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Was your car affected by the fuel pressure sensor gasket recall? If it was and you've had this work done, the manifold would have been off and it would be obvious. If NOT affected, then yes, it absolutely does sound like you may have a valley plate leak.
Just checked the service history and that recall was done at 26k but at another dealership. It has been over a year though, 5/31/15. Do I have a leg to stand on as to getting them to look further into the leak and fixing it?
Thanks J3ff. I have 2011 at the beginning of December 2015 I check my coolant level it was for the first time at a low level. I've owned the car brand new since January of 2011 and never had put any coolant into the car until now after neatly 6. Attributed the lower level due nearly 6 yrs of ownership and it was time just due to evaporation over nearly a six-year period. After topping off coolant I checked the next day the level was fine, I checked once again in the middle of winter around the end of February beginning of March level was fine. I checked the level at end of June I it was back at low level. Once again I top off the coolant level inspected everything, and have not seen any outward appearance of any leaks. I have driven it for the entire month of July through some severe heat over the last 2 weeks we've been in the high 90s and have not noticed any drop-off in coolant level temperature readings everything seems to be operating fine.Even when the level had dropped off I never notice any issues with engine temperature or Heating of the vehicle during the winter. I'm currently at 69500 miles I think I should bring it in to get it inspected just in case.
I'll contact the service manager at my dealership I've been dealing with him for nearly nine years he's a great Guy, the only one who works on my car is there a Master Tech he's also an LFA Certified Technician as well he incredible extremely knowledgeable mechanic.
^^those are the exact symptoms I was having. I brought it into the dealer a couple times and twice they told me that's it's normal. Coolant shouldn't be evaporating or leaving since it's pretty much a closed system. They topped me up and I was on my way. It's like they won't touch it unless you have a serious/obvious leak. A year later I finally found coolant leaking down my tranny. Brought it in and they took care of it.. finally. I got some photos from my thread below if you're interested. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...leak-my11.html
^^those are the exact symptoms I was having. I brought it into the dealer a couple times and twice they told me that's it's normal. Coolant shouldn't be evaporating or leaving since it's pretty much a closed system. They topped me up and I was on my way. It's like they won't touch it unless you have a serious/obvious leak. A year later I finally found coolant leaking down my tranny. Brought it in and they took care of it.. finally. I got some photos from my thread below if you're interested. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...leak-my11.html
Thanks I will, now when I speak to service mgr and master tech, I can show them exactly where to look. It cuts alot of guess work out as well as typical just 5min inspection that always turns up nothing because there not looking in right areas.
If they have a small camera (many do to look inside the cylinders), have them look between the manifold runners with it. You will see pink if there is an issue, and it will be very obvious.
I have not had the valley plate leak problem, and I got the recall done, so the manifold was definitely off and it would have been obvious.
**** ! I want an LFA tech working on my car . There is a yellow on the floor at the dealership. I am assuming the owner has it services at his own dealership since he owns it
Just an update on my situation. The service advisor didn't talk to the manager like he said he would. Before I even took out my wallet I told him how displeased I was for them not finding it when I brought in the car a few times for low coolant and we went back and forth and he said he would go talk to his manager. He came back and said ok, you're good to go. I wasn't expecting that, and I thanked him for helping out. He hands me my keys and I go on my way.
10 minutes later I'm driving home and he calls, "Oh I'm sorry, I misunderstand my manager and he said they were taking my information and making a case with Lexus Corporate." I swear... this is the run around I get from dealerships all over Atlanta... say one thing, mean another. At least they are doing it on my behalf since I was planning to go that route anyway. I'm crossing my fingers the end result is a good one. Hopefully if Lexus see's enough of these cases it will be a wake up call.
They did break the plastic wire harness protector that seems all dealerships do with the ELF recall. I meant to look before I left but I think the excitement got the best of me at the time.
If they have a small camera (many do to look inside the cylinders), have them look between the manifold runners with it. You will see pink if there is an issue, and it will be very obvious.
I have not had the valley plate leak problem, and I got the recall done, so the manifold was definitely off and it would have been obvious.
Thanks for info, I'll bring it up them. This is same dealership that has installed several headers including set of novel headers, coil over, and other aftermarket parts.
Alright here is my update a little late as I had this done a couple weeks ago:
I indeed had the Valley plate leak along with who knows how many other ISF owners!! I started adding coolant about mid March and up until I had the repair done about 2-3 weeks ago I had added about 3/4 gallon of coolant and figured it was almost a 100% certainty that I had the leak as the coolant was not ending up on my garage floor
Anyhow I called Lexus corporate as I was outside of my powertrain warranty and asked them for some help with this repair and they assigned it to a case manager and said that they need a written verified diagnosis that it is indeed the Valley Plate leak from the dealership.
I proceeded to get my car into the dealership and get the diagnosis (by the way they didn't charge me to diagnose the Valley plate leak) then I forwarded the info to Lexus Corporate where they proceeded to tell me that they would cover $500 of the repair. I told them I was willing to take whatever they would give me as it was better than me having to fork out the entire amount of the repair.
I guess the only good news out of the situation is that the master tech broke the nipple on my old radiator and I got the new updated version with a thicker nipple/new reservoir etc....... gratis on them!
Below is the pics I took of the car while it was being worked on:
I think we should combine all the Valley Plate Leak threads in one master thread so everyone's account can be found for reference and to show or point out to Lexus corporate as these leaks become more common, and hopefully there will be a recall for this by Lexus and the guys who have paid for this out of pocket will be reimburse one can hope anyway?
Holy **** thats a lot of coolant leaked in there, at least you got part of it covered by Lexus. Is this leak visible at all if you don't take the manifolds off?
07-30-16, 07:45 AM
I meant to look before I left but I think the excitement got the best of me at the time.
