ceephis

Okay all,

I have a 2007 Lexus RX 350 all wheel drive with about 173,000 miles on it

First off I had the dreaded oil cooler hose failure last year. Got to take it into a highly reputable Toyota certified repair place that I've never had problems with before.

And I noticed this year after changing my oil there is a slight leak and I thought it was my fault. (Not tightening the drain plug enough or something)

However upon inspecting I saw it was coming down a bolt from the new oil cooler tube harness and so I called the shop inquiring that they may have made a mistake in the repairs and it had come loose.

They of course graciously took it in and inspected it for free. And found out that it was the oil cooler itself that has a small leak at the place where they're crimped together. ( See pictures)

I know that this is a pressure system and the quotes that I've gotten to replace this range between 1800 and $2,800. As the manifold needs to be removed to even access this and all oil and coolant needs to be replaced.

My question to you all is what are your thoughts on fixing this leak with some sort of epoxy or even something as silly as flex tape spray.

From what I can tell this drips maybe 21 drips a week in the driveway. (on my recent snow storm analysis) I'm not saying that's not substantial but it isnt even noticable affect our oil levels as I check them often when I fill up with gas.

Do you have any thoughts on what would properly seal this if I were to try? Any possible problems in the future because of trying to fix it?

Thank you all for your wisdom and insight.

Original condition when brought to the repair place


Identified leak after cleaning and running engine for 5 minutes

Fully cleaned cooler apparently before running engine

Leeper

#! - always put your car, model year, mileage so others can offer accurate solutions
#2 - not buying it, that small leakage doesn't equate to all that other oil splattering, in the initial pic something is amiss.

If it were me, I'd clean the area very well, watch it over the next few days to see where it is coming from... seen the culprit be things like over filling oil and it dripping down, untightened or damaged hoses, missing a small o-ring or gasket. I would not blindly throw money at this until "I" knew for sure what it was. I spent a couple weeks diagnosing both oil and coolant leaks on my RX it takes some patience but I DIY as I've never trusted the vast majority of mechanics be them dealerships or indi's. My leaks were simply a loose fill plug for the transfer case oil then a broken radiator but the moral is "always accurately diagnose the problem before implimenting solutions"

ceephis

Thank you my apologies for not even thinking about model year and mileage

I do agree that a lot of the oil above it may have been a recent oil change and transmission refill I did.

I know that my funnel came out of the transmission tube about 2 months ago when I was filling it up and a lot got down there.

I will keep my eye on it over the next few days.

I do trust this shop expressly they have never once done something wrong or unnecessary so I do lean in the direction of their assessment

I guess my question is is there a way to repair this item so that the repair will last quite a while if not for the rest of the life of the car or should I get it replaced now and deal with the pain LOL

Oro

Leeper is 100% correct.

And also I am like him, doing 100% my own maintenance (up to and including AT rebuild) for decades. Very hard to find reliable, intelligent mechanics. If they said all that oil was from that joint, they were high or incompetent (which is the same thing).

That much oil was coming from above and leaking down, as you can still see the residual above in your “after” pics. When were the VCGs last done, given the mileage stated.

ceephis

Thanks for the encouragement I will continue to take a look at it. What the heck is a vcg?

And can you point me to posts on inspecting it and or repairing it

Thanks again for your wisdom and insight

Oro

Sorry, VCG is motor geek-speak for “Valve Cover Gasket.” . Since you are in Michigan I automatically assumed you spoke fluent motor-geek. (Joke)

While we have one car in the fleet with this engine (similar - 2gr-fse), I am LEAST familiar with it as it is lower mile and not given any problems yet. I’ll run it up on ramps soon and take a look underneath in fact, this makes me wonder. Someone on here should know this pattern much better than me, as I’m sure this has happened to plenty of 2gr-fe cars before. But @leeper is correct, it’s not that cooler housing and do not throw money at this until it is correctly diagnosed. Also, honestly, unless it’s running your oil level down a lot (and I doubt it is), it’s not worth a massive amount of money to fix (yet).

I say it looks like it’s leaking down because you were very smart to take detailed before/after pics. The before pic shows oil well forward on the block and everything in contact. Oil leaks don’t creep “upward” like would have to happen to create that coating and pattern, that is what leeper was reacting to, I think, same as me. It’s coming from above somewhere. As I said, I’m not intimately familiar with this engine so I’m not sure what it might be, 1st guess is VCG if they have never been replaced, but it could be something else.

