Ball valve in my engine bay (1 Viewer)

[sonocruiser]

Hey everyone. Long time lurker, short time owner, and first time poster.

I recently picked up an 1997 LX450 w approximately 220k. For 220k, it's beautiful inside and out, and not a speck of rust. When I bought it, I took a look under the hood and noticed the beefy-looking radiator, but other than that didn't notice anything majorly concerning per OTRAMM's PPI video. The past few weeks, I noticed oil spots on my driveway and finally found the time today to poke around with some degreaser to try and pinpoint where it was coming from. When I did, imagine my surprise when I noticed a hose with a ball valve attached to the engine. From looking around at other LX450 engine bays, I figure the nipple the hose is attached to normally attaches to the OEM radiator here (the below picture is not my engine):

Instead, mine has a hose that leads all the way around and simply opens to atmosphere (but I assume the ball valve is closed). My engine bay is shown here:

Additionally, I have what appears to be two coolant tanks routed together:

Anyway, can anyone tell me what I'm looking at?

 

[jpoole]

Ball valve plumbing may be the result of the non-stock radiator. Instead of adding a connection to the top rad. tank they just put on a long line with a valve that can be used to purge/bleed that circuit when needed. Typically you keep the ball valve closed I assume.

For the two tanks, that just seems like overkill. The first tank should never overflow and if it does it likely won't pull back from that 2nd tank reliably anyway. Only thing you get from the 2nd tank, unless I misunderstand how it's plumbed, is a way to measure overflow from the first tank, should an overflow event happen. The toyota engineers designed the primary tank with the correct capacity for the system though so you definitely don't need the secondary overlow tank and can revert to the stock setup with confidence.

Make sure that the hose from radiator is plumbed to the barb on the 1st overflow tank cap that runs to the hose that extends down into the coolant in the 1st overflow tank. When the engine cools the rad cap will let fluid flow back in through that hose and suck fluid out of the 1st overflow tank. The other barb on the 1st overflow tank cap is just a vent to atmosphere.

I would personally switch back to a stock radiator and stock parts, pieces and routing in all aspects of your cooling and heating system. Only mod I'd consider is a rear heater bypass if you have corroded lines and don't want to fix them though I would fix and keep the rear heat personally.

Add foam between rad and core support, have a good fan shroud, tune the fan clutch and then drive with confidence.

 

[doc_random]

As jpool noted you have a radiator that is not made for this model. The No.3 bypass hose lets some water circulate even when the thermostat is closed. Your radiator does not have the nipple to connect it to.
The fan shroud mounting points don't line up with the bolt holes in the radiator. 1PZ and 1HZ engines (for example) did not have this bypass hose and the previous owner (PO) may have bought the wrong radiator and made it work, or got a great deal on what looks like a good aftermarket radiator.

No idea on the coolant tanks.

 

[doc_random]

I should have said: Welcome to the forum!
In the top section of the first page there are "sticky" posts. Read through this one a couple times. It will get you familiar with terminology and general knowledge.

80-series FAQ for General Info, Modification and Repairs

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for the 80/LX450 series tech section continues to be a work in progress. The goal is to have links in the below to other threads and tech articles. By having these linked, instead of pasting the text, the threads will remain live. The live threads can...

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Everyone wants to know: Do you have factory lockers? Look for this switch left of the steering column.

It looks like a pretty well kept engine bay. I see in one picture "Rad 25 May 20", which may have been when the radiator was replaced. Did you get a folder with paperwork such as receipts? The previous owner seems like they would have kept good records.
I would "assume" that there were overheating concerns that lead to the radiator swap. One area to look into is the wiring harness near the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) pipe at the rear/driver's side of the engine. The round blue cap in your first picture is the EGR vacuum modulator. In some cases the wiring harness touches the metal pipe below the EGR valve. It can melt and cause intermittent shorts.

 

[sonocruiser]

@jpoole and @doc_random , thank you for taking the time for a noob, and thanks for the welcome! Sorry everybody - she's unlocked. Also yeah yeah, pink panties and whatnot.

The longtime PO was an aircraft mechanic, which is why you see part inspection tags and aerospace marker writing everywhere. This one also lived in a garage at work and at home for 20 years, which is why the engine bay, plastics, etc. look so nice.

Sadly, no receipt for the radiator. Poking around online looking at other aluminum radiators, now I wonder whether--given the poor lineup of the shroud and missing ports--the transmission cooler nipples are there at the bottom. I'll add

As for the wiring harness, I took a look and while the mesh is old, nothing it's not touching the egr pipe and isn't melted.

While I have you all, I'd like to get some opinions on the state of my power steering reservoir / hoses and other things:

There seems to be some seepage from the reservoir and the upper hose:

The hoses below it are also rock hard, covered in oil from what I assume to be a dizzy leak.

Also shown are a couple of unplugged sensors, one coming from the brake fluid reservoir and the others from a wiring harness near the air filter:

No clue why he unplugged the reservoir sensor, and unsure of what those other two sensors connect to. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[doc_random]

At the top, see Resources -> Lexus -> LX450.
FSM = Factory Service Manual. It is a pretty big file.

