Coolant disappearing (1 Viewer)

[turbo8]

Check to make sure your reservoir cap has a gasket installed. Mine was missing.
New cap with gasket on the left.

 

[Grumvee]

<Drum roll.....>

Valley plate leak.

I didn't want to believe those who were predicting that, but you were definitely correct.

Pictures attached.

To repair, my mechanic will use the OEM coolant silicon (hat tip to @bloc for telling me to confirm that), and will replace the intake manifold gaskets.

While he's in there, I'm also going to have him replace:

• Water pump
• Thermostat
• PCV valve

Anything else you'd recommend?

Radiator is fine and was replaced less about 30k ago, so I'll leave that.

I do plan to replace the starter at some point to increase reliability (we go to remote destinations, sometimes solo). But my mechanic says that there's no advantage to doing that repair now because the starter is in a different area.

I'll get the quote tomorrow, and will then speak to the sellers and the dealer.

Anyway... I'm looking forward to having this behind me and getting back to enjoying an awesome vehicle that I've been looking forward to for a long time!

Thanks again for your help, Mud!

Grumvee

 

[bloc]

Not at all the worst I've seen on here, but small consolation in that the work is the same.

I can't think of anything else to add to your list. I agree: get it working reliably and drive it.. glad we could help figure this out.

 

[1world1love]

<Drum roll.....>

Valley plate leak.

I didn't want to believe those who were predicting that, but you were definitely correct.

Pictures attached.

To repair, my mechanic will use the OEM coolant silicon (hat tip to @bloc for telling me to confirm that), and will replace the intake manifold gaskets.

While he's in there, I'm also going to have him replace:

• Water pump
• Thermostat
• PCV valve

Anything else you'd recommend?

Radiator is fine and was replaced less about 30k ago, so I'll leave that.

I do plan to replace the starter at some point to increase reliability (we go to remote destinations, sometimes solo). But my mechanic says that there's no advantage to doing that repair now because the starter is in a different area.

I'll get the quote tomorrow, and will then speak to the sellers and the dealer to see if they'll help on splitting the costs. The sellers seem like honest, stand up folks, so I expect they may. I'm obviously not holding my breath on the dealer, though if they refuse, I'll be posting some reviews online, and may escalate it to the general manager and/or Lexus corporate. At a bare minimum, I'm expecting my $370 back from the dealer for the "inspection" (and if they refuse that, I'll dispute it with my credit card company).

Anyway... I'm looking forward to having this behind me and getting back to enjoying an awesome vehicle that I've been looking forward to for a long time!

Thanks again for your help, Mud!

Grumvee

View attachment 2673052

View attachment 2673053

Well, bummer to hear but better than a blown gasket. It’s a good idea to get those extra items done. I think those items and maybe make sure that all the hoses if they weren’t swapped with the radiator.

You’ll be good as new.

 

[Grumvee]

I'm having them split the invoices between the valley plate repair, and the other items. The valley plate repair will be $1,500 (parts and labor). Seems about in line with what I've seen online here, and I trust the shop.

 

[liv2bike]

I'd also do serpentine belt, idler pulley and tensioner, and new rad hoses. Might as well.

 

[Grumvee]

Thx @liv2bike. Forgot to mention belt is on the list to be done. Tensioner was done 1k ago.

Ider pulley and new radiator hoses? Maybe I'll add those. Thx.

 

[Grumvee]

Valley plate repair in process.

For those interested, here are some pics from along the way (from my mechanic).

 

[Grumvee]

Hi Mudders...

I'm needing some reassurance that I indeed did buy a vehicle with a reputation for having a robust engine and a generally high degree of reliability. Because it's not feeling like it

Here's what just happened...

I have a bunch of parts for some baselining that I'm planing to do (AHC fluid, diff fluid, transfer fluid, spark plugs, etc.)

Long story short, I dropped the spark plugs off with the mechanic to have him go ahead and do those now.

He did that today, and found one of the passenger side spark plug holes nearly full of oil. The valve cover seal has failed. Some seepage on the other side, but not nearly as bad. So, I'm another $500 into this already crazy large repair bill for a vehicle that I got to drive for about 50 miles before it headed down this path...

(As a reminder, this is a 2011 LX with 118k miles.)

Thoughts? Is this another known failure point? Or am I just getting unlucky multiple times in a row here?

Thx,

Grumvee

 

[grinchy]

It’s not unheard of no. 5.7l will be fine. Take a deep breath, remind yourself that the car is 10 years old and seals and stuff will need refreshing. None of this is major work really.

remember you’re in a vehicle you want to know is running top top to get you back home from the boonies, so now you have confidence that the main engine side stuff is sorted for another 10 years.
Finish the fluid maintenance and profit.

 

[Grumvee]

Thanks @grinchy (seriously)

Going to grab a beer

 

[bloc]

Paging @Taco2Cruiser for spark plug tube oil leak. He’s talked about it a bit if I remember correctly.

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

Paging @Taco2Cruiser for spark plug tube oil leak. He’s talked about it a bit if I remember correctly.

