That's right. The picture with the white arrow in it above is straight from my RX300.

 

hmmm..ok. I thought HarrierAWD's post cleared up the "connector" and "vave" combination. But if yours does not have the metal valve it has to be the plastic one for the 99' at least. When the wife gets home with the Rx I'm going to take a look and see whats there.

 

I don't doubt they changed the design later on, but the bottom line is that the piece does get dirty and should get changed out eventually even with cleaning.

 

bob2200,

I guess you found the picture I posted back in June 2004. My RX is a 2001 and that metal PCV valve is the one that I purchased and installed on my RX. I replaced my PCV valve at around 33,000 miles. I am at about 50,000 miles and I have only replaced my PCV once at the 33K mile mark.

I believe the plastic L-shaped PCV valve may be the one used on other model year RX's.

 

I have read a lot about the oil sludge issues with RX300s. While I personally don't have any issues, I can imagine Lexus may have seen something earlier with the PCV Valve and decided to redesign the area for later models of the RX300, 2001-2003.

 

I stopped by a Toyota dealer to look under the hood of a Sienna (3MZFE), and noticed that the PCV valve is metal, not plastic, and it is tilted at an angle unlike the picture I showed of mine. So obviously, this must have been incorporated at a point perhaps with the 2001 RXs, even though they are 1MZFEs.