kzlflash

iTrader: (1)

Welp, this happened to me. Took the car to Longo this morning and they confirmed I have a leak at the valley plate. My car is MY2011, but it sounds like this problem can happen to any car, and isn't isolated to a specific model year.

From my observations my coolant has always been slightly under the "Low" line in the reservoir. But this past weekend I had taken my car for a drive in the morning. Nothing odd, the water temp bar was at normal operating temps during the drive. I got home, let it sit for like 3 hours, and then went out to drive again. I noticed that while the oil temp bar was all the way down, the water temp bar was still at 75% of the normal operating temp (even after the car sat for a few hours). This triggered an alarm so I decided to check the radiator, water pump, etc. for leakage but didn't see any. I then decided to let the car sit overnight and add distilled water just to see what would happen. After a test drive I checked the reservoir and noticed that the coolant temp dropped even lower subsequent to the drive. Luckily I'm only at @67.5k miles and it'll be repaired under warranty.

I suggest everyone monitor your coolant levels (and water temp gauge) and check for leakage when you go for routine maintenance, especially if your powertrain warranty is close too expiration. I couldn't see any leakage based on the instructions that Joe mentioned, but apparently it was there.

Cheers to the great info provided in this thread.

ISFmacio

Hey gang,

Just bought a beautiful 2008 IS-F 11 days ago that had been serviced it's entire life at the Lexus Dealer and lady driven (51k miles) and I took in for a routine oil change this weekend and found out the water pump was leaking - pink buildup similar to the other folks' pics). How can this happen at such low miles? Anyways, I have an appointment at the Lexus Service Department on Monday and hopefully they will work with me. I called Lexus Corp and they couldn't do anything until I had it inspected by Lexus.

Anyone else have this experience with Lexus and have advice? I'd hate to pay $700 for this with such low miles and after just purchasing it.

Thanks in advance.

MWIS350

2008 ISF are known for water pump issue.

ISFmacio

@MWIS350 - so what do you do?

Durrby

iTrader: (3)

My '08 had 36k miles on it when I bought it back in October and it was already leaking. Luckily I purchased an aftermarket warranty when I bought the car so I was only responsible for the deductible when my local Lexus dealership did the work. Like others stated it's a common issue on the '08's and there's no rhyme or reason to when it'll start leaking.

vraa

iTrader: (2)

My 08 started leaking and my aftermarket Carchex extended warranty covered the replacement with an aftermarket part, I spent the 80$ extra to have them upgrade to the fixed OEM part, my total cost was 180$.

ISFmacio

Well my story now comes with a happy ending. I logged a complaint at Lexus Corp and my awesome service advisor was able to bet approval to replace the water pump free of charge! I highly recommend calling Lexus directly and logging a complaint and then work with your Lexus Service Advisor to get approval for a free fix. Job well done, Lexus!

calteg

Anyone know equivalent coolant to the OEM "Lexus super ultra long life coolant" that dealerships sell?

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Buy SLLC at Toyota. It's cheaper and it works. There are some who claim to be equivalent, but I haven't seen one that truly is at a significant price difference.

jpisf

Thank you for this