Back ground:
2005 LS430 177k engine oil changed about 1-2k miles ago with M1 5w-30 (will check oil level later but don’t think it’s an issue. This car does not leak and checked level few weeks ago).

Symptoms:
slight rattle at start up for a split second. Slightly longer when weather is cold. Still less than 1 second long.
Nothing else. Engine runs fine. No shaking no rough idle. I don’t notice any difference. Maybe a slight worse gas mileage but I m blaming that on A/C and heavy right foot.

CEL (assuming P0012. Did not have access to OBD reader and it cleared itself) popped up few weeks ago (it was about 90 degrees outside that day) then it cleared itself about 30 min later. I think it came on at idle at a red slight. No difference in performance. No rough idle no power loss.

P0012 popped up yesterday. I was only about 10 min away from home so it did not clear itself. I cleared it using OBD reader. No difference in performance. No rough idle no power loss.

Where should I start looking in order to fix this?
is this an expensive fix?

Any help is appreciated.

 

Sounds like your Oil Control Valve or OCV (there are 2) are either sticking mechanically or extremely dirty. You can try cleaning them but they should prob just be replaced.

 

thx. I kind of looked into that. Is it like one valve controls bank 1 and other one controls bank 2? Where is the other one located?

 

Exact same location on the other side.
Also called Variable Valve Timing (VVT) Solenoid

https://www.lexussouthatlantaparts.c...53300F010.html

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...actuator,12910

 

Very likely have dirt in them, I had mine die when I cleaned my engine out and decided to just replace them instead of trying to clean out the filter

 

filter? You mean the solenoid? Filter is located somewhere else isn’t it? Kinda want to clean out both solenoid and filter before I spend money on it. Not sure where the filter is though.

 

The filter is a whole other ordeal. The bearing cap has to be removed to access it.
Not your typical Sun afternoon project...

 

thx. Just gonna clean the solenoid n see if it works.

 

I meant the actual filter since usually if it gets plugged up partially it can mess with the whole VVT system, I didn't feel like pulling off the covers again so I just threw solenoids at it.