Valley Plate Leak Repair

[joey78212]

I am going to attempt to perform the valley leak repair myself. I am having to add coolant at least once or twice a month currently. I do see the signs of a valley plate leak. I have read this post -

Kind of "Mystery" Coolant leak back of engine (heat exchanger valley leak)

forum.ih8mud.com

And have also watch Car Care Nut do the repair on YouTube. One thing he said is that he always replaces the heat exchanger when he does this repair due to the possibility of it having a very small crack that you might not be able to see. Looking through the posts here, I didn’t see anyone saying they replaced the exchanger when doing this fix. Do you all think it’s necessary to replace the exchanger? Also are there any tools that are a must have that make this job easier? My LC is a 2013 with 154k miles on it. I am mechanically inclined but have not taken on a repair like this. I have done thermostat replacement and temp sensor replacement before so not completely green I suppose.

 

[lx200inAR]

I am going to attempt to perform the valley leak repair myself. I am having to add coolant at least once or twice a month currently. I do see the signs of a valley plate leak. I have read this post -

Kind of "Mystery" Coolant leak back of engine (heat exchanger valley leak)

forum.ih8mud.com

And have also watch Car Care Nut do the repair on YouTube. One thing he said is that he always replaces the heat exchanger when he does this repair due to the possibility of it having a very small crack that you might not be able to see. Looking through the posts here, I didn’t see anyone saying they replaced the exchanger when doing this fix. Do you all think it’s necessary to replace the exchanger? Also are there any tools that are a must have that make this job easier? My LC is a 2013 with 154k miles on it. I am mechanically inclined but have not taken on a repair like this. I have done thermostat replacement and temp sensor replacement before so not completely green I suppose.

Just did this. I did not replace the exchanger cover. It is about $100 + shipping I think from Partsouq. No special tools really. Just stuff to deal with coolant hoses. Make sure you get the 2 o-rings for the connector pipe and the PCV valve gasket and replace the PCV valve while you are in there. Supposed to replace the intake manifold gaskets as well. And if you remove the throttle body from manifold you are supposed to replace that gasket (not necessary to separate those parts). Make sure you have a good torque wrench for dealing with 15 ft lbs. You don't want to overtorque those bolts.

It's really not that bad. At this point, i've had the manifold off a few times. I think i could have the manifold off in 15 minutes or less at this point. I removed my SAIS as well, which also increases the simplicity of doing the valley plate.


Depending on how adventurous you are, check out this thread.

 

[joey78212]

Just did this. I did not replace the exchanger cover. It is about $100 + shipping I think from Partsouq. No special tools really. Just stuff to deal with coolant hoses. Make sure you get the 2 o-rings for the connector pipe and the PCV valve gasket and replace the PCV valve while you are in there. Supposed to replace the intake manifold gaskets as well. And if you remove the throttle body from manifold you are supposed to replace that gasket (not necessary to separate those parts). Make sure you have a good torque wrench for dealing with 15 ft lbs. You don't want to overtorque those bolts.

It's really not that bad. At this point, i've had the manifold off a few times. I think i could have the manifold off in 15 minutes or less at this point. I removed my SAIS as well, which also increases the simplicity of doing the valley plate.


Depending on how adventurous you are, check out this thread.

I did order the 2 o-rings and a new pcv from toyota parts. Does the new pcv come with a new gasket? Do you by chance know the part number for the intake manifold gasket? When I search in Toyota parts online, it comes up with three different part numbers for the gasket.

 

[lx200inAR]

I did order the 2 o-rings and a new pcv from toyota parts. Does the new pcv come with a new gasket? Do you by chance know the part number for the intake manifold gasket? When I search in Toyota parts online, it comes up with three different part numbers for the gasket.

I think the USA version is 17171-0S030. The Japanese part is 17171-38030. You need 2 of them.

The gasket is actually for the oil seperator and not for the PCV valve itself. So it is not part of the PCV valve. 12273-38020 is the part. Good luck finding it. I ordered it from a US dealer a few weeks ago and they said I got one of the last ones in the country.

