95-97 Ls400 wierd Radiator fluid leak? Help???
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95-97 Ls400 wierd Radiator fluid leak? Help???
I have 97 ls400. My car had over heated coming from work. So I wait and cooled the car down and put radiator fluid. By the thermostat by using a 17mm socket.I notice it was leaking behind the fan underneath. So I thought it was the water pump. Come to find out,I saw a small semi-wet fluid, underneath the thermostat housing. So I change the top and bottom hose,gasket and thermostat. Never overheated! Put radiator fluid, there nothing. Until I went to work and came home. Saw small puddle of fluid on the ground few hours later. Fluid went down a little. I use that pressure tool on the resovior to the max pressure. No leak anywhere! Only when i use the car but doesn't leak right away until few hours later. Has anybody had this problem or can help identify it? Thanks in advice!
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Yea let me do that and I'll let you know you but I used the tool to put pressure on the radiator resovior and did not see any fluid leaks anywhere.
Last edited by yaQuzza; 12-03-11 at 01:34 AM.
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I have 97 ls400. My car had over heated coming from work. So I wait and cooled the car down and put radiator fluid. By the thermostat by using a 17mm socket.I notice it was leaking behind the fan underneath. So I thought it was the water pump. Come to find out,I saw a small semi-wet fluid, underneath the thermostat housing. So I change the top and bottom hose,gasket and thermostat. Never overheated! Put radiator fluid, there nothing. Until I went to work and came home. Saw small puddle of fluid on the ground few hours later. Fluid went down a little. I use that pressure tool on the resovior to the max pressure. No leak anywhere! Only when i use the car but doesn't leak right away until few hours later. Has anybody had this problem or can help identify it? Thanks in advice!
Had the coolant flushed and filled with new and it held to a pressure test... and it turned out to be the Water Pump
So they can stand up to a pressure test and then still leak
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#8
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Never had a leak that I couldn't find... One thing to consider is that as your engine is cold, the tolerances are very tight, but as the aluminum expands, it will cause a leak if the gasket doesn't expand with it. If you have a leak when your driving/hot but not while it's cold/parked, I would guess that your looking for a leak around the water pump either circulating the fliud or the temperature expansion is causing a leak.
#9
I actually had a similar issue. It turned out to be the plastic thermostat housing was slightly warped, picked one up from a 1st gen at the junkyard and a new thermostat fixed my issue.
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It's my water pump leak. So gonna do the whole thing done up. Belts,pulley,wp,etc,etc. How long will my will my engine should last, with all the maintaince required? 100,000 more miles?
Last edited by yaQuzza; 12-11-11 at 04:34 AM.
#11
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To tell you the truth if you do all your regular maintenance properly and keep an eye on all your fluid level your car should last you a very long time. i have a 95 ls400 with 235k miles, and i mash on the throttle all the time. To tell you the truth my car has never left me stranded. I feel highly grateful to have chosen a very reliable car as my first car. I have owned the car since 2002 and its still running strong. You will always have to find a trust worthy mechanic, so you know they will do everything properly and not cheat you out of your money. Which i try to learn and do all the services myself xD
#12
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Do all the fluid change intervals when scheduled. Keep careful eyes for even subtle out of normal issues and you should be good as the discussion in the 500K thread.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ile-ls400.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ile-ls400.html
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Thanks guys your for your support but I do got a mechanic. He's from the motherland Japan.lol. He's all about jdm and he uses all oem parts. He's my homie and really cool guy and it's his shop here in Vegas call Samurai Motors. I like to hang out at his shop cuz lots of asain girls come in there just need oil change,lol. For real though!
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