never heard of this... sounds like total speculation

 

I thought the Toyota RED coolant was the concentrated coolant and you had to add water to it where the PINK was premixed?

 

Well, it looks like I've got this going on. Was under the truck 3 weeks ago doing a brake bleed, and no signs of the leak. Did an oil change today, and saw crusted red stuff everywhere. Overflow bottle empty, and radiator a cup or two low as well. o_O. Will be taking it in for this repair as I am headed out on a road trip next week.

Question - is there anything else that I should do while the intake is off, labor-saving wise?

 

Holy @#$@#. I took it to a "trusted" Toyota dealer, and they're quoting me 15 hours of labor. That seems about double what I've seen online. How to verify? Or do I just go get the truck, pay the diagnostic fee and find a different dealer?

 

I think 15 hours is the book time for job so will probably hear that quoted at many dealers.

 

I called Lexus shop, they quoted 8 hours. Major fishing expedition by the Toyota service advisor.
He quoted me $2,100 "discounted" price for the job. Uh, no thanks...

 

Hi, I know it's an old post, and I wanted to know if you could solve it, since at this moment, I have the same leak on my 2010 GX460 with 73,000 miles, could you solve the problem?

 

@azfj60 I have a 11 with 132k on the odo. Noticed the coolant level dropping on the expansion tank from when the truck had 117k miles some 8 months ago. It's a valley plate leak and see the leak at the same spot as shown on your pics, the leak is so small that I had to refill only a half gallon during the 8 months and ~15k miles from since when I noticed. I have also been on a 7k mile road trip with the leak, no issues. This leak is completely external to the engine block and there will be no damage to anything, just keep monitoring the expansion tank every few hundred miles.

seen a step by step procedure on the ih8mud forum and also few detailed videos on youtube with the Tundra having the same issue, I'm planning on fixing it DIY, dealer is quoting exorbitant labor. it's a time taking process but with patience should be able to knock it off, remove the intake, disconnect few air injection pump hoses, knock sensors and should be able to get to the valley plate.

 

Thanks for the info. I know it's external to the block, but still under cooling system pressure, correct? With the possibility of letting go even more? I'm headed out on a 2K mile road trip through AZ/NM and west Texas, with abundant "middle-of-nowhere" involved, so I don't want to risk it letting go. I went from nothing, to the draining the overflow, and even a few cups of the radiator in a matter of weeks. I guess in retrospect that doesn't seem like much, total volume wise, but if it's sucking air into the cooling system, that's no bueno. One and done.

Regarding the hours, I called local Lexus dealer, 8 hours, $1500 out the door, no questions, no BS. Toyota service manager wouldn't even admit to this engine existing on Toyota vehicles ("it's tighter on a Lexus, hence the doubling of hours"). Then switched story to he needed to charge more hours than Lexus since Toyota labor rates were $140 and Lexus was $195. WTH??? He insisted that parts were a big part of the cost, and when confronted with a few o-rings, a tube of FPIG, and a few gallons of coolant he reluctantly had to admit that it was less than $100 in parts. It just pisses me off that they try to scam you. Will be talking to the service manager, and give him a chance to make it right there. He's new (service manager) and a long time LC guy, hence me taking my truck there. My local mechanic said 4 hours labor, but that sounds pretty low. Maybe I shoulda, but I have a trip in two days. Don't need coolant leaks.

 

@azfj60 8 hrs seems right and $1500 sounds reasonable. The lexus dealership I visited was quoting around $2200, the leak was minor, so I thought of not worrying about it.

 

I posted this a few months ago but it doesn't hurt to remind people. My 2 local Lexus dealers wanted $1,700 to change all the fluids in my 460 (except antifreeze) My local Independent Toyota specialist charged $605 including a full check up and I guarantee they still made money, But! they don't have to pay for a multi million dollar facility and hundreds of employees.

 

the major issue here is finding a shop that will do it right the first time. asking on this forum or facebook 99.9% ends with no response so you just end up having to take it to the dealer and get extorted, or risk some local shop and risk them making things worst.

 

I ended up paying $1400 for it. Just over a hundred bucks in parts, including FIPG (pricey!), 2 intake gaskets, coolant and 2 o-rings. Will monitor coolant loss over the next roadtrip, ~2K miles. Already had to add a cup or two to the overflow, but chocking that up to normal re-fill burping and air pockets. No leaking so far, leaving all the underhood plastic crap off so things are easy to check on. I'm with the "right first time" philosophy on this one.

 

5.7L but basically the same repair

 

Is this still an issue on the 2020+ models? Oe has Toyota remedy it with better materials/parts.