My mechanic tells me that my 92 lexus es300 has a plastic top for the radiator which is has a slight scratch on top which could become a crack in the radiator. He says that the 300es for this model year has experienced radiator cracks in the plastic top and recommends replacing the radiator. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

 

Hmm, I can't say that I have heard of a small, hairline scratch necessitating a radiator replacement. On one of my customer's cars that I had to work on, the radiator upper supports were cracking severely (PNC 16533 in this ES300 radiator diagram) I don't know whether or not that this was an isolated case but it was still disconcerting nonetheless.

How big is the scratch and where is it located?

 

Pretty sure my 92 is metal at the top. Sounds like hes just trying to get more money out of you.

 

1992 definitely had an all metal radiator, which can be easily repaired if it leaks. Unless someone replaced it with a plastic topped one at some point.

 

If you don't smell coolant, I wouldn't be worried.

 

scratch is about 2 inches long, near the top of the radiator, about 4 inches from the overflow hose. seems pretty strange to me that the top of the radiator would be plastic, but it definitely is not metal since a magnet doesn''t attach to it.