Sounds good thanks that is very helpful. I did plan to go from below. Earlier today I ordered a stubby 17mm. I have documentation that the prior owner had the ps pump resealed by their mechanic with a Lexus seal kit in 2017, which was 20k miles ago, 5k of which are probably my miles. As I type that I realize how little the prior owner drove this car after her husband died. Anyway, when I had the rack replaced recently they tested the pump for leaks and didn’t find any. I think maybe replacing the old leaky rack with the new rack might have pushed the ACV finally over the brink as I have read when you fix one leak in the system it just redirects the pressure elsewhere and you find the next weakest point. I have no documentation that the acv has ever been replaced so I’m just gonna do it.

 

I got it out but definitely wouldn’t describe accessing from below as a piece of cake if the fitting is on really tight or seized, because the stubby 17mm does not give you enough leverage for something on there really tight. It was a battle but I wound up getting it loose from above. If you remove parts of the air intake you give yourself more room to pull from above and I found that ultimately from above I could apply more force to the stubby 17mm. A lot of swearing. It was on really good because I am not a small person and I was putting my body weight into it. So I think mine was just really badly seized for whatever reason. Because when I put the replacement on you really aren’t having to torque it down very much at all. Leak seems to be solved! I am glad I put plastic over my alternator because as expected, once removed it pissed out PS fluid (even though I had suctioned out most of reservoir) until I got the replacement in. Glad to be done with this one (until it leaks again in X years…)

 

The well known path to resolving the leaks on every 1UZ so far would be to replace the valve cover gaskets, rebuild the power steering pump, replace any P/S lines that are old and hard, also give your alternator a good decontamination it’ll be full of P/S fluid, once these things addressed, you shouldn’t have any leaks for about 5 years when you’ll need to do the same thing again.

 

What is notable (and obviously not surprising to any long time LS owner) is the pump was rebuilt with the Lexus kit in 2017 or 20-25k miles ago and has been pressure output tested and is fine. The air control valve was in fact replaced when the pump was rebuilt per the documentation I have from the prior owner and had already failed again.

 

Congrats on getting it done!

The previous owners brought it to Lexus for a lot of work, including the starter motor. But I cannot say with confidence whether it's original. My pump and air valve may very well be original. The leak is getting pretty rough though, very white smoke on startup even on a 60 degree spring day. Dumping a lot of PS fluid into the intake. I'll be right behind you on doing this.

That's terrible to hear the replacements failed so quickly.

 

Thanks and yeah, honestly if it’s not seized it’s not the worst thing. If it is, prepare for some swearing unless you just take the pump off. I hope yours isn’t. Just put down some good cardboard etc for when that PS fluid comes out. I am already noticing basically no smoke on start up except any moisture burning off. I had some white smoke, nothing terrible but definitely noticeable​​​​​.

 

Wish i had help but you're on the opposite side of the country lmao. I hope my neighbor mechanic has some good insight. I got some shorty spanners so in theory they are good enough to get it off. In theory.

Thanks for the recon info

 

Definitely have a short 17mm and then at one point I did resort to yanking on it using needle nose vice grips so I think have a pair of those handy also. Honestly, it was not my most shining moment battling with it and thankfully no one was watching or within earshot to hear me swearing at it. I probably could have made life easier by sliding the alternator off or just taking the ps pump off or something but I wanted to do it the “easy” way leaving everything on…again here’s to hoping mine was just unusually seized as it is not something that gets torqued down super hard when installed.

 

I've got a selection of stuff that in theory can get to it, plus harbor freight is just down the road were I need to try something else. Not the end of the world.

Yeah that's how I felt on my Mini the other week. New (to me) car, first oil change, the ****ing... person who did it last decided to spin that bolt back on and then hit it with the goddamn impact gun. Needed to get the HALF INCH BREAKER BAR to remove the 13 or 15mm oil drain plug. Absurdity. They probably re-used the copper crush washer. Whatever.

 

"Getting to it.." or accessing it is only half the battle. The main issue is applying leverage to your chosen tool once you're there.
A stubby wrench is a double-edged sword as it will fit but it may not produce enough torque...

As as99east mentioned above removing the pump completely may have actually saved time in the end.

 

My persistence knows no limits I solved the ECU and didn't give up.

I had 3 out of 4 spark plug rubber insulators break off IN THE SPARK PLUG HOLES and stay stuck in there. Took hours but a pick tool finally allowed me to leverage them out.

And then of course that goddamn PCV valve grommet that took 4 or 5 hours and at least 50-80 attempts to get out, praying it didn't deceintigrate into the valve covers.

 

Yeah, the only option on those PCV valve grommets is to destroy them taking them out. Can pretty much guarantee that the spark plug seals on your valve covers are hard as plastic and due for changing as well.

 

Thats insane. Lucky they didn’t crack the oil pan I guess.

 

Yup you're probably right. Or maybe it's already been addressed by a previous owner, I'm not sure. But so far, no leaks on the vales or the tubes at 165k. So if it ain't broke, I'm not gonna fix it.

 

The easiest way to remove the P/S pump is to remove the alternator first. It’s only a couple more bolts, and then you’ll have much better access to the P/S pump from the top. This way you can degrease the alternator windings and get a good look at all the P/S hoses. You want to replace any that aren’t in excellent condition. You don’t want to do all the work on the P/S pump and then find a mystery leak in a year and need to disassemble it all again. And rebuilding the P/S pump only involves replacing the seals and o-rings, maybe a couple bearings. As long it never gets run dry, the pump shouldn’t ever seize up or anything like that.
Anytime the PVC grommet gets so hard that it doesn’t easily come out, you should just remove the whole valve cover because it’s a certainty that the gasket and plug seals are also going to be rock hard and needing to be replaced at the same time. And it’s a lot easier to do it all the same time, and its easier to do that grommet when the V/C is on your work bench than on the engine.