Oil can come in from two ways. The top and the bottom. The top has an o ring type seal that gets pushed into the valve cover. Lots of people lead off with that, and concur that is what you replace first. If you still have oil seeping into the spark plug tubes, that is where it gets a little more interesting. The tube cannot be bought outside of in a new block, so don't damage the thing. It is pressed into the block with FIPG. The tube would need to be pulled from the block in a way that won't damage it, then cleaned and pressed back into the block at an exact mm depth. I figured it out on my personal 5.7. Took the risk and it paid off in that I have sealed up my 5.7 to perfection. I've done several other 5.7s as this is pretty common.

The good is that it is not going to hurt anything. It bothers the living crap out of me also, but it will not reduce the service life of your 5.7 even on mile. It an be fixed, but only by someone who truly understands engine work. If you can't find someone close to you, don't risk it. The juice is not worth the squeeze without the right mechanic (not some tech) conducting the work.

 

[1world1love]

That is what I love about this forum.

 

[bloc]

Oil can come in from two ways. The top and the bottom. The top has an o ring type seal that gets pushed into the valve cover. Lots of people lead off with that, and concur that is what you replace first. If you still have oil seeping into the spark plug tubes, that is where it gets a little more interesting. The tube cannot be bought outside of in a new block, so don't damage the thing. It is pressed into the block with FIPG. The tube would need to be pulled from the block in a way that won't damage it, then cleaned and pressed back into the block at an exact mm depth. I figured it out on my personal 5.7. Took the risk and it paid off in that I have sealed up my 5.7 to perfection. I've done several other 5.7s as this is pretty common.

The good is that it is not going to hurt anything. It bothers the living crap out of me also, but it will not reduce the service life of your 5.7 even on mile. It an be fixed, but only by someone who truly understands engine work. If you can't find someone close to you, don't risk it. The juice is not worth the squeeze without the right mechanic (not some tech) conducting the work.

Great tech. Have you seen enough to make a rough estimate of what percentage leak from the bottom?

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

Great tech. Have you seen enough to make a rough estimate of what percentage leak from the bottom?

Really hard to quantity that, but I have started full service work (only for 200s) this year. So when I do look down in spark plug tubes of 5.7s that have over 100k, I… I honestly expect to see oil.

If there is ever any slight leak from cam towers or timing chain covers, I bet there will be oil in the tubes. I believe it is because the same process for FIPG was used and we should not be shrouded that if it leaks somewhere, it can leak in another place.

The worst situation I find is the new second owner who is an enthusiast. He buys a 200 from someone “who never beat it off road, just some soccer mom.” That’s not a good thing. The original owners of these trucks don’t give a crap about maintenance. They can’t be bother with it. And running old oil that now had low TBN, make seal hard. Then you have the gaskets that Toyota loves to not ever apply much at all. With seals and gaskets plugging two different ends of the same component, it doesn’t give the best odds for a dry environment to be sustainable.

 

[bloc]

Really hard to quantity that, but I have started full service work (only for 200s) this year. So when I do look down in spark plug tubes of 5.7s that have over 100k, I… I honestly expect to see oil.

If there is ever any slight leak from cam towers or timing chain covers, I bet there will be oil in the tubes. I believe it is because the same process for FIPG was used and we should not be shrouded that if it leaks somewhere, it can leak in another place.

The worst situation I find is the new second owner who is an enthusiast. He buys a 200 from someone “who never beat it off road, just some soccer mom.” That’s not a good thing. The original owners of these trucks don’t give a crap about maintenance. They can’t be bother with it. And running old oil that now had low TBN, make seal hard. Then you have the gaskets that Toyota loves to not ever apply much at all. With seals and gaskets plugging two different ends of the same component, it doesn’t give the best odds for a dry environment to be sustainable.

I’m suddenly more happy my PO was a 5k on-the-dot type of person. Still, I’ll have to have a look in there. Mine needs a timing chain cover reseal and I was going to tackle that this fall.. would be a good time to throw in some tube upper seals if there is oil.

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

I’m suddenly more happy my PO was a 5k on-the-dot type of person. Still, I’ll have to have a look in there. Mine needs a timing chain cover reseal and I was going to tackle that this fall.. would be a good time to throw in some tube upper seals if there is oil.

I’ll say this also. If you get to the point where the timing cover is off, replace the chain tensioners! (Yes, it should be yelled)

You are right there to replace them, they don’t cost much, it’s easy, and the tensioner are not a very durable component in my opinion.

 

[bloc]

I’ll say this also. If you get to the point where the timing cover is off, replace the chain tensioners! (Yes, it should be yelled)

You are right there to replace them, they don’t cost much, it’s easy, and the tensioner are not a very durable component in my opinion.

That was the plan, based on the handful of times I got chain slap on cold start. Hasn’t been a problem on mine in ages but is common enough with the 3UR I consider them a wear item. Plus the chance that toyota updated the parts to address the issue.

 

[Gazziza]

@Grumvee My LC is having the same symptoms that yours had. Going to have my shop look at it monday. I have a feeling it's the valley plate as well. Another $2000 down the drain we go