Jbthompson

Hi everyone. I recently had to replace my ignition coil on cylinder 8 and ended up replacing all of my spark plugs. I noticed last night what looked like smoke coming out of the engine area. This afternoon I noticed my car has developed an oil leak. It looks like oil is seeping out along the even sided cylinder bank. Did I miss something? Is there a seal that needs to be replaced? Ugh.

Tom57

Valve cover gasket and spark plug tube seals probably need to be replaced. What year? Read this: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...tube-seal.html

Jbthompson

Thanks Tom. It's a 2001 with 109k miles. The spark plug seals looked ok visually.

Tom57

Jb, you wouldn't be able to visually inspect the spark plug seals during a spark plug change since they are under the valve covers. See https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-question.html

Jbthompson

Yes my bad thanks tom. I was referring to the rubber seals on the ignition coil. Is changing the valve covers a difficult job?

Tom57

No, you can do one side at a time. See the link. It's very straight-forward. There are diagrams and torque specs in the link too.

Tom57

You should definitely identify the source of the leak. While your '01 doesn't have high mileage, the age of the gaskets (15+ years) in a high heat area are likely to be somewhat brittle. You might be lucky enough to find a few valve cover bolts loose. You could first try slightly tightening them (from center of cover out to the ends) to original torque spec. Do NOT overtighten.