I have the OEM P/S air control valve which has been sitting around for ages, and I never got around to changing it. Now finally, the old one is so bad that it pushed out the vacuum lines and the car is hissing like a snake. Since I have the new one, I don't want to just delete it, at least for now.
I want to replace it today or tomorrow, but I am concerned because I am not sure what problems I will run into. I seem to remember people saying "you need a skinny wrench" (was it 17mm?), like the ones that they make for bicycles... others say there is no space there, so your wrench has to be less than 6" long... and so on.
Anyone done it recently and still remembers what wrench they used?
I have a nice adjustable one that has relatively thin jaws:
https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-90-94...ustable+wrench
Will that one work? Any other pointers?
Thanks!

 

Well if they would put up the sticky that I asked for along time ago we could find the fix for that problem. Its about changing the small orings in it. Don't toss the bad one I very likely can be fixed. I did a write up on here some place about it.

 

This is the best way I have found to remove it. A 17mm crow foot on a 1" extension. Piece of cake. The issue is that, with a standard length wrench, the sway bar is in the way. The angle of the valve is such that you can't get at it from angles other than right where the sway bar is. I think you could get away with a stubby combination wrench though you may have to tap on it with a hammer and a piece of wood or something to break it loose. With my long handle 3/8 ratchet and this combo with the crow foot it was beyond easy.

Gotta have the right tool for the job. The single crow foot will set you back around $15 at your local NAPA I think. It has to be a full open end crow foot, not a flare nut crow foot.

 

Thank you Banshee!
Does the ratchet have to be flex head to fit in there? I only have a straight one, but will buy a flex head if necessary.

 

Hey dicer, I tried to find your older posts with the idea about o rings, but no luck. I will keep my old PS AC valve to see if it can be fixed by replacing o rings. can you give me some pointers?

 

here you go.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ystem-diy.html

 

The ratchet does not have to have a flex head.

 

Get me a dicer sticky. I post pictures of stuff and its all lost search pulls up zero for me.

 

Same here. I've spent at least an hour using search engine and going through your posts today and - nothing...

 

Great, thank you Banshee!

 

I looked as well and came across the same thread that sha4000 linked. Any threads that would be candidates to the FAQ, PM us. We read the discussions but among all that goes through Club Lexus keeping track can be challenging unless it is called out.

 

What about lexls?

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/steer...mprebuild.html

 

In all honesty, I think the info that Banshee posted is truly valuable, and hopefully we can add it to the P/S sticky/bible. No one has explained the tools used as well as Banshee, and no one has come up with a better setup to remove the Air control valve than Banshee. Most posts I found were recommending short and/or thin wrench, which is not the most elegant solution.

 

Can the valve be removed topside or does one have to get under the car? Nice that a crow foot will get in there. If it can be removed topside this potentially makes the swap much easier-faster.

 

Here's another thread, for reference.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-up-valve.html