salimshah

We need to then add miles to the 2nd/3rd gen valve covers, before saying the newer valve covers solve the oil consumption problem

Salim

trhs75

You're absolutely right, Salim! I think I have read on this forum that it has done the trick for some owners; I hope it works for my RX.

Lexmus

After replacing my 1st gen with a 3rd gen cover, I doubt I could have cleaned the 1st gen cover well enough to approach a new one. Plus, given the money saved on the labor by replacing it myself, and given Lexus had redesigned it, made it sensible to install the newer version cover. And having to do that job again if a cleaning didn't work was not something I would have wanted to face.

trhs75

I took a stab at cleaning the old valve cover; I figured why not? There's still a lot of crud on it, and I know it has to be caked on between that black plate and the aluminum cover. I think it would have involved more than $200 of my time just to clean it!!

salimshah

For those who replaced the valve cover, please do all of us a favor. ..
Log the milage at which you noticed oil consumption. Log the same amount of milage with the replaced cover and report if they are seeing oil loss through the valve cover.

Salim

trhs75

Good idea -- I will report after my next highway trip!

Dukenukemx

Yes. When I got the car it had consumed about a quart of oil in less than 500 miles. After I took off both valve covers and cleaned them plus changed the valve cover gaskets it consumed about 1/4 of a quart of oil within 500 miles. It took a days worth of effort to clean them, and I was left with a gallon of gasoline that was full of carbon that I had scrapped off. I ran the gasoline through a strainer and the bucket I used was still full of heavy carbon powder. There was some slug in the engine, but I just scrapped it off.

owenstrawn

I first noticed unusual oil loss in our 2000 AWD RX300 at 138,000 miles, crossing west Texas at 85 mph in Jan 2013. But because we travel only rarely I didn't figure out what was going on until a couple of years later. Changing out the PCV and using Seafoam helped for a while but not for long. On our last trip with the original valve cover, we lost 9 quarts of oil in 600 miles.

At 218,833 miles, I replaced the original rear valve cover with a brand new 3rd generation 11201-0A060 valve cover (Toyota actually calls them cylinder head covers). Last week we spent 3 full days driving cross country, encountering 99 degree heat, 4,000 foot climbs (and descents), strong headwinds, and several hours of heavy 80 mph traffic (the kind where you don't dare slow down to the 65 mph speed limit).

I have found that if you want to know exactly how much oil you are losing, you need to check the level with the engine fully cold, and parked on level ground. If you check on the road (say right after gassing up) the level will be significantly lower than if you wait until the engine is cold (typically the next morning). Also if you park nose down on a slope the level will be higher than normal and if you park nose up it will be lower.

I had the oil changed the day before we left, and checked the level in the morning while loading up. It read around 2/3 from the lower button to the upper (parked nose down, engine fully cold). When next I read it after the first easy 250 miles (parked level, engine hot), it showed just above the lower button. With that disappointing loss I figured I needed to keep it topped off so I added a quart. In the subsequent 1,250 miles it didn't budge below 3/4 hot or right on the top button cold. So I suspect the initial "loss" was really just inaccurate measuring.

Gas mileage has also returned to levels I haven't seen in years. We got over 21 mpg on four of the six 250 mile legs. Climbing cut the mileage significantly though. I also thought it was interesting that I could tell when we were climbing because the water temperature bumps up to just over the mark (it's usually just under the mark).

What's the downside to this upgrade? Well, I am now feeling the need to fix some of the appearance items that I have let slide over the past 40k miles. It really is a very nice car.

salimshah

This is excellent information. Lets see how much oil consumption (hopefully none) that you observe after 138K miles with the new valve cover. The good this is you bought a new cover and it had '0' miles in use.

Salim

owenstrawn

If this car makes it another 138,000 miles I will be astonished and highly gratified. But even if it does start burning oil again it is totally worth the $300 to fix!

owenstrawn

Update: Arrived home after a second week on the road. Added 1 qt oil in Guymon OK (256mi) (but I think it was not properly topped off at the oil change). Dipstick showed full at Moriarty NM (555mi) & Tucson AZ (1000mi); ~1/8 qt low at Brea CA (1772mi), 1/4 qt low at Page AZ (2376mi), 1/3 qt low at Wichita KS (3416mi). Not bad for a 222k mi car!

Fuel mileage was only 20mpg overall, which is a little disappointing. FWIW, it was much higher in CO climbing Wolf Creek Pass than it was in CA traffic.

Lexmex

What oil and weight is everyone using?

owenstrawn

5W30. I used Mobil 1 briefly, but switched back to Pennzoil or Quaker State with the oil loss problem. I'm considering switching back to synthetic now that it is resolved.

salimshah

I am confused now ,,,
Did the new gen3 valve cover .. was your oil consumption imrprove or just simply reduced?
Do you attribute the oil consumption to the path through the PCV?
Catch can would surely tell if oil is coming through the PCV.

Salim

owenstrawn

My oil consumption went from 9 qts in 600 miles to 1/3 qt in 3400 miles. Which is good enough for me.

I believe the 9 qts was PCV and the 1/3 qt is natural for a 222k mile engine.