JA1978

Hi Everyone, I bought a 2007 ES350 with 40K Miles, car ran smoothly for 2K and then problems started happening, in the period of 5 days (with below events), now car have white smoke coming out from both tail pipes

Day 1 - Changed Engine Oil, Oil filter and air filter, Car runs smooth
Day 2 - Car runs smooth, turned on AC
Day 3 - Check VSC ON, Engine light ON, Traction light ON, Car runs smooth, turned on AC
Day 4 - Check VSC ON, Engine light ON, Traction light ON, Open/closed Gas Tank Cap, Car runs smooth, turned on AC
Day 5 - Car doesn't run smooth, when on the stop light, it shakes and sounds like it will shut down but it didn't. Radiator fluid level checked via white bottle on left side = OK. Turned on AC that day, Check VSC ON, Engine light ON, Traction light ON.
Day 6 (Final day) All symptoms from Day 5 persisted. Filled Premium gas, after driving for 35KM, engine light started blinking, pulled over and checked radiator reserve fluid level via white bottle on left side = OK, drive 15KMs, engine temperature handle = 100%, pulled over, checked radiator by opening the cap and its empty....!!! Filled radiator with water and let engine cool down for 2 hours. Engine started and white smoke from both exhaust pipes

I am not sure what caused the radiator to be empty, my driveway was always dry...

Any help/advise for which part is damaged and what needs to be replaced, would be appriciated, Thanks.

oldgrump

Did you ever smell coolant? How long have you owned the car, and did you get any warranty when you bought it? How much water did you have to add to fill the radiator? Unfortunately you may have had a severe overheating event and may have damaged the engine. A slow or intermittent leak can go unnoticed with these cars if the coolant level has not been regularly checked/monitored.
You can search above and there is more info here: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/esp...91-11&type=gcs
Unfortunately you are not the first one on this forum to have had this happen to them. Ensure that you read the TSB related to the coolant pump above.

jagtoes

Sounds like a head gasket is bad but I would have thought you would have seen the water temp gauge clime from the midpoint before you cooked the engine. When ever a light comes on you need to stop and investigate the problem. A plug into the OBDII should have shown a problem coming. Lesson learned and good luck .

JA1978

oldgrump, thanks for reply and link is very useful. there was no smell of coolant, the reserve coolant in white bottle on the left side was always up to Full and infect still it is. I bought this car a month ago and imported into Canada from US, didn't buy any warranty separately, contacted Lexus if there is any warranty still left on it, waiting for their reply... On that day when engine got heatup to 100% and I pulled over, I added around 1.75 Litres of water in radiator, it was going in very slowly and water was the only thing available in my trunk + I was standing in suburbs Once i realized that radiator is not accepting any-more water and engine temp was 45% I drove it home around 3kms and white smoke was visible from exhausts on the way home. Is it only the head gaskets that I am looking to have changed?
jagtoes, thanks for the wishes, lesson is learnt

oldgrump

You need to find a good shop that can determine if the engine is salvageable......more than likely it's more than just simply one or both head gaskets. This engine appears to have severely overheated. It will be expensive. It may be less expensive to just replace the engine with a good used one.
The shop should first determine the root cause of the overheating. How much coolant is still in the cooling system? Find the source of any coolant leaks, including checking the coolant pump for signs of coolant leakage (per the TSB). As you never saw any signs of coolant leakage (until the white smoke from the exhausts) it appears the leakage was very slow or intermittent such as what has been seen before with the coolant pump. If you can show that the coolant pump was the root cause of the coolant loss, than maybe you can get "something" out of Lexus. After all, this is a very low mileage car.

lacroix

I have seen a lot of head gaskets on those years, engine will be fine however u should get it tested by a proper technician

JA1978

My lexus ES350 2007 is finally fixed but I really had to pay the price. when mechanic opened the engine to replace the head gasket, he found out that engine is almost seized and crank shaft (or some other part that i dont remember the name) that is supposed to move in a circular motion is not moving at all, there was a hydraulic lock and inside the engine there is a smoothie like liquid all over, also the pipe from radiator to reserve coolant bottle was blocked.. anyways, he closed the engine like that and found a used engine with 50K on it and replaced it. I payed around $4200 for Labour + engine and now driving it without thinking too much of what happened as that is not very pleasant memory
Lesson learnt is to never ignore the Check VSC light (atleast on ES350 model of Lexus) and take it to mechanic as soon as possible.