jaaa

I've gotten my car through the drive cycle and no longer have a cel light! Unfortunately, I sprang a leak on my petcock and had to get a new O'ring to stop losing fluid over night. After fixing that, it started leaking at the neck of the radiator where the tube goes to the overflow tank. It's a slow leak but seems to be getting worse overtime. This is a self-induced problem as I had leaned on that outflow tube while I was replacing the starter and broke it off. I had superglued it back on and then JB Welded it to try and stop the leaking. I guess over time and temperature cycles, it is starting to leak. I've ordered a new radiator($76 from Amazon prime) and will receive it after it gets back into stock. I've had at least 4 coolant leaks with the car since I got it in July and have never been completely sure it didn't have a head gasket leak too, so it will be nice to have a leak free car.

On a side note, I notice this car has the same kind of radiator as my daughter's 1999 4runner(transmission oil cooler in the bottom). Is this car also susceptible to having an internal leak in the radiator and having the coolant and transmission fluids combine(pink milkshake)?

jaaa

Since I'm replacing the radiator, thought I'd do hoses too. Noticed that the Gates ones I was looking at on-line had a low rating but just one individual on the rating. Any one put on Gates, or have any comment on pricing or companies to use?

Got my new radiator installed(amazon special $76) and it started leaking right away. The new radiator had no bump-out on the backside for the sensor to go into and it crushed the outside of the plastic housing causing a leak. I didn't notice it was different when I installed the sensor. So I'm shipping my new(leaking) radiator back and ordering a new one. Non of the on-line pictures show the back side so I can see if there is a bump out, but one of them looked identical from the front side.

I installed the gates hoses, but the one on top is a little off and too close to the fan for my liking. I'm going to cut an inch off one side and see if that works better with my new radiator when it comes in.

aptoslexus

I've got new Gates hoses on mine. I thought the fit on the upper hose could have been a bit better, but it's working fine.

jaaa

The hits just keep on coming. I'm getting a P0420(bank 1 cat inefficiency). From what I've read, the gaskets appear to be the most likely. I've got them on order. Any hope of just buzzing off the bolts without having them break? I've hit them with JBBlaster hoping by Tuesday they will come loose. I've ordered both front and back gaskets, but it sounds loudest towards the rear. Any gotta's on doing this that any one out there has run into? I don't have any test equipment to look at the waveforms to see what's going on.

JJDAG

Read your adventure with your LS , on your last post with the exhaust I do have the same cel light on for the cat efficiency I ordered the gaskets and will get to them soon, as far as a tester to read the waveforms I bough this Bluedriver that plugs in to the car then uses an iPhone or android app to read everything I can watch my o2 sensors switching among many other sensors it works on any vehicle 1996 or newer cost $99 and the app is free as well as all updates. Works great for me here is the link to check it out. http://www.lemurmonitors.com/ . That said I have read several times to use lexus parts whenever you can as they fit and work perfectly. For the most part that's what I do there are a couple of online sites you can buy from nd not get killed on the price.
Good luck

John

jaaa

I ordered mine from Toyota for $25 for front and back. I should have them by Tuesday. I'll post about how the bolts go. I can really tell a difference in the noise from bank 1 and bank two cats. I'll hit the bolts a couple more times before Tuesday with PB Blaster.

jaaa

Got the two gaskets in this morning. I got the first bolt off on the rear flange, but I ended up cutting the other one off because I rounded off the bolt head. I took out the rear gasket and there was signs of exhaust leaks on the top part of the gasket. Once I got the flange loose, I could see that the top portion of the outward flange had the lip eaten off(rust). I installed the new gasket and it seemed to leak even more than before I changed gaskets. I think while I was cleaning off the rust it actually leaked worse. I ended up going to the store and buying some VersaChem Muffler Weld repair and sealer. I packed it as well as I could. Said it takes 24 hours to cure and it's been cold here in Colorado, so I might wait even longer. Nice to know that it's probably not the o2 sensors or the catalytic converters.

jaaa

Fired it up this morning as it looked like my patch had set up. The upper part of the flange(about an inch long area) seems to have held well. Most of the sound is gone, but did find a pin hole leak on the bottom. Might have a real small leak on the front of the cat where the other flange is. So I'm going to clean and patch it again. I have the feeling I'm going to get this fixed. Still waiting on my radiator-sure hope I get the right one this time.

In case anyone was interested what the used gasket looked like, I took a picture of the used rear gasket beside the new front gasket I haven't installed yet. You can see the burned out area in the top where it was leaking.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

I really need to change my Y-pipe. I see one on Ebay for $200 and some change but I might wait until the weather warms up. I keep getting the random P0420 code that I'm pretty sure is coming from the Y-pipe. The only thing is that the bolts and gaskets don't come with it.

jaaa

If this patch doesn't work I would be headed in that direction. You might wait and see if I can get this patch material to work. Most of the blowby was coming from the y-pipe side of the flange. I went to a hardware store and bought new bolts. I hated the back side nut on there. It was a star nut that you didn't have room to put a socket on. I put on a regular six sided bolt that at least you can get something to hold it.

Losiracer2

x2 on this, the fitment of the Gates hose, especially the top one is horrible. I would recommend a dealer OEM one next time. I had to cut off about 2" to make the curve not hit the fan blade on mine. I keep having a constant drip coming from the top as well, but I think its due to my subpar hose clamp not tightening down far enough.

Losiracer2

I just fixed this issue on mine by installing spark plug anti foulers on my rear o2 sensors. Basically buy 2 packages, qty 4, drill out the first one to allow clearance of the o2 sensors and then screw them into the 2nd one. This allows the car to perceive that the secondary o2 sensor is registering less exhaust gas and the P0420 and P0430 lights will go away after clearing the codes. Its about 4 dollars a package and use a 1/2" drill bit to drill them out.

I also had the EGR pipe crack on mine. I got to it from the bottom by removing the pass side cat and using a LONG 20" extension with universal joint to get to the upper 2 bolts. I paid a guy 20 bucks to weld it around the crack and he build up a nice structure around it so it won't ever leak again.

These cars are great, but all these little problems are starting to creep up at this age. I think from now on its just preventative maintenance, like fluids, is all I need to do now (Tranny, rear Diff, PS fluid)

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

What size were the bolts and threads?

jaaa

Not even sure, I just handed the good bolt(at Ace Hardware) I got out and he handed me two new ones along with 6 sided nuts.

jaaa

I ended up taking an inch and a half off the engine side of the hose and it seemed to work out okay. Not ideal, but worth the lower price in my mind.