Gatriel

Hey everyone,

Front defrost light blinks. Problem solved see below.

So I noticed today my car only blows ambient temp air out the vents even when I've got it set to 29°C. The fan adjusts as the automatic climate control system tries to warm-up the cabin but given its only blowing ambient temp air, its a fools errand.

I got home and checked the coolant -- I'd say the coolant tank is only about 1/3rd full - so topping it off seems like a reasonable thing to do.

Problem is, this being BMW/MB/Audi land Lexus/Toyota parts are hard to source and I couldn't find any of the red LLAC. I called a dealer and they're wanting north of $50 USD for a gallon.

Does anyone on here have experience with other coolants other than the recommended red Toyota coolant? I could always put distilled water in it, but I'm hoping to get another 100k or so out of the car before swapping it for something else.

Coming previously from e46 (M54B25) crap cooling system/aluminium block hell, low coolant makes me very, very, very, very nervous. I haven't noticed any odd temperature fluctuations indicating thermostat issues, but they are cheap enough so replacing it wouldn't be the end of the world.

Car has 176k on the clock (so about 110k miles).

Suggestions are appreciated.

Best,

Gat

Zmon

iTrader: (2)

Check your water pump area, I wouldn't be surprised if it's leaking, check the area around the weep hole. My 350's was leaking enough to where the belt was flinging it around the engine bay as I had a whole bunch of white/pink crust all over the place.

Zerex Asian is a great alternative if the Pink isn't easily sourced.

Gatriel

Well, now the front defrost button blinks for about 30 seconds on startup. Climate Control after 30 seconds says "turned off" and when restarted it works fine.

Any suggestions?

EDIT - Well, I took out the air filter, cleaned it off ... put it back in and now it works.

There is some gremlin working its way through the system. I'll keep my eye on it and keep everyone posted. This seems to be a reoccurring theme with the 2IS that no one has nailed down definitively.

Gatriel

So this problem occurs some 90% of the time now. When the A/C does come back on -- it seems to work fine. Takes about 20 seconds.

I have the feeling this is a pressure related issue -- as the HVAC has developed a smell, somewhat sweet in nature that reminds me of an old Infiniti I had back some 10 years ago, which had a hard time working and developed a smell when the refrigerant lacked adequate pressure. If memory serves one of the refrigerant hoses had partially collapsed causing pressure imbalances in the system which resulted in a sweet smell in the cabin. New hose and recharge solved the problem.

I've seen on Toyota Avalon forums people reporting similar issues with similar model years, and it was a battery problem on their end. I left one of the in-cabin lights on overnight and the car started-up fine this morning, so if the battery was in the process of dying I don't think it would have started.

I'll be taking the car into the shop in a couple weeks to get this figured out. I'm putting around 1,000 kms on the car a week right now, so we'll see how this problem develops.

Best,

Gat

Gatriel

So just got it back from the dealer:

Air Amplifier Assembly (Lexus part number 88650-53080) is defective.

88650-53080 rear defroster light blinks

Because the car is under warranty, I am going to have the dealer swap it out. However, when this problem pops up in the future, these things are going for about $50 on ebay.

I hope this puts this issue to bed as to what causes this problem. Once I get it replaced I'll let everyone know if this actually fixed the problem or not.

Gatriel

So I replaced this part, and issue still persists. Car back in shop.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Bummer! I've seen the same light several times as I've cold started my car from sitting over night. It always goes away and there's no ill-effects from it to my knowledge.