sc300tttt

ok I got some major problems with car car as of today. I have some of my own ideas about what may be wrong as well as some solutions; however, I just wanted to post this and see if anyone here had any idea / solutions. People on these forums have helped me so much in the past, hopefully this wont be any differnt.

Problem #1 I opened the hood today and noticed that the radiator was leaking. It seems to be cracked on the top black part (next ot the metal screw off top) . When the car was hot the liquid was bubbling out and landing on the black plastic panel underneath it. This would more than likely explain how my coolant fluid is near empty once a week. Could I just put some heat resistant glue / bond on the crack to fix this?

Problem #2 My low oil pressure light came on when I was driving today. I stopped at discount auto and I check the oil. To my dismay I found absolutely no oil on the dipstick. I bought 2 quarts and when I opened the lid to pour the oil in ... freaking smoke was coming out . I may not know much, but i know has got to be BAD. Is this from lack of oil, and it just got too hot in the engine. How bad is the for the car? What is causing this to happen. I couldnt see any oil that had been spilling out of the car on the ground of the engine bay.

Im pretty nervous about the smoke thing, and was just looking for some info / advice. Sorry for the long post. Thank you in advance. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

GoldieLex

definately a bad thing...probably messed your engine up...

newyorksc

is your sc300 turbo?

ki_soarer

same thing happened to my radiator. just bite the bullet and get a new one. they arent that expensive. only when mine cracked it really cracked... it was pretty bad. as far as the smoke out of the oil fill... was is just a little smoke like what you would see comming out of your exhaust on a cold day, or was it like thick white smoke like something was on fire? if it was just a little, you may be ok. how long was the light on before you stopped?

sc300tttt

no, that car isnt turbo. As for the smoke it wasnt too much. It reminded me of the smoke you see if you turn an oven burner on and there is a little stuff on it that burns off. By no means was this like this white smoke. Kinda of like a ciggarette just left burning. I drove about 1 mile after the light was on.

ki_soarer

just change the oil, and you should be fine. doesnt sound like you hurt anything.

newyorksc

if your engine is stock, then you might as well just go for a 1jz-gte swap..

Stupidnewb

That small amount of oil smoke is to be expected when you are that low on oil. Not GOOD for your car, but not catastrophic. Change the oil and filter, and for chrissakes check the fluid levels once in a while!

Don't bother with any StopLeak crap, you'll just end up clogging the coolant passages in the engine. Time for a new radiator.

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

Problem #3 - engine problem that's not in the engine section.

Moved.

Cloud9

iTrader: (2)

for problem #2, you said that there was no oil leaking on the ground underneath the car. check underneath the distributer cap for oil and see if the top of the alternator is black/oily...might be a broken o-ring or gasket.

sc300tttt

thanks for all the good responses. Sorry for posting in the wrong section. If anyone has anything else to say about this topic...id like to hear it.

thanks

Twirl

hey man i know a place in town that you can get a radiator for 160 or so. Mine blew a few months ago bad and they got it in by the next morning. No fitment issues what so ever. Just let me know.

got_trd

I think you should sell me the car so I can give it some TLC... its a Lexus man, treat it like one

aliga

iTrader: (147)

put some oil, get a radiator from ebay, and your good to go. spend 200 bucks and take good care of the car.

sc300tttt

Well I just put new oil in the car, but when I have driven for like 30 mins, and I open the cover as if I were going to add more oil, some smoke still comes out. Not much, just the same as i mentioned before. Almost like steam. Dunno what the problem is...seems like its getting too hot in there.

As for the radiator, it wasnt the metal part that was cracked, but a tiny hairline crack in the black plastic part on top. I put a thick coat of heat resistant sealent (sp?) on the affected area, and it seemed to close the hole up. No more leaking.

As for the many replies about taking care of the car, I do. This was something that just happened as of recently, and as soon as I noticed it, I stopped driving it, and took steps to correct the problems

thanks for the replies.