2010 GX 460 - Oil in Spark Plugs - Trust but ALWAYS Verify

[carlos33018]

As some of you know, about 8 months ago I discovered oil in my spark plugs tubes, both cylinder banks, which prompted me to take the car into a Toyota dealership for repair, here is a thread documenting what happened and how it was resolved:

2010 GX 460 oil in Spark Plugs

So I recently purchased a used 2010 GX 460 with 150k on the clock and while it did have most of the maintenance done at Lexus , the spark plugs were never changed. Today I went ahead and replace them all and noticed that two of them, (one on each cyclinder bank - passenger and driver ) were...

forum.ih8mud.com

Fast forward to today - 8 months after the repair, and 4 months short of the 1 year warranty on the job expiring, I decided to pull all of the plugs again to MAKE SURE there was no oil prior to the job warranty expiring and GUESS WHAT, there is oil on the 3rd spark plug on BOTH cylinder banks when counting from front to back of the car. The car experiences no symptoms, the engine idles perfectly smooth, no misfires etc, but those two cylinders have significant oil in them. The car will be going back to the shop, and more than likely will have to have the massive job of removing both valve covers, and replacing ALL gaskets all over again.

Questions for the PROs here:
Any idea on how this could happen ? - Maybe they did not clean the surface correctly where the seals are located ?

One concern here is that since this is a massive job, last time around the techs broke the plug for the cam positioning sensor, which had to be replaced, - new clip crimped into the end of the wiring harness etc. I am concern that more things will be broken by them repeating this massive job, what do you guys suggest here?

Thanks,

 

[r2m]

Quick question: Do you experience any loss of oil or drips under your vehicle over time?

 

[carlos33018]

Quick question: Do you experience any loss of oil or drips under your vehicle over time?

I havent experienced this, but if i had a slow drip under the car i would most likely look at the timing chain tower cover. Its been known to slowing drip on specific areas.

 

[Acrad]

If work still under warranty I would get it fixed. While it might be a big job it is still a lot less work than a coolant valley leak or timing chain cover repair.

I'd probably attempt this job and coolant valley leak myself. Timing chain cover would have to be at an obscene leak rate with oil on the floor but would likely defer to someone else to do.

 

[carlos33018]

If work still under warranty I would get it fixed. While it might be a big job it is still a lot less work than a coolant valley leak or timing chain cover repair.

I'd probably attempt this job and coolant valley leak myself. Timing chain cover would have to be at an obscene leak rate with oil on the floor but would likely defer to someone else to do.

The work is still under warranty, and I am sure they will try to do their best to blame the issue on something else... Can anything else cause this problem ?

 

[Acrad]

IMO: The work was done poorly

 

[carlos33018]

IMO: The work was done poorly

So took the car back to the dealer, and they are now saying that the leak is happening from the bottom of the spark plug tubes...They put a camera in the tubes themselves and since the oil was only on the bottom of the tubes, they are saying its a seal between the head and the bottom of the tubes themselves. In order to solve this issue they have to pull the whole head, which is over 10k and said they recommend just driving it like this . This sounds kind of strange... any ideas?

 

[carlos33018]

 

[carlos33018]

View attachment 2770470

 

[carlos33018]

 

[r2m]

Hard to tell in the photos, but is it puddling or just damp/moist around the base of the plugs?
For myself, if it only stays damp or moit, and not puddling/filling with oil, I'd just leave it. But that is only my opinion.
Although that plug does look rather wet.

 

[carlos33018]

Hard to tell in the photos, but is it puddling or just damp/moist around the base of the plugs?
For myself, if it only stays damp or moit, and not puddling/filling with oil, I'd just leave it. But that is only my opinion.
Although that plug does look rather wet.

It was pretty wet, I pulled the plug and it was dripping oil all the way out.

 

[Rednexus]

I would search the Tundra forums (which share the UR engine) and see if this is a common problem. Spark plug tubes are generally pushed or threaded into the cylinder head, perhaps it's as simple as popping off the valve cover, pulling the tube, and putting some RTV on them before reinstalling. Either way I can't see the head needing to come off for that (sounds like BS), but I have no personal experience with the UR engine.

 

[r2m]

View attachment 2770513

have you had a chance to check the FSM or one of the manuals on the sticky post here: GX 460 Manuals - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/gx-460-manuals.1129713/
You may be able to find how legit it is to have to pull your heads.

 

[Acrad]

/GX460/rm14k1e/repair2/html/frame_rm000002op501bx.html

Other than upper tube seals that were replaced here.... IMO; I can't say in years looking for issues on 1UR-FE this is common on Tundras either for the lower tube side to leak.

 

[carlos33018]

/GX460/rm14k1e/repair2/html/frame_rm000002op501bx.html

Other than upper tube seals that were replaced here.... IMO; I can't say in years looking for issues on 1UR-FE this is common on Tundras either for the lower tube side to leak.

View attachment 2771487


View attachment 2771482View attachment 2771483

I wonder if this is something that is missed all the time, where someone goes out, performs the repair, and never pulls the plugs to make sure it was done correctly? Especially since the service interval on the spark plugs is 100k miles...

 

[carlos33018]

I wonder if this is something that is missed all the time, where someone goes out, performs the repair, and never pulls the plugs to make sure it was done correctly? Especially since the service interval on the spark plugs is 100k miles...

Are there part numbers for the tubes themselves?

 

[Acrad]

Searches so far are showing these parts as bundled with replacement heads. I haven't yet found them as standalone parts.

2015 Tundra report

Spark plug tube warranty

Spark plug tube oil warranty Just got my truck back from the dealer for oil change and to have them fix the problem with oil in the spark plug tubes. The dealer said Toyota told them there is no fix for this. The service manager told me that they would have to replace the heads to stop the...

www.tundrasolutions.com

111020SH00 11102-0SH00 1110239176 11102-39176 1110239175 11102-39175 1110209151 11102-09151 1110209150 11102-09150 Оригінал головка блоку циліндрів

111020SH00 11102-0SH00 1110239176 11102-39176 1110239175 11102-39175 1110209151 11102-09151 1110209150 11102-09150 Оригінал головка блоку циліндрів голова Toyota 3URFE 5,7 Lexus LX 570 Land Cruiser 200 Sequpia Tundra Виробник: Toyota | Lexus (Japan) Найменування: Оригінал головка блоку циліндрів...

prom.ua

 

[Acrad]

None of the FSMs show this as a separate repair. Basically... just the requirement you use new ones with the replacement head.

No idea whether others have had same issue. Your report is probably the first I recall offhand on 460 of seals not fixing it the first go around and possibly the tubes themselves on head end.

 

[Acrad]

Looking at the fine print the OEM ones aren't sold separately anyway

N03