canucklehe

Aaargghhhhh. this car hates me.

I had mechanic put in new waterpump with timing belt, idler/tensioner bearings, etc.. At same time they put in a new thermostat, just cuz they were there.

i picked up car and it was gutless; they had one tooth off on timing.

I pick it up and get it home, notice steam and coolant bottle is overflowing. I think they over-filled it. Temp gauge was showing normal. I extracted coolant to normal level and it seemed better.

Tonight I drove for about 2 hours. get home, hear car gurgling like crazy. look under hood, coolant bottle is overflowing. touch rad cap and it's really hot. turn car on and temp gauge is showing burried in hot. (I hadn't noticed it to ever get that hot, but I wasn't constantly checking it either).

upper and lower rad hoses are both normal warm/hot.

so what's going on? not leaking coolant other than what I see overflowing from resevoir bottle. if it was head gasket, wouldn't there be other issues? car has 140K miles, so I'd be surprised to discover HG is an issue.

is it possible waterpump wasn't put in correctly or is defective? (doubting it). I used Aisin pump.

I also did a seafoam fuel treatment tonight (2/3 in tank, 1/3 in vacuum line with car idling)... can't possibly see how that'd be related.... but I don't know

PFB

Assuming that the car did not overheat before you had the work done, than take it back to the mechanic and have him fix it. It's his responsibility to figure it out, not yours.

Having said that, the most likley causes are:

1) Air in the coolant.
2) Defective Thermostat.
3) Defective radiator cap


Phil

canucklehe

i never noticed it to overheat before, but had only driven it about 100 K before getting all the work done.

thermostat.... if upper rad hose is hot, I assume it is opening.

so now air in coolant.......head gasket could cause that.... I really don't want it to be that. maybe i can dummy test it with rad cap off, let it heat up and watch for air bubbles when thermostat opens.

I will take it back to mechanic. I never took car to him with a coolant issue, it was a timing belt + water pump, and he also did thermostat at same time.

DGIKULJOT

Definetly sounds like air in the system or head gasket. Hate to say it but when it over heated that much there is a good chance even if the head gasket wasn't blown at first it could be now. You can try putting in coolant and bleeding it yourself. Basically remove radiator cap and let the car run for a while.

Good Luck,
Kuljot

NZESDriver

I had the EXACT issue in my '92 ES300. The radiator was blocked to buggery. The gurgling you hear is coolant boiling in the heads. Buy a new radiator ( trust me, flushing is futile in this model ) and I bet you the earth it solves your issue.

P.S. coolant with 'anti-boil' can boil. So don't be fooled thinking the coolant cannot boil.

Please take this advice, I've been there,

canucklehe

new rad is cheap. I might also swap out rad that i know is good in my other Lexus.

this lexus has a little less power and is getting poorer mileage, so I wonder if other isues are at play. it also has 15K less miles. i know plugs should be replaced and throttle body cleaned, but not sure how much that will even out performance and mileage.

if i have HG issue, I don't know if I want to play anymore. money pit is getting painful and frustrating.

canucklehe

NZES, did you check your upper & lower rad hoses? if it was plugged up i would have guessed maybe hoses weren't getting hot from lack of flow.

NZESDriver

No, I went straight to replacing the radiator. I had the coolant gas tested, and there was no sign of exhaust fumes in the coolant. Once replaced, perfect running car. checking radiator hoses can lead to mis-diagnosis, i.e. you may think it is the thermostat.

canucklehe

of course..the "sniff" test. I had it done on my Ford 6.0L diesel. first time it was positive for combustion gas = blown head gasket. this 6.0L motor is legendary for it's head gasket issues.

get it all fixed and several months later, similar coolant puke symptoms. second sniff test was negative (at a non-Ford shop/friend of mine). Took the truck to Ford and for only a $300 fee, they told me the head gasket was done again.

had me wondering about the reliability of the sniff test. if the dye changes color, for sure you have an issue. but if it doesn't, then you may or may not?? at least that's how it worked for my diesel.

when you did swap out, was coolant sludgy, or any other sign that showed you rad was pooched?

canucklehe

bought a new rad with lifetime guarantee through ebay = $60 (shipped). wasn't too bad to swap out. hoses get kinda welded on over time. I left the fan connected to rad, removed whole assembly , then swapped fan assembly onto new rad. you'll lose almost 1/2 quart (400-500ml) of tranny fluid. Uses about 1 jug of coolant, maybe more. I buy unmixed coolant, then mix it 50/50. I never needed more than that 1 jug of undiluted.

the old rad looked gross inside. I also replaced both rad caps. One cap for the new rad (my old rad never had a cap), and the cap above the thermostat housing.

When I was at wrecker awhile ago, i grabbed an oddly shaped overflow hose and it runs from rad cap (on the rad), to the coolant overflow bottle. There is also an overflow hose from the thermostat housing cap, to overflow bottle. BUT NOW...there is no overflow tube to vent the resevoir. So do I need a "T" connector on top of the resevoir to allow both overflow tubes to connect to plus the resevoir puke tube? right now it is a 2 nipple T, and I wonder if I need a 3 nipple tee. Make sense?

donmcc

I have been through it all with the same overheating problem. I finally found my problem to be the by-pass hose under the air dam. It had a small split in it and it only leaked when the temp got up to operating temp. When filled with coolant, it was a tiny leak, escaping as steam and was un detectable until it eventually reached a low level and then got progressively worse. I sometimes went for over a month before it started overheating. It drove me crazy finding it. I replaced the water pump, thermostat cap--everything before I finally got lucky and saw where the steam was actually coming from. You with have to remove the air dam, injectors, plugs and coils to get to it. It is about a 1" or 1 1/4" x 6" hose and connects to the engine side of the filler neck. Trust me, you cannot use pliers etc to reach in under the dam and replace it. you must remove the dam. It is a real pain to replace that piece of hase so make sure it is actually leaking before replacing it.

canucklehe

what year/model?

another member posted about fixing a lady's car and it had a leaking hose under (maybe behind?) the plenum. the hose had a very slight "jog" angle, minimal. He tried several aftermarket hose options, but had to get a factory hose for correct diameter I think he said. was definitely an area where a pipe would have been preferred over a hose in the design.