ISsparta

hey guys so i drive a sick white 2002 is300 dead stock and about a week ago i noticed when i pulled into my driveway my engine was steaming and i found the top/tank of my radiator got that infamous crack that everyone supposedly gets.

so after find the crack with all the missing coolant i didn't drive it for 3 days until i could take it to the auto shop or a new radiator. so the day comes i tried to drive it to the car place because it was close and to no suprise it overheats as a i get there practically.

so after they replace the radiator they tell me that the coolant is being pushed back and its a blown head gasket/warped head and just wanted some second opinions. because its $3500 and i just wanted to know if that short drive destroyed my car and if so,..... where can i find a used head?

thanks for any help

ISsparta

138k miles btw

ISKorey

If the head gasket is blown it can cause compression from the cylinder to be forced in the radiator. I've had it happen to a 2.3L ford engine and it blew radiator hose. there was no oil or anything out of the ordinary in the fluid so it was difficult to believe. Finally i caved and accepted the fact. if you're worried about it you can always take the head off and have it inspected. To answer your question yes it is possible/probable that that is a blown head gasket could have been ready to go for a while and the overheating issue just finished the job. As for the warped head its hard to say without it being off and having a straight edge on it. 3500 bucks is steep for a head gasket IMO. id rather order a new engine for the car and swap it in. check out these guys in Californian they have some awesome deals just put a B20 into a CRV and it cost 500 bucks all said and done.
http://www.nippon-motors.com/

ISsparta

*UPDATE* 3 weeks later they said its was 4000 and they began process of inspecting header and said their was just and air bubble and it was 700 total and thats why it was pushing back coolant.

sounds hella fishy to mean but it runs perfectly (it seems) temp gauge has never gone above the middle line.

but what do you think about that?

ISKorey

well.... could have been just an air bubble but i haven't seen an air bubble push coolant out of the radiator. if done properly you can bleed the system of air pretty easily. the only way to really tell is let the car warm up, drive it around and let it idle for a long period of time and see what happens to the temp.
when you fill the radiator with coolant you will get overflow no matter what especially when the thermostat is getting ready to open. but once it opens it will allow a lot more coolant in that could be what they were talking about. (you said "they began the proces of inspecting the header" did you mean the head?) the header has nothing to do with cooling so they were in the wrong place completely.

a suggestion if you have time to do it is run a compression test on the engine and run a leak-down test and that will tell you the real results without getting the shops run around.

01MSMSXE10

Drive it anyway. I blew the headgasket in my old 85 celica and it sounded like a WRX (lol exhaust fell off too). Ran on 2 cylinders for at least another 100k, unplugged the injectors for the 2 cylinders and got amazing gas mileage. It's still running to this day....with the blown head gasket. I wish I never sold that car.

CPTSOLO

Thanks for the explanation. This is what happened to my GS300 with 105K miles

I replaced the radiator, test drove without bleeding air, within 3 miles radiator hose was blown out. Temperature did not show high or red line during the 3 mile drive. I clamped the hoses back on, the car was driven lightly for about 1,000 miles within a year, no indication of problems, then it overheated and blew out the hose again. This time the engine would not start.

After removing the cylinder head, looks like it had been repaired before. Damn expensive mistake. Perhaps I should have gone with a reman engine for $4000 parts and labor.

Benoit

Sad to hear that from you. Amazingly, I had the same problem as you 4 weeks before. Came to my driveway from work, saw steam, and this things augmented fast. I really thought the car would catch fire.
In the end, the radiator cracked for me too, and I need to change the head gasket and a few seals on the engine. The cylinder head didn't warped for me but they had to flush all coolants and oil and replace it, and run a pollution test to see if the car performs still oem compliant (its required to run on the streets in Switzerland). Had to pay 1'700 swiss francs what is around 1'800 usd. Hope this help.