If you disconnect the SAIS exhaust pipe towards the exhaust manifold (i believe this is the easiest way to get the valves off) you need gaskets for that as well. 17377-38010 x2.

These are the parts for a 2010 LX. I think it's pretty much the same on all these parts for all 200s, but might want to verify somehow.

One of the more difficult parts of getting the intake manifold off is releasing the wiring clips from the back of the manifold. My hint for you is to look at the drivers side engine near the back that there is a smaller version of the same clip that is oriented perfectly to see how the cllip works. Practice on that one a few times (you pull the grey part up away from the metal bracket very slightly, then slide the clip off the bracket). Once you've done it a few times where you can see it, it will make more sense when you do it blindly to release the two clips form the manifold. This way you don't have to unbolt the bracket from the manifold. You also should disconnect the same clip on the rear passenger side to get to the furthest bolt back. This one is upside down, so easier than the rear ones, but more difficult than the one on the drivers side.

 

[joey78212]

I think the USA version is 17171-0S030. The Japanese part is 17171-38030. You need 2 of them.

The gasket is actually for the oil seperator and not for the PCV valve itself. So it is not part of the PCV valve. 12273-38020 is the part. Good luck finding it. I ordered it from a US dealer a few weeks ago and they said I got one of the last ones in the country.

If you disconnect the SAIS exhaust pipe towards the exhaust manifold (i believe this is the easiest way to get the valves off) you need gaskets for that as well. 17377-38010 x2.

These are the parts for a 2010 LX. I think it's pretty much the same on all these parts for all 200s, but might want to verify somehow.

One of the more difficult parts of getting the intake manifold off is releasing the wiring clips from the back of the manifold. My hint for you is to look at the drivers side engine near the back that there is a smaller version of the same clip that is oriented perfectly to see how the cllip works. Practice on that one a few times (you pull the grey part up away from the metal bracket very slightly, then slide the clip off the bracket). Once you've done it a few times where you can see it, it will make more sense when you do it blindly to release the two clips form the manifold. This way you don't have to unbolt the bracket from the manifold. You also should disconnect the same clip on the rear passenger side to get to the furthest bolt back. This one is upside down, so easier than the rear ones, but more difficult than the one on the drivers side.

Yep! I just got an email from the parts store that said the oil seperator gasket is on backorder and not expected until April 14th

 

[bloc]

Pics of the intake manifold harness clips in this thread

Intake manifold removal trick

Over the years I've seen a number of posts from people talking about difficulty getting the intake manifold off due to some harness retainers on the back of it. I had my manifold off yesterday to replace the foam blocks and figured I'd get some pictures of the issue to help people prepare. If...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[gray rider]

Is the valley leak confined to pre 2018's? Or needed in all years up to and including 2021?

 

[gasman4u]

Is the valley leak confined to pre 2018's? Or needed in all years up to and including 2021?

I think it’s endemic to all 5.7 3ur-fe’s. But I could be wrong.

I know I had a trusted shop give mine a once over while they were working on an aux tank issue and one of the things they did was bore scope this area.

 

[xeuxaz]

It impacts all UR series engines of all years/types. (Not just our 3UR)

 

[ryanCA]

It impacts all UR series engines of all years/types. (Not just our 3UR)

also affects

ISF
GSF
RCF

 

[joey78212]

Is it a common consensus to drain the coolant before doing this job? Do/should I drain the radiator and also the block drains?

 

[lx200inAR]

Is it a common consensus to drain the coolant before doing this job? Do/should I drain the radiator and also the block drains?

I recommend draining. You will make a much smaller mess if you open the valley plate after draining. Drain radiator and block. If you have recently swapped fluid you can harvest and save if you have clean containers. You can connect tube to both the radiator drain and the block drains to keep everything contained and clean. I had to do the job twice, so the second time i drained everything right back into my OEM containers.