opisdfagjo

For the past few months I've had Code 71 (EGR) CEL and after reading that it could be caused by dirty throttle body I decided to clean it this past Saturday. On Sunday I noticed it looked like a very small, barely noticeable puff of smoke came through the center AC vent. I forgot about it and then on Monday I noticed a sizzling sound when I got home from work. I popped the hood and see that near the firewall on the passenger side that this thing (photo below) seems to be dripping coolant and it's sizzling on the area by the valve cover. From the other threads with similar sounding issues this appears to be the VSV? Which is also an issue that causes code 71 right? How do I fix this? Also, the area directly below the valve cover looks very dark, does that mean I have to change the valve cover gaskets?

Thanks for any help!

vipsoarer

The VSV you are showing in the picture is the heater valve. It allows hot coolant to flow through the heater core in the cabin when requesting heat in the cabin through the hvac. Depending upon what is leaking it may just be a hose or a clamp, but it could also be that it is leaking internally and would need to be replaced. Your EGR is on the back of the passenger side head and runs to the exhaust. My guess is that it is unrelated to the EGR issue but the coolant could help expedite the EGR pipe rusting. I would search this forum for "EGR" and see what you find as you may have to do some disassembly to see what is actually the problem. In addition, try to pinpoint what is leaking on the heater VSV and fix accordingly. Good luck.

wsaharem

I had a mechanic tell me that my VSV is bad.. $520 to repair.. Ouch!! Anyway, after doing research, found this DIY thread, this might help you.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...rol-valve.html

opisdfagjo

Thanks a lot for that link, I might do that soon. It seemed to have stopped though. I realized that when I reinstalled the throttle body after cleaning it, I didn't put the clamp far enough up on the nipple. I put the clamp on the hose right at the tip of the nipple so it wasn't "sealed" properly. After taking it the intake to throttle body piece off I saw the issue and moved the clamp further up the nipple. This has fixed the issue completely. I should still do that DIY anyways.