Talking to a few of the folks on the GXOR Facebook group, apparently the tubes CAN leak from the bottom, since they are just pressed on the head...

 

I saw some of that discussion there as well but when I look around at other forums like Tundra is is really just basic tube seal in the valve cover. Of course... one won't know for certain unless those are removed/inspected/replaced.

That being said it seems one needs almost a catastrophic seal failure to cause a spark plug misfire.

 

That seems to be the case, since I've put over 10k miles with the tube leaking, and I have not had a single miss fire / rough idle etc. I am thinking I'm just going to live with this issue, what's your take ?

 

Any difference in what tubes are now leaking or "not" compared to before the repair?

 

Nope, the tubes that were initially reported as having an issue are the same plugs that continue to have the issue.

 

I know this often is not requested but did they show you the tube seals that they were replaced? Did you see clear indications after repair that the valve cover had been removed? This could mean a small amount of oil residue, clips that appear to have been moved around, etc.

 

There were signs that the valve cover was removed, there were hand print marks all over the valve cover, the cam positioning sensor connector was broken and the connector was replaced. Now was I sent photos of the vehicle with the valve cover removed? No, was I sent photos of the old parts , nope. This is a Toyota dealership so I had faith that they did the job, I mean I called in and the service advisor told me the tech had done one side, and needed one more day to do the other. Can I be 100 percent certain the job was done, no. But it’s very strange that the job did no difference on ANY of the tubes.

Oil was reported on two tubes:
Front to rear left side - 3rd plug
Front to rear right side - 3rd plug

these are the ones that continue to leak.


What is a bit annoying is that NOW after paying 1k to fix the issue, and the issue persists, the issue is now diagnosed to be something else.

 

I'm not aware of other affected seals. Perhaps others with more familiarity with this repair can chime in.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...l#post10738465

••Can you get them to point out specifically "with" part numbers what would need to be done to repair this?

I'm curious to know what they are suggesting.

 

Im going in today and requesting to speak to the tech and the service manager and i specifically want to know how they suddenly determined the issue is not the seals (valve cover seals) after the repair was done, they could have said that from the get go, and saved me the hassle of giving them 1k for the job.

 

 

Amazing thank you so much for the diagrams, so I went to the dealer and asked to speak to the tech who performed the diagnosis, the request was denied. They said techs are not allowed to talk to costumers and I had to go through the service advisor. Also when asked as to why this was not diagnosed before they recommend the seals needed to be replaced, and they didn’t give me a very clear answer. So basically they do not want to touch the car again and are very happy I paid them 1k.

 

I changed the spark plugs today on my 2011 GX 460. I just bought the vehicle. Two on the drivers side were leaking slightly, those were in the center and I think I'll monitor them and live with it. Vehicle has 146k on it. On another note, I think, those were the factory plugs. No where in the service history is there a note of a plug change and there's a pretty extensive service history. All of them were about .050 slightly over the factory .044. I crazy factory Denso plugs look that good after 146k miles.

 

Hey guys,

Having same issue here and was wondering did you guys reuse the coil packs ? mines were covered in oil and wondering if I should clean them off and reuse them or get new ones?

Any suggestions would be grateful! thanks

 

I did reuse the coil packs. I cleaned them, used some brake cleaner and blew them off with compressed air. Dielectric grease on all the connections, boots as well. Put it all back together, runs fantastic.

 

I did plug change at 140,000 miles, which I believe was first change. I got truck at 130,000 miles with not so great service record. Old plugs were in decent shape and at proper gap. However, there was 1/2" to 1" deep oil in #3 & 5 and #4 & 6 (in middle of block on both sides. Not sure significance of that). I had no misfires or other problems prior to change. I soaked up oil with rolled paper towel before pulling plugs so oil didn't drain into cylinder when I pulled old plugs.

Thanks so much for diagram of tubes. My conclusion from that is there could be two sources: 1) oil weeping down from rubber seal at valve cover and top of spark plug tube, or 2) oil welling up from failed sealant (see Acrad diagram above) at bottom of spark plug tube to block.

I'm considering affixing something at top of spark plug tube (small piece of paper towel, Q-tip?) to establish if oil is draining down wall of tube from top rubber seal. Or up from bottom seal at block.

Any input...or warning... is appreciated. I'll update....and keep my fingers crossed my "sensor" device doesn't ignite!

Pic is starting point on cylinder #3 after cleaning and new plug.