Hello everyone. I've started to notice that my '02 LS430 will misfire during idle a couple of times on rainy days only. It's more of an intermittent thing as it doesn't happen every single time that I'm idling and there's no CEL or engine performance issues.

Also started smelling leaking oil the last few days and noticed a tiny leak around the oil pan area so I looked under the hood and found a leak on the driver's side of the engine area.

It appears that the leak is originating from an o-ring or seal and has soaked a rectangular looking part above the seal along with some seepage beneath those blue circular objects connected to the wires.

Can someone please tell me what the parts highlighted in red are? (click on the link below for the picture) I'm thinking I may have a leaking spark plug seal but I have no clue what the other oil soaked part is.

 

The circled part is the PCV valve. Take the decorative cover off the top of the motor, VERY easy to do, and you'll be able too see exactly what's going on...

 

Thanks! Took it to my mechanic and he says I need new PCV hoses. Getting them replaced asap.

 

Make sure he also replaces the rubber grommet.

 

The rubber grommet will be brittle and bottom half will snap off and fall into engine if you are not careful.

The old grommet is no doubt leaking engine oil and vacuum.

Better to score the grommet crosswise with a razor blade and extract in quarter sections with a needle nose pliers.

You can also insert a shop rag into the PCV grommet hole to assist with extraction and hold pieces in place while removing sections.

If you lose a piece into engine, then plan on removing valve cover to retrieve it.

Probably you should remove valve cover to replace brittle valve cover gaskets, spark plug tube seals and rubber sealing washers (valve cover bolts.qty 9 each side)

 

I'm going to have him replace the grommet, the hoses, and the valve itself. I'm not going to attempt this myself since I screwed up my last DIY repair big time (transmission pan gasket on my LS400). The valve cover gaskets, spark plug tube seals, and rubber sealing washers were all very recently replaced. As such, you should have seen the look on my face when my mechanic said, "Get this done asap or you'll blow all your oil seals."