Valley Leak Discovered - Expectations for current dealer vs. independent pricing? (1 Viewer)

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Jacksonville, FL
Unnecessary background info: Well, I thought I'd finally landed on a great LC after keeping an eye on various listings over the past several months. Last week I bought a 2011 with 165k on the clock, but with impeccable dealer service history. Had I done just a few hours more research, I'm quite sure I would have know to take a peek down the valley to see if there was any coolant remnants visible. I did carefully check the radiator and water pump for the crack/seal leaks, and the truck had a perfectly normal coolant level in the reservoir when I looked at it. Sadly, I didn't do those few extra hours of research, and after coming across the various threads on here I went to check under the hood and found a low coolant level in the reservoir, and clearly visible pink crud in the driver side of the valley (I couldn't see the passenger side, but can only assume it will be in there as well.) End unnecessary background info.

For those of you who have tackled this issue in the past year or so, what kind of pricing have you received from both dealers and independent shops? My longtime dealer who I've taken my previous 4Runners to quoted it at "10.5 hrs plus parts will put it between $1800-2000." I've seen folks mention prices of $700 all the way up to $3k in the various threads. My longtime dealer did say they have a tech who has performed the service multiple times, which does instill a bit of extra confidence, but the price they quoted definitely hurts to hear. Unfortunately, I don't currently have access to a space to do the repair myself, and in all honesty the threads I've read lead me to believe it would be a bit over my head regardless.

On the same subject, does anyone have recommendations on Independent shops in Southern New England? I called both shops who were listed in the local service contact thread for my state (RI,) but the first told me he is unfamiliar with the 200 series, and the other hasn't returned my call.
 
Unnecessary background info: Well, I thought I'd finally landed on a great LC after keeping an eye on various listings over the past several months. Last week I bought a 2011 with 165k on the clock, but with impeccable dealer service history. Had I done just a few hours more research, I'm quite sure I would have know to take a peek down the valley to see if there was any coolant remnants visible. I did carefully check the radiator and water pump for the crack/seal leaks, and the truck had a perfectly normal coolant level in the reservoir when I looked at it. Sadly, I didn't do those few extra hours of research, and after coming across the various threads on here I went to check under the hood and found a low coolant level in the reservoir, and clearly visible pink crud in the driver side of the valley (I couldn't see the passenger side, but can only assume it will be in there as well.) End unnecessary background info.

For those of you who have tackled this issue in the past year or so, what kind of pricing have you received from both dealers and independent shops? My longtime dealer who I've taken my previous 4Runners to quoted it at "10.5 hrs plus parts will put it between $1800-2000." I've seen folks mention prices of $700 all the way up to $3k in the various threads. My longtime dealer did say they have a tech who has performed the service multiple times, which does instill a bit of extra confidence, but the price they quoted definitely hurts to hear. Unfortunately, I don't currently have access to a space to do the repair myself, and in all honesty the threads I've read lead me to believe it would be a bit over my head regardless.

On the same subject, does anyone have recommendations on Independent shops in Southern New England? I called both shops who were listed in the local service contact thread for my state (RI,) but the first told me he is unfamiliar with the 200 series, and the other hasn't returned my call.
I can’t speak to current pricing but for this job the work is nearly identical to a tundra with the 5.7. Reminding a shop of that should help with familiarity.
 
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I thought it couldn't hurt to post an update for future reference for anyone searching. I just picked up my Land Cruiser from Bristol Toyota in Swansea, MA after having the valley leak repair completed. They originally quoted between 10-12 hours of labor @ $125, but when it was all said and done it took them 13 hours of billable time. Because they went over the estimate, they didn't charge for parts/shop supplies, so the total came out to just under $1650 out the door. I might have saved a few bucks going with an independent shop, but the combination of not wanting to do this repair twice, and the benefit of having the repair listed in the Toyota VIN Record/CarFax definitely made the few extra bucks worthwhile, in my opinion.

Needless to say, it was definitely a necessary repair:
UnderRemovedManifold_V1.jpg
 
What’s the easiest way to check for this?
Watch your coolant reservoir. If the level isn’t going down you don’t have a leak. This particular leak is so slow it won’t cause low system pressure or harm in any way other than the level getting too low over time.

Looking for it directly requires messing up the foam block around the PCV valve and under the front of the intake manifold.
 
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Watch your coolant reservoir. If the level isn’t going down you don’t have a leak. This particular leak is so slow it won’t cause low system pressure or harm in any way other than the level getting too low over time.

Looking for it directly requires messing up the foam block around the PCV valve and under the front of the intake manifold.


Toyota already messed up my foam when they replaced the pcv valve 😅. Tech said it cut labor to 5mins. Maybe I should have got upset in hindsight.
 
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Toyota already messed up my foam when they replaced the pcv valve 😅. Tech said it cut labor to 5mins. Mount I should have got upset in hindsight.
It’s not critical.. mainly to keep dirt out of the valley, and a little to cut down on noise. But yeah if it’s already trashed you can see down there some to look for coolant, though only part of it.

The foam block is pretty cheap but the manifold needs to be removed to replace it. Not very difficult but with the risk of dropping stuff down the intake runners the small reward of having that block intact is minimal.
 

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