was really nice, and he loved the Vibe, but he sure didn't know much about cars. He tells me he's currently driving his grandma's 95 Sable. Can't wait to hear what he does when that thing blows a head gasket. Drive it til it melts! Well it all depends, if that Sable has the 3.8l(dang engine blows a headgasket on that back bank just by looking at it) then that engine is toast in the kid's hands. If it is the 3.0l Valcun engine then that is pretty bullet proof. my folks had a 1993 Taurus with a 3.0l engine that lasted for 17 years before giving the ghost(it ran but leaked everywhere) and that was was really beat on (my 2 brothers and I all learned how to drive on the thing

[98se5speed]

Thanks! Water pump looked and felt good, so that's why I stuck with it. I took a bit of a risk with the thermostat, main seals, hoses, etc, but I'm pretty good at fixing things, it will be fine for now. 5 weeks and 1 day after bringing it home, the Vibe is finally on the road. With the wife and kid out of town, I took a vacation day and finished it up. Steering rack install went well, no real issues. One tie rod end was not cooperating much by having the joint spin rather than tightening down, but with a bit of coaxing, it tightened down. Getting the rack installed properly and matching the previous alignment was pretty easy. Just had to take some measurements before taking the tie rod ends off the old rack, then matched them up on the new rack. I actually got the steering wheel perfectly straight, and the toe feels pretty good. I'll probably ask my dad if he can come over for a "professional" tape measure alignment in my garage, I figure that will be good enough for now. After a very satisfying test drive around town, I had to give the car a wash before her maiden voyage to work tomorrow. Since my car was previously registered in Michigan, it has no front plate bracket. So I managed to mount the plate with some screws that are going between the unpainted grey trim and the painted portion of the bumper. If I remove the plate, you would never know one was mounted there unless you were on your hands and knees looking for the tiny screw holes that resulted. Pretty cool. As for the kid and the Sable, no clue what type he's driving. Guess I should write him and tell him his old Vibe is back on the road. He was really sad to see it go, but just didn't have the time or money to bring it back to life. He was pretty excited that I was going to. This concludes the "rebuild" thread. I guess next I will create a new "garage" thread, detailing all the stuff I do to it in the future. Up next, transfer my Kenwood head unit, install a small powered sub I bought, tint the windows, enjoy the ride...

[journeyforce]

Ah, that is great news. Now that is what I like reading, Doing a rough estimate with the dollar amounts you have been listing and all that and adding extra for other expenses, I gather you have a nice good mileage Vibe for under $3500? That is a great feeling of doing all the work yourself and getting to know the insides and outsides of the car and getting a great car for a very low price and all it took was a month or so of work.You should thank your dad for not helping you with the rack or some of the other stuff. You learned much more about this car on your own and that will reward you down the line.As for the thermostat and the water pump, I think they are fine right now. If the water pump was driven by the timing belt/chain and located in the housing then I would have said change the pump out before you put the engine in the car but since the pump is external then just change it out whenever, it is easy to get to. The same goes with the thermostat and hoses. All of these parts are easy to change out with the engine in the car so just drive and enjoy your "new to you" carI would advise that you keep as much of the old engine as you can. Having an extra flex plate/flywheel, oil pan and other sensors as spares might save you money and time down the line. I cannot wait to see more pics of the carCheer

[Persephone]

I'm so proud of you for rescuing this guy. Most people would have thrown him out.

[trb]

Good job! I was telling my wife what you did, and how much it cost, and even she was impressed. Now you can enjoy it, hopefully for a good long time.

[98se5speed]

Thanks everyone. As it stands today, my total investment in this car is just a hair over $3000. I bought a few non-essentials that I'm not including in that amount (new subwoofer, window tint, etc), and I haven't paid for title/tax/plates yet (~$160), but I'm definitely very happy with the investment. The car does have a previous salvage title, and who knows if the ~45k odometer discrepency is a rollback or just a title error, but either way, it would probably cost me around $6k to get a different Vibe in the same mechanical/cosmetic condition. I think my total labor hours was probably around 20-25, which puts my payoff at ~$120-$150 per hour. Not too shabby. It's definitely good to know my car inside and out. Just hopefully I don't have to use much of that knowledge again in the future. No doubt it's a pretty easy car to work on though. One thing that surprised me was that the junkyard website I use (car-part.com) did not list a Corolla engine as a cross-reference, only the Matrix. However, for the installation on my car, I didn't have to swap a single thing from the old engine. No complaints I guess. Drive to work this morning was pretty un-eventful. I was hoping to get it up to 75+ mph, but I was stuck behind some slow drivers. The #1 thing I need to take care of soon are the rear tires. They're some generic "Fuzion" brand, and they're insanely noisy. When I took them off yesterday to flush and bleed the rear brakes, I could tell that the treads are all messed up, worn un-evenly (like every other tread block), and in general they suck. Actually, one of them looks to be a good bit newer than the other, and the strange wear pattern is only on the older one. I'll probably keep the newer one as a full-size spare in the basement. As for the old engine, my friend is all excited to get the head off and have a look. I told him he can deal with it if he wants to. I'll probably pull all the sensors and possibly useful items off, and scrap the rest. I just don't need a spare messed-up 1ZZ taking up room in the garage. Hopefully I can get ~$50 or so for scrap weight. Here's a link to my full gallery of Vibe images. I'm sure I will have a "pro" photo shoot with it at some point. And by "pro", I mean "me using my Canon SLR rather than my phone to take some pictures." http://gallery.jamieanton.com/...ack03/

[trb]

Yeah, those Fuzion tires are the cheap Firestone house brand. You can certainly do better. They are just cheap tires all around. Even the guys at the local Firestone that I know don't even sell them if they can avoid it!

