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I recently did the timing belt, water pump, tension and idler pulleys on my LS430. I can see now I'm slowly losing coolant. It seems to be coming from the water inlet o-ring. In fact when I did the job it was leaking at this spot already. I installed a new o-ring and now it appears to be leaking again at the same spot.
When I removed the water inlet cover the area where the o-ring goes into had significant corrosion on the female end. I tried to remove as much of it as I could, but maybe it wasn't enough. Has anyone else had this problem?
How do you seat the o-ring properly? Do you push it in first then use the bolts to tighten it? Or just use the bolts to push it in?
This seems to be a poorly designed joint. If anyone has special strategies to avoid leaks from this point I would be interesting in hearing them.
Lexus Master here, I have seen several technicians roll that particular o-ring and have to completely redo the job again (myself included). The trick is lubrication. First, throw that o-ring in the trash and get a new one, I wouldn't risk having to do that job a 3rd time. Once you get everything torn back apart, get a non-reactive grease such as silicon paste (do not use petroleum based greases such as wheel bearing grease, as it will degrade the rubber o-ring) and coat all the way around the hole to be inserted, and put a light coat on the o-ring itself, the reinstall as you normally would keeping an eye on the o-ring to make sure that it does not roll.
Thanks for the responses. I think I probably did roll that o-ring. I cant see it well, but it looks a little pinched in the hole. The entrance to the hole had a lot of corrosion and it was difficult to push it in. I used the screws to push it in eventually. I did apply coolant as the lubricant but that's probably not slippery enough. I'll get a new oring, clean up the hole more thoroughly, use the silicone lube and try again.
Please review the attached and see if you notice anything you did differently.
Just to revive this thread. I finally got around to fixing this o-ring. Car is in bits now. Oring is a bit difficult to get to and when I removed it, it was cut. Now I have
coolant all over the front of my engine - what a mess.
The bore where the o-ring sits has a lot of corrosion.
Corrosion on o-ring bore
Anyone know a good way to clean this up aluminum corrosion? I'm a little hesitant to go at it with a wire brush as it will have presumably fairly tight tolerances.
Just to revive this thread. I finally got around to fixing this o-ring. Car is in bits now. Oring is a bit difficult to get to and when I removed it, it was cut. Now I have
coolant all over the front of my engine - what a mess.
The bore where the o-ring sits has a lot of corrosion.
Corrosion on o-ring bore
Anyone know a good way to clean this up aluminum corrosion? I'm a little hesitant to go at it with a wire brush as it will have presumably fairly tight tolerances.
The bore is too far gone to achieve a proper seal.
The bore is too far gone to achieve a proper seal.
Better off replacing the water crossover. ...
Removal of intake manifold necessary...
I cleaned it up the corrosion with some hand sanding. 600 grit, 800 grit, 1000 grit then an aluminum wheel polish. Although there are small spots of the corrosion left, i cannot feel them by touch. The bore is now smooth and continuous. If it doesn't work out and I need to replace the water crossover, is it a real bear to remove the intake manifold?
The bore is too far gone to achieve a proper seal.
Better off replacing the water crossover. ...
Removal of intake manifold necessary...
Just an update. I ended up replacing the front crossover joint where the bore was corroded. After cleaning it up there was still pits and I didn't want to take a chance of having a leak. This did involve pulling the intake manifold which is somewhat involved.
When installing the o-ring I ended up using the attached silicone grease to lubricate it as I used soapy water last time and it didn't help. I greased the o-ring and the bore with the grease and it popped in easily. I just started the car and there appears to be no leaks.
The bore is too far gone to achieve a proper seal.
Better off replacing the water crossover. ...
Removal of intake manifold necessary...
Just an update. I ended up replacing the front crossover joint where the bore was corroded. After cleaning it up there was still pits and I didn't want to take a chance of having a leak. This did involve pulling the intake manifold which is somewhat involved.
When installing the o-ring I ended up using the attached silicone grease to lubricate it as I used soapy water last time and it didn't help. I greased the o-ring and the bore and it popped in easily. I just started the car and there appears to be no leaks.
Here's the cut o-ring and what the seal looked like after a year of leaking:
06-10-17, 01:18 PM
2003 LS430 - Coolant Leak at Oring
