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Ultra rare - hell no. It's a common problem on any Lexus/Toyota V8 since 2007 when they switched to the ultra long life coolant. The Toyota V8 engines - 4.6, 4.7, 5,0 and 5.7 all have the issue. The only thing that may make it "ultra rare" for the LC500 is the fact that the LC500 is a super rare care. I just did mine in the Land Cruiser. Its been leaking since 120K miles and got bad enough that I had to do it at 150K miles.
Toyota used the wrong sealant. They are still using the wrong sealant. If you don't drive a lot, I'd expect to see it start leaking at the 10 year mark. It will happen....it's just a matter of time.
Steve
respectfully, your landcruiser is 11 years old and had the problem at 120k mi. i highly doubt toyota/lexus has NEVER change anything if this is a 'common problem'.
respectfully, your landcruiser is 11 years old and had the problem at 120k mi. i highly doubt toyota/lexus has NEVER change anything if this is a 'common problem'.
The problem exists on a wide range of engines and is pretty much guaranteed to happen
Multiple RC-F owners are complaining about it now....
You have stated you arent concerned about the issue and that's fine, but to downplay the issue isn't right. Lexus should have stepped up and resolved this issue from happening again
Right now if you get your valley plate situation fixed, you'll have the same problem down the road AGAIN given a matter of time....
At least with Ferrari if your PTU goes out, you can find a third party company to repair the PTU with redesigned forks...
I am in a group chat with more than 100 F owners in Houston, we're starting to see the early RC-Fs with valley plate issues develop
Ultra rare - hell no. It's a common problem on any Lexus/Toyota V8 since 2007 when they switched to the ultra long life coolant. The Toyota V8 engines - 4.6, 4.7, 5,0 and 5.7 all have the issue. The only thing that may make it "ultra rare" for the LC500 is the fact that the LC500 is a super rare care. I just did mine in the Land Cruiser. Its been leaking since 120K miles and got bad enough that I had to do it at 150K miles.
Toyota used the wrong sealant. They are still using the wrong sealant. If you don't drive a lot, I'd expect to see it start leaking at the 10 year mark. It will happen....it's just a matter of time.
Steve
I didn’t know this affected the other V8’s too. I used to see it a lot on IS-F’s that would come in for service but never heard about it on the other cars. Is there a way to fix the link or prevent it from happen?
The problem exists on a wide range of engines and is pretty much guaranteed to happen
Multiple RC-F owners are complaining about it now....
You have stated you arent concerned about the issue and that's fine, but to downplay the issue isn't right. Lexus should have stepped up and resolved this issue from happening again
Right now if you get your valley plate situation fixed, you'll have the same problem down the road AGAIN given a matter of time....
At least with Ferrari if your PTU goes out, you can find a third party company to repair the PTU with redesigned forks...
I am in a group chat with more than 100 F owners in Houston, we're starting to see the early RC-Fs with valley plate issues develop
Look for these issues to pop up north of 8 years old and 80,000 miles. Problems can and do occur sooner in some situations. However, gaskets typically go bad with age and mileage so it’s most likely on older 2UR-GSE engines.
my lc is a year old and has about 4k mi. so 80k at this rate would be 20 years.
it also says:
Replacing the valley plate gasket can be an expensive repair due to labor. Many Lexus dealerships will charge $1,500+ for this job as the book hours are somewhere around 12-14 hours.
so a $1500 repair after 80k mi. is just not a huge deal to me. and yes, i did see there it could happen sooner. oh well, nothing is perfect. i'd still rather have a lexus v8 than a ferrari v8 which will cost $15k to fix.
Right on. It's an issue. A huge one...not really, but annoying. When repaired you use the "correct" sealant that is compatible with the extra long life coolant and you're golden. I've been a Toyota customer for many years and they aren't perfect. This is an issue that should have been addressed by using a rubber gasket or o-ring if you ask me. I suppose they chose the sealant route due to the coolant. Once it starts to seep out, you'll see your coolant overflow levels begin to drop, and drop, and drop. You'll also smell a faint coolant smell, which will eventually get worse over time as the leak develops and forces more coolant out of it. You'll need a scope to see it as it is under the intake manifold. Once it gets bad enough, you'll be topping off the overflow every so often and eventually, you'll have pink coolant on your garage floor.
It's not a hard repair, but $1500 is what you can expect from an Indy shop. Toyota/Lexus charges $2500-$3000 to fix it. Not a huge deal on a $100K car, and this is about the only issue with the Lexus V8s, other than the timing case oil leak that will also eventually develop and will require the entire front of the engine to come apart.
If you are handy, you can fix both of them yourself. Just set aside a weekend and a lot of patience.
Bitsy, the quote in your post says it's a gasket replacement and it most certainly is not As mentioned earlier in the thread and by 1A1, it's correctly stated that the valley plate is sealed with an adhesive sealant. If you read some of the threads on the subject there is discussion on the type of sealant and the thought that the incorrect type may have been used in some instances by the factory and on subsequent repairs. Your source, as my mother used to say, is "Full of Old Shoes"
I am a firm believer that everything made by man is designed to fail. Companies have raised this ability to an art form. Nobody builds anything that will last forever. It’s not in their interest. So as long as I get a reasonable length of service from the products I purchase , then I will not b*tch or feel short changed. I purchase all of my vehicles new. So if I can operate my vehicles for 10years or 80k miles without incident, then I would feel like I’ve gotten a good return on service. Hopefully by then, I'll be ready to get something NEW.
iamnaeem
bitkahuna posted a great article today on the V8 valley plate leaking due to the Pink coolant (long life) with some folks switching to the Red Lexus coolant. not visa versa. Just an FYI for you.
Regards
Bitsy, the quote in your post says it's a gasket replacement and it most certainly is not
thanks sicky. you're quite right of course, it's a sealant failure, not a gasket failure. well done, congratulations on finding the error in this article.
thanks sicky. you're quite right of course, it's a sealant failure, not a gasket failure. well done, congratulations on finding the error in this article.
I find it hard to believe the expectation of a Toyota is below 100K. Toyota being the #1 car mfg. in the world today, must be doing something right to be selling so many cars to overtake, Chevy/GM.
Oct 18, 2014 — I have a 2008 Tundra double cab 5.7 4x4 it has 65,000 miles. A bit about my problem I have replaced the water pump, valve cover seal leak/cam ...
Missing: valley | Must include: valley
Feb 9, 2017 — 2014 5.7 95000 miles Engine is leaking coolant from rear running down ... holding the Air pump to the valley plate where the red circle is.
LX570 valley plate leak talk at I8Mud (Land Cruiser site)