HazelK

After my IS300 almost overheated due to a worn out radiator (I managed to park it in a side street before it turned off), I had it towed over to a mechanic who obviously diagnosed the issue and "fixed" it. Five minutes after picking it up from the mechanic I noticed the steam again and parked it before it overheated again. After five minutes I decided to drive the car to my aunt's place who lived only a few minutes away. I called my mechanic and he came to diagnose what could be the issue (again) & he said that the rubber hose connected to the radiator had expanded due to heat and needs to be replaced because the water was not being transferred properly. The radiator hose was replaced the following week after much calling and running around to find the part and, lo and behold, after leaving the car on in park for five minutes the steam appeared again! By then I'd had enough and decided to call a friend who works as a Panel Beater. Within seconds of pulling off the radiator hose, he said the system was clogged because the mechanic who fitted the radiator failed to remove the plastic that had been melted onto the mouth of the hose. He forced the new one on causing the plastic to crack inside the hose, instead of removing the plastic residue and sliding it on as he should have done. The broken plastic pieces had clogged together and this was stopping the water from travelling as it normally should.

Since that incident I have noticed the water sound, as described by other users, in my car whenever I accelerate, reverse, drive or park on a hill. Obviously water is trapped somewhere and, based on the events that preceded the introduction of the new sound, I'm putting it down to the coolant system being clogged up by the plastic that travelled through the rubber hose.