FSM - 1997 LX450 FSM

1997 LX450 Factory Service Manual

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[LandLocked93]

Last pic...do your windshield wipers work? The two plugs look like the power to the wiper motor.
Next pic up - brake res sensor should have a matching plug somewhere close by. Maybe the latch on the plug itself is shot and it won't stay connected.
Next pic up - your accelerator cable is shot. Is the gas peddle hard to depress? Mine was - replaced the cable and the gas peddle assy (bad binding at pivot) to resolve.
+1 on getting the right radiator and plumbing in place. I hope it's not an indicator of heat issues dude was having with the rig.
Good luck and Welcome!

 

[doc_random]

I have not had power steering fluid problems. Some has had leaks around the top of the can where the two parts are crimped together. I assume this has lived near the ocean and this is surface corrosion, but I'm not sure.

EWD is Electrical Wiring Diagram, at the same link as above. I have to have exactly the right amount of coffee to follow this thing sometimes.
Page 23 shows the brake fluid sensor is connector B1. When the fluid levels drops it will close the switch in the cap and your Brake light will come on the dash.

Page 123 shows you want to find the J2 plug. It also shows the E-Brake will illuminate the same dash indicator as low brake fluid.

There should be a gray plug below and towards the driver's side of the brake fluid. It drops down into the larger wiring harness below.
It is at the bottom of this picture.

Do the wind shield wipers, cruise control, and turn signals work?
In the second picture (passenger side of the engine bay) the flat topped black wedge is the cruise control.

 

[doc_random]

Maybe the antenna motor? This is my view of the passenger side fender well. The antenna motor is in the right side of the hole here. The motor for the antenna is like an electronic fishing pole. The spool pushes and pulls a cable that is inside the sections of the antenna. This raises or lowers the antenna. If the cable breaks then the motor can keep running. It is tricky to replace. Maybe the PO just disconnected it.

There is a button in the middle of the dash that looks like an upside down pyramid on a stick. This is the antenna up/down control. Even when it is "down" it will still raise the antenna an inch or so.

Better pic of the brake fluid connector below.

 

[sonocruiser]

Thanks y'all!

@LandLocked93 thanks for the heads up on the accel assy. Pedal is stiff, I'll look into replacing both. All turn signals work, wipers work in all three speeds, cruise control works fine. Antenna does not go up or down, and I do not hear any sort of motor sound trying as I press the buttons, antenna does not raise at all.

@doc_random thank you for the bible... I mean FSM. I suspect they have something to do with the antenna motor. As for the brake fluid sensor, I was unable to find the clip that mates with it. I'll check again tomorrow when there's light out. To thicken the plot, however, as I was searching I found another plug wrapped in electrical tape, with what looks like a 1k ohm resistor:

The wire runs underneath the brake fluid reservoir toward the passenger side of the engine bay. Possibly oil level warning sensor, per an EWD for a 96 landcruiser? That's the only sensor I can see running in approximately the same orientation.

 

[TomH]

Thanks y'all!

To thicken the plot, however, as I was searching I found another plug wrapped in electrical tape, with what looks like a 1k ohm resistor:



The wire runs underneath the brake fluid reservoir toward the passenger side of the engine bay. Possibly oil level warning sensor, per an EWD for a 96 landcruiser? That's the only sensor I can see running in approximately the same orientation.

That wire goes to the EGR gas temp sensor, E1 in the EWD figure above. The resistor is used to keep the check engine light off for a P0401. It would normally connect here:

 

[LandLocked93]

To your ps res weeping...I have two of those res cans and neither seems to hold its fluids completely. Yours tho looks pretty good. You can try replacing the rubber gasket on the res cap, tho I went with a new cap and still get weeping. It's when the fluid starts to make its way to the sides of the res. One of mine for example has a pinhole at the welded joint for the larger hose port on the other side (in pic). I'm still using it but it tends to stay moist most of the time. Not enough to drip but enough to be annoying. And its an indication of air getting in to the system. Just haven't had the need to address it yet...new pump and fresh steering box covers alot for a while.

 

[doc_random]

I think this may be the radiator you have:

Ebay Aluminum Radiator

So will the above aluminum rad. not work in the 1FZ? If not, is there any source for us? I'm not sure, but I'd bet that the mounting points are the same. There are cheap "all metal" $2-300 radiators (csf?) out there but they don't look like this. The only one I've seen that looks like this...

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[sonocruiser]

@TomH thank you! Temperature issues sound more likely then, considering the radiator and egr sensor issue together?

@LandLocked93 thank you for the PS info. I may try the new cap to see if that helps. Yeah as you can see in one of the photos, that one port is also a bit wet.

@doc_random thanks for the radiator info. So far I haven't noticed any overheating doing highway driving this summer, but everything mentioned above gives me pause now. I'll stick to the 4runner for long trips until I get this sorted.