So it all is fixed and the yard is back together. The small leak I had was in another valve, the one I originally thought was the bad valve. I had taken it apart and either got some dirt in it or broke. Since I had three Toro valves that I replaced with Hunter valves I just cleaned one of them and swapped tops. Saving the other two for future repairs.
All fixed!
Some things I have learned that may help another if this ever pops up on a Google search.
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My valve failed because the solenoid on my Toro 254 physically broke off.
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Like any project take pictures of everything you take apart. This will ensure you can put it back together easily.
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The valve wires are all color coded in my system. Somehow I had a brain fart and didn’t realize this right away. This made it easy to see which valve belonged to the zone that failed.
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Harbor Freight wire tracer worked very well but you need to wear headphones which means you will need a long wire. Attaching the tracer to a long stick and slowly moving worked great for me. Using it without headphones failed.
4.1 I found it by clamping to both common wires. I have two, not sure if everyone does. Common is on every valve so it makes it constant.
4.2 My valve was 6 inches underground and I found it by digging after a beep. My probe would t go down enough because of tree roots.
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Mulch beds grow up and out over time. If you know where your valves are do your future self or next homeowner a favor and map it.
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Replacing the valve tops are much easier than re-plumbing a valve. Mine were put in with two touching so it sucked but it was possible. I wanted to re-plumb for some dumb reason or just to show I could haha.
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Never use a ratchet PVC cutter on installed pipes. It causes cracking.
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Make sure you buy the right PVC cement made for irrigation.
Thank you all for you help. It was wonderful to find this community and I have a new respect for irrigation professionals and a greater love my Rachio.