thomas1

excellent point, I would notice it (guage) however probably 90% of people ignore gauges other than the fuel guage and speedometer.

degmla

iTrader: (1)

Yep, it means your temperature gauge is shot. Or, maybe, it means it just came unplugged? Or, maybe, YOUR FIRGGIN ENGINE IS TOAST INCURRING A $6K REPAIR BILL?

That's the point of the question that initiated this whole thread.

If you would decide to pull over out of summer-heat traffic, call a tow truck, arrange to have your family picked up, arrange for other tranportation while your vehicle is being evaluated, great. You have no concerns. And that's assuming you even noticed the strange performing gauge in time. It doesn't take too long to trash an engine, and it's not necessarily a gradual failure that normal, observant maintenance should catch. A small split in a bottom hose while cruising down the interstate at 80 mph will likely go unnoticed until the damage is done.

I believe that is a poor design, but it likely won't manifest until later in the vehicle's life. I believe there should be a red indicator light and a warning chime, as there is with battery, brake, transmission temperature, oil pressure. Coolant is critical, and has substantially more leak points than any other critical fluid, yet the difference between significant Lexus reliability and a POS is the collective ability of Lexus customers to immediately notice the unusual movement of a small insignificant temperature gauge?

All of this has already been answered anyway. Lexuses now (last 5 years? a guess) include substantially more assertive language and alarms warning the driver of a potential overheat situation. However, those of us with older Lexuses, still with plenty of life in them, are not yet privy to those improvements.

Thus, the purpose of this forum is to help educate others, including those that bought older Lexuses.

I believe there are add-on products out there that provide temperature alarms.

NateJG

Some good duscussion over how to read/interpret gauges, but...

...not all gauges are created equal.

Some, in fact, mislead on purpose.

After purchasing my second F150 and during discussion on the F150online.com message board, it became apparent that the way the temperature gauge worked was that it "appeared" to show a normal warm-up of the engine -- when, after some dilligent testing of actual gauges, the gauge moved as one would expect during the engine's warm-up -- only then it sat at a pre-determined "normal" range -- and then when the temperature rose to another threshold level, the gauge then moved to the "overheat" indication.

Similarly, the oil pressure gauge, while apparently an analog gauge, was designed to show a "normal" range and a "low" range.

Theories abound -- and the popular one/conclusion was that Ford got tired of people coming in for service because "...yesterday, my temperature/oil gauge read xxx; and today the needle is up/down, is there a problem?...".

For those of us who grew up with real gauges, watching the oil pressure fall a bit on a warm engine is useful, if not entertaining; but to someone who just today noticed that the needle isn't in exactly the same spot as it was when Aunt Millie was in the back seat, or "...gee, the temperature gauge is down a little bit, is my radiator working too hard?..., or "...how come my oil pressure is lower when I'm towing a trailer than it is during my trip to Alaska in January?...".

So, unless anyone's actually done some testing on the gauges - or has some actual knowledge of the technical specifications for our gauges -- we're all just guessing at what they're really telling us.

And for that reason alone, I prefer an Idiot Light (or in the case of this thread, a "Check Engine" message in English in lights on the dashboard.

manish1607

My 2009 Lexus RX350 Engine Blewup Right after Water Pump Failed. First VSC light came on and after one mile Check Engine light. Before i pull over to Safe place , Engine Overheated and started Smoking.

Diagnostic: Blown Water Pump, Thermostat , Blown Head Gasket , Warped/Cracked Cylinder Head...

At 61500 Miles..

Raised this to all the way Lexus District Manager. No Outcome. Working with National Dispute Resolution Center to get some help on Repair. Have to replace Entire Engine at $6000 out of pocket.

P.S : PowerTrain warranty Expired just Three months ago , mileage is still Under the Limit, still no help from Lexus.

NVAKeith

iTrader: (1)

If the car has been regularly serviced by a dealer, I would expect some assistance from corporate. I just got corporate to cover parts cost for replacing the transfer case on our '07 RX350 with 94k. It was four months out of CPO warranty. It's seen a dealer evey 5k miles since new and they cited being a loyal customer and recent warranty expiration as reasons for approving the goodwill assistance. I initiated the request by calling the Lexus customer service 800 number. Reduced my bill from $5800 to $1950.

manish1607

Not every Lexus owner is located in Convenient distance to Dealer ... and besides Water Pump failure at 61500 miles ? When Lexus don't recommend changing Coolant until over 100K . ..

