LX570 Valley plate Leak

[MILOWILLI]

Started loosing coolant at 100K miles and found the dreaded valley plate leak. Fixed it myself.

 

[MILOWILLI]

While doing the repair I changed the Air valves and plugs. The plug seals failed and the tube was full of oil. Had to change both valve cover gaskets and tube seals.

 

[Aint Misbehavin]

How many miles on your LX?
Side note, seems like a bunch of pilots who are owners.

 

[MILOWILLI]

How many miles on your LX?
Side note, seems like a bunch of pilots who are owners.

110K Miles.

 

[Bunga]

Hi, What year is your truck? I looked the profile and couldn't tell. Nice job in getting that cleaned up.
No offense, but your cam wear looks kinda severe for 110K. Are you using the Factory oil and OCI?

 

[MILOWILLI]

Hi, What year is your truck? I looked the profile and couldn't tell. Nice job in getting that cleaned up.
No offense, but your cam wear looks kinda severe for 110K. Are you using the Factory oil and OCI?

Cam wear is not there, looks like new on close up and valvetrain is quiet. Using Amsoil with 10k oil changes.

 

[MILOWILLI]

Cam wear is not there, looks like new on close up and valvetrain is quiet. Using Amsoil with 10k oil changes.

Also it’s a 2010 with 110K miles.

 

[cc93cruiser]

Did you use the special black tacky Toyota FIPG to reseal the heat exchange plate/cover? IIRC, it was like 80 bucks a tube...

 

[MILOWILLI]

Did you use the special black tacky Toyota FIPG to reseal the heat exchange plate/cover? IIRC, it was like 80 bucks a tube...

Sure did. No taking chances!! Lol

 

[dubyahard]

So the only symptoms were low coolant?

 

[todiy]

Does anyone know if one tube of the fipg would be enough or I should order two?

I am going to work on my LX570 tomorrow and ordered only 1 tube which seems like not enough. So before I disassemble the car I want to make sure I have the parts that I need.

 

[m00seknuckle]

When I did mine about a month ago, I used about 1/4 tube of the normal fipg. And that is putting down a fat bead. I would recommend putting your orings and coolant tube on and practice installing the coolant plate. I did this about 10 times and came up with a good method. Had I not done this, I would have had to clean and reapply the fipg due to bumping into components. Install new intake manifold gaskets and a new pcv valve. I also installed 2 new coolant t's on the passenger side firewall. Good luck and take your time.

 

[todiy]

When I did mine about a month ago, I used about 1/4 tube of the normal fipg. And that is putting down a fat bead. I would recommend putting your orings and coolant tube on and practice installing the coolant plate. I did this about 10 times and came up with a good method. Had I not done this, I would have had to clean and reapply the fipg due to bumping into components. Install new intake manifold gaskets and a new pcv valve. I also installed 2 new coolant t's on the passenger side firewall. Good luck and take your time.

Thank you so much for the response. I have disassembled everything thanks to this thread and some other threads here. However, I have run into a problem where I have a hose in the way of installing the valley plate. Does this hose need to be removed? Or is there a technique/trick to move this out of the way?

 

[m00seknuckle]

Thank you so much for the response. I have disassembled everything thanks to this thread and some other threads here. However, I have run into a problem where I have a hose in the way of installing the valley plate. Does this hose need to be removed? Or is there a technique/trick to move this out of the way?

View attachment 2377577

That is what we are all here for. You are most welcome. I was able to rotate it clockwise toward the drivers side. I might wait for another response to see what others say, but that is what I did.

 

[m00seknuckle]

@todiy, Were you able to maneuver around the tube?

 

[todiy]

I was able to bend the tab/ear that was in the way just enough to get it out of the way. Very soft metal and easily bendable.

 

[chriscosta416]

How common is this on LX models? I have a 2011, no sign of coolant loss yet and I have 170k miles

 

[ranma21]

How common is this on LX models? I have a 2011, no sign of coolant loss yet and I have 170k miles

Pretty common as well.

 

[501LX]

Has anyone gotten quotes for this repair? The dealership is telling me $1237.

 

[TLC2013]

Has anyone gotten quotes for this repair? The dealership is telling me $1237.

That's a great quote. I paid a little more for my Indy shop to do the job. I got quotes varying from$1500-$2700 between dealerships (toyota and lexus). Shop rates in CA can surpass $200 an hour in the bay area.

I would get a few quotes and shop around to see if there is also a large disparity between rates for this job like I saw.