I have two 1mz-fe engines (ES300 and RX330) and the VCGs on those are only good for about 150k miles. A way to test is either put on a latex glove, or take a paper towel, and run it along the edge of the VC/head on the lower edge (head side). See how much oil and dirt comes up. If you see “clean-ish” oil, then that’s the leak source. By “clean-ish” I mean fairly liquid oil not full of dirt. If you have just changed your oil, it will be clear/golden, but if not, it will be black. Color doesn’t matter in this case, it’s how liquid it is, meaning a steady leak vs. a small amount.

Google “2gr-fe oil leaks” and see what other people have encountered.

ETA: see if this matches the timing cover leak that is very common ( I just googled it). I had an old BMW 320i years ago that leaked like that. Chains are nice for not having to deal with belts, but the oiling and required sealed covers often do create serious leaks.

Buzzltyr57

I have an 07' Rx as well. I recently replaced the oil cooler o-ring under the cooler - between the cooler and the housing. They get hard and brittle over time and stop sealing. The leak WILL get bigger (trust me) - you can get the O-ring at the dealer (toyota or lexus) It wasn't too bad a job. You do have to remove the header pipe off the exhaust manifold, remove the exhaust manifold and then the cooler is accessible. A single bolt runs down through the middle of the cooler. and the cooler lifts off - I did not remove the hoses as mine were really stuck - (I probably should have but I didn't) I simply lifted the cooler up and back and cleaned the crusty old flattened o-ring put of the groove and installed the new one with a teensy amount of silicone grease to hold it in place. ( if it falls out or gets sideways during re-install it will leak.) The worst part of this job is the manifold bolts are tough to get at. It took a while to get the right combination of sockets, swivel and extensions to get a couple of them. At least one is all done by feel as you can't see it. Be patient! It is doable. For reassembly buy your manifold gasket at the dealer and the header pipe crush gasket also at the dealer. I had read of issues with aftermarket on both of these. Also - leave the manifold a little loose and able to move until the header pipe bolts are started then tighten everything up. I posted on this under Buzzltyr oil cooler I think - some pictures and video of the leak if I remember. Good luck!

ceephis

Thanks so much I always appreciate the benefit of any doubt given to me LOL. I am fairly versed in cars and car speak. But only in the things I've replaced. When it comes to opening up engines the most I've ever done is timing belts. If an engine is broke I'd rather replace it, same with transmissions.

Putting the two together and maybe replacing a harmonic balancer is fine but much past that haven't done it yet.

That being said here are some more pictures. Just took the thing for a 45 mile drive at expressway speeds and came home with almost no oil to speak of anywhere.

Did your test and ran a rag all along the bottom of the valve cover and nothing there but crusty old dirt no moisture at all which I assume is good

My guess is all the oil that was above the cooler was either from the cooler hoses exploding last year before I had them replaced or my funnel incident with transmission fluid earlier this year.

Feel free to diagnose my pictures and throw any additional feedback my way

Currently I think we're going to hold off on getting this fixed and just keep my eyes on any new leaks and oil level changes

Thanks again for the wisdom and insight, and the Detroit benefit of the doubt

Valve cover 1

Valve cover 2

Cooler after 45 minutes expressway Drive

Cooler image two after 45 minute drive
LOL

Leeper

FWIW - When I get a new-to-me car or about to embark on working on my car I take off the engine cover on top (cutesey silver cover), passenger side cover, and all under shields then go to a self car wash and presure clean everything with degreaser and soap in hopes of removing all/all old oils/leakage so I can start with a clean slate of my own leaks. This has served me very well as overfills and such can make us think we have a new issue. Keep your engine bay clean. A couple years ago I bought a 10 year old Jaguar, the engine bay had never been cleaned.. yikes! Leaves, pine needles, lots of stuff in it. Easy to catch problems before they become big problems if you start from a clean slate

In your case here what you are perceiving as a new possibly bad issue is likely something different and you would have thrown dollars at mechanics eager to pay their own bills. Clean the areas in question well, watch them well, once you "know" what the potential problem is then act accordingly never impliment solutions until you know the problem. I just went through the same thing regarding the radiator on my RX, had to clean things up to witness what was happening, where the leakage started then act upon it.

Very glad to hear your problem is looking less concerning than initially believed, keep at it you got this the solution will be easily resolved