My Car didn't have any symptoms of Water Pump failure, no obvious leakage of coolant ( It was just seepage around water pump bearing seal ) , no crazy movement on temp gauge... Luckily i was on freeway and there was EXIT in next couple of mile ....Imagine someone coming down from mountain on One way road. You need to move to Safe Place anyhow ....

NghiaDinh

[QUOTE=02SDGS;8994841]There's no design flaw, you just failed to recognize all the irregularities. I'm not saying you specifically, but to many people think that just because a car is driving means it's ok........]. Verifying: Temp gauge did dropped all the way down "dead" at 65mph, no sign of overheating. I was trying to move 2 lanes to the right shoulder to turn the engine off, but the engine drop dead by itself within one minute. Then smoke "started" come out under hood.... The question in my head at that time "why the temperature gauge all the way down Low?" That why I try to turn the key on/off a few times to see if the temp gauge moving. Yes, now the gauge working normal, all the way up High the way it supposed to be when overheating, and slowly going down as the engine cold down. It happened today (July 2, 2017) Tempurature gauge dropped dead Low just minutes before overheating on 2009 RX 350. Witness for the first time that the temp gauge acting that way.

numbafree

Really sorry to hear about your RX. I'm glad YOU are ok. I have 1 question, was the CEL blinking or solid?

I ask because years ago I was told a blinking CEL means stop immediately, car failure/doom is imminent, danger danger will robinson. solid CEL means trouble but you may drive the car.

Bizzoco

to tedia and others: I had a similar cooling system issue, but with a slightly different outcome. I am somewhat new to Lexus, in that an RX350 with about 130,000 miles was given to me by a family member. After a few months it lost some water. I noticed the water loss and began checking the reservoir and for two days in a row I had to add 50-50 Lexus long-term coolant. Besides that, there was pink and white around the engine compartment, but I just missed that red flag. So, I still drove to work and back about 25 miles by freeway in each direction. One day I stopped about 3 miles from home to pick up groceries and saw liquid on the ground. I thought it was A/C condensation since it was hot and I had been shopping for a few minutes. So, I drove off and the temperture gauge started rising just a little. I immediately pulled over stopped and saw a faint trace of steam under the hood when I opened it. I called home and had help, after asking a family member to bring lots of water. I had to refill the radiator 3 times on the way home. It was only 3 miles. I thought it would be a broken or cracked radiator hose. Though I am not a mechanic, I do some minor repairs. I removed both radiator hoses, but had first gone to Lexus and purchased new ones. Fortunately or not, the hoses were in good shape. I concluded it was a bad water pump and had the car flat-bed transported to a Lexus dealer and had the water pump changed. I was not disappointed.....yet read on. Then, a few weeks later, I noticed more water loss. I had been planning on using the RX for a Route 66 tour the next day, but realized that was a bad idea, so took my back up car, a Honda Civic '03. At this point, I determined it had to be the radiator, though I couldn't find a leak anywhere. I located a shop to purchase a radiator (Toyo I think was the brand). I used the Honda to pick it up, threw it in the back and parked the RX 350 in the garage. I was gone for 2 months. On return, I viewed a couple of fix it videos and read Club Lexus posts and replaced the radiator. It was a straightforward swap to install the new radiator. But, I could have been in real trouble had I kept on driving, either to work or even just around town. The point is, I had the water problem fixed at the Lexus dealer, they never raised a red flag and instead said the car was good to go. They had put in a new water pump, belts, etc., not a casual repair. I am writing because it is on the Owner, in this case, me, to be aware all the time if the gauge rises even a bit out of the ordinary or worse yet doesn't rise (suggesting no water) pull over immediately. Do not drive. On you is the job of finding out what it is. If you have to get the car towed or take a taxi or just walk if your cell phone isn't working. I am not an engineer and I never owned a Lexus previously, but typically the weakest part of Japanese cars -- all of them -- is the cooling system. So, if falls to the owner to be vigilant. Furthermore I never saw a single warning light, only a very slight irregularity in the temperature gauge, which rose too quickly for me.