[journeyforce]

That does not surprise me about the vibe not being listed as a cross match. Most places and even the dealer only sees the Pontiac part and stops without looking further I am willing to be the Geo/Chevy Prizm is not cross matched as well.The salvage title might be that the car suffered a small impact that caused the air bags to deploy(that alone will total a car). Or maybe it was listed as salvage because of the engine? When I took a car off the policy the insurance company and the state wanted to know what happened to the car. If the old owner said it had a bad engine and was to be junked then that might show up on the titleDoes the former owner know why it is listed as a salvage car?So since most Vibes cost $5000-$7000, you made out very well. I am sure you could have put the car together quicker if you really needed it sooner. Remember it is a higher mileage engine(90K) so don't use synthetic Oil in it as it will cause all sorts of oil leaks due to smaller molecules then dino oil

[98se5speed]

The salvage title was issued before the last owner bought it. He paid full price at a small dealer in Wisconsin, and they never said a thing about it being salvage. A tad shady, but he said he never had a clue that it had been in a wreck before. I can see why, considering how tight the car feels. I did see that the rear quarter panel on the driver's side has been re-painted, so that does indicate damage to both sides of the vehicle (front passenger door/fender have been repaired too). All of it was done pretty well though. Not perfect, but pretty dang good. No complaints from me, considering what I paid for the ride. I have a clear MI title in hand, about all I have is salvage history that will bring down my resale value some day. Not that I really care, I'll probably own this car for a very long time to come. No intentions of using synthetic, I've never had any issues using dino oil in any of my cars. I stick with the $12 5-quart jug of "Super Tech" from Walmart, never does me wrong. When I was in college, I thought I would splurge on synthetic oil for my then prized Lumina coupe with ~130k on it. Leaked like crazy after that. Was sorta mildly leaky before then though, so it just made things worse. As I cleaned the Vibe yesterday, and put some armor all on the hood protector, it definitely brought me back to the last time I owned a black GM car. While this car was sort of a heap of junk, I loved it. 1990 Lumina Euro coupe, bought with 91k miles in 1996, sold with 202k in 2005. Had many a fun college night in that car...

[journeyforce]

Ah, Lumina coupe.I had a Beretta with the 2.2l base engine. What a POS that wasYea the thing about synthetic oil is that if it finds a weak point in gaskets, it will leak. I think you will like the "new" Vibe because it will not squeeze you at the pump like the van did and you got a lot of room.

[knightrace]

Totally impressed!!Awesome job!

[KITT222]

Great work, man! Fantastic job!

[98se5speed]

Thanks guys. Car was great to and from work today. I could tell the alignment wasn't quite right, so I measured it at home... a full 10mm toe-in. A few turns of the tie rods and I had it set to about 1mm toe in. Feels much better now. Tomorrow, maiden voyage on the highway to pick up the family at Ohare. Speaking of which, I need to add that car to our I-Pass account (IL rip-off toll road transponder account). Thank jeebus I don't drive on the toll roads around here much. Absolute robbery. Just like everything else in this state. Ok, I better not start IL-bashing, I might not be able to stop.

[98se5speed]

Dang those Fuzion tires. It's too bad that my wife's first ride in the car will be on the highway coming home from the airport, and those things are going to be louuuuud. Hopefully I can get my spare pair of tires mounted soon. I also have a mystery rattle in the dashboard. Hopefully something simple, maybe something behind the aftermarket stereo. I need to remove that and install my Kenwood HU soon, hopefully something obvious is causing the rattle. I usually have the radio loud enough to not notice, but not when the wife or kid are in the car.

[HarleyMXR]

98 thanks for the thread you created here. We have an 03 Vibe 150k, Bought it 4 years ago for daughter and she is in College now and just found out what not checking oil often enough causes. Its going to cost her but I am going to do engine swap. Looking at an 03 vibe engine 84K or an 05 corolla 56K price is only 100.00 apart so may go corolla. From what I have found only difference should be intake,exhaust and tbi. Ive worked on lots of cars and motorcycles but this will be first FWD car, wasnt looking forward to taking engine out the bottom, but with your info and pics Im going to try out the top.

[98se5speed]

Hey, thought I'd check in here and add a post saying the car is doing great, 17 months after I got it on the road. Unfortunately I changed picture hosting sites, so all my pics from the install are missing in this thread.

Sorry I didn't respond to your post, HarleyMXR. How did the swap go in your daughter's car?

Vibe is up to 104k now, so I've put about 16k on it in the last 17 months. I did end up needing to replace the water pump a few months after getting it on the road, but it really wasn't too bad of a job while the engine was in the car. Definitely tight, but not a nightmare. Other than that job, the car has been perfect.

I'm actually sorta in the market for a replacement though. While the Vibe is a great car, I find myself wanting to have something with more cargo space so it's more feasible to take with the entire family (me, wife, 3 yr old, 7 month old). While it's possible in the Vibe, the space is a bit cramped. That plus I'm somewhat anxious to get back into a manual trans car, I find myself missing it a lot. So right now my top picks are either a 2005+ Subaru Legacy wagon, or 2004+ Mazda6 wagon. But they're both hard to find with manual trans and the options I want, so I probably won't be making a move any time soon.

Until then, I'm still enjoying the Vibe. Such a great car.

A pic from last month with my daughter in front of it: