Hello LS430 people - I'm new here and excited to learn as much as I can about these vehicles...so far, I love mine.

I just bought an 05' LS430 with the sport suspension and NO navigation screen with 75,000 miles and black interior - no rust, and in very excellent condition. I purchased the car from a Lexus technician in Des Moines, IA, and he bought it from Lexus of San Antonio in 2009 with 63K miles as a Certified Used Lexus. So yes, he put on 12K miles in 15 years, and it would sit over the winters for approximately 4 months out of the year (it never has been introduced to a snowflake or salt - it's spotless underneath). After sitting for the winter, he'd go through it and check things over in the spring and drive the car on the weekends and use it for vacations throughout the warmer months of the year. He drove his work truck provided by his Lexus dealer as he is on-call for roadside assistance. He decided to put it up for sale seeing he doesn't drive it enough, and it takes up a stall in his garage...not to mention his son is now 16, so a new car has been introduced to his household.

The issue - Right away I noticed a white dusty covering on all of the radiator and coolant hoses - even the ones behind the engine - I figured it was just dirty. I guess as I was looking at before the sale it didn't register to ask a Master Lexus Tech what it could be - that's my big mistake. So, I drove it home 400 miles and it was as smooth as butter. However, I took the radiator cover off for my first super cleaning of my new ride and noticed that the coolant level was low, and there was dry pink crusty coolant resident all over the backside of the reservoir. There is also dried coolant residue around the radiator cap and reservoir cap. There are no drips anywhere, and the coolant is not mixing in with the oil - the oil looks great, and the engine temp stayed the same on the long trip home.

I texted pictures to the previous owner seeing he's a Master Lexus Tech, and he said the coolant must have evaporated over time (sitting), and that's the residue from that process. He said he did not take that cover off before sale, but flushed the coolant last year before he parked it for the winter. He said it was normal and to clean everything up really well, fill the reservoir with Toyota coolant while the engine is cold, and keep an eye on it as I drive it over the summer. If there is an issue it will show itself sooner than later, but he was confident in his texted picture diagnosis.

I'd like to get opinions from some of you in addition to his input - is there a common issue with these 4.3's that could cause this issue besides sitting too long and evaporating?

I appreciate any and all advice - thank you!

 

I've now figured out the search function on this forum and found:

I love this car (Coolant Reservoir edition)

Great information there, and I'm likely good to go, but if anyone thinks there is something out of the ordinary here - let me know and thank you in advance.

 

Quite common although yours does look excessive. How often do you need to top up reservoir? You can pressurize system, although most of your residue is coming from the reservoir which is notorious for these stains. If there is nothing wet and if you are not adding often, I wouldn't worry too much, but you still might have a leak at the reservoir which can be pricey as it comes with the shroud. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the response Bocatrip - yes, I also feel that this is a bit excessive compared to the images I've seen in my search here. I literally purchased the vehicle last Saturday, so I'm not sure if he had to add to the reservoir or not over the course of his ownership of the vehicle. He claims he flushed the coolant last fall before putting the LS into hibernation for the winter, and that he didn't take the top radiator cover/air intake off to inspect the coolant reservoir before selling it to me.

I've got a guy in Waukesha - he's probably even on ClubLexus - he owns a Japanese import shop and one of his favorite cars is the LS430, so I'm having him go through it for some peace of mind before I start piling miles up on her. I'll report back to this post and update with his diagnosis - one extra piece of information for those who encounter it down the road.

 

you need a new radiator or coolant expansion tank, one of them is leaking.. The while/red speckles on the hoses are from water hitting the rad fan. You have a leak somwhere, that is not from evaporating

 

Thanks for the input - I'll mention that to the guy who's going over this thing for me...I sure hope I don't need to put a radiator in immediately after buying it. Looks to be a $400 radiator with 2 hours of Lexus labor at $200/hour - easy $800+ kick to the sack before really getting a chance to drive it. Mix in an expansion tank too - another $250 added on. Man, I feel dumb...I bought my car from a "Lexus technician"...LOL. He is legit and works there - I at least did that much research, but I now question his talents if his car is covered in this crap without him knowing. It might just be up for sale real soon - keep your eyes peeled...someone might get a good deal.

 

Don’t get too upset just yet. There’s a lot of residue on and around the rad cap. The rubber seal in those becomes hard fairly quick from heat cycling. The small rubber hoses between the rad and external reservoir are also a weak link in the system. These are things a child could replace without bending over at the dealer…

 

Apologies for jumping off the deep end - I had a rusty 100-Series Land Cruiser that was a money pit and needed repair after repair, so I purposely found a completely rust-free and low mileage car in this case, and I'm hit with issues right off the bat. It's just my knee-jerk response to think that way after the PTSD from the LC. I'll look it over this weekend and see if there are any obvious things like hoses/seals causing that leak and report back. I'm sure now that car probably sat 5-6 months w/out being touched - every single year for 15 years...so rubber seals and hoses might be an issue. I hope not, but there is a good chance if that's true. Thank you for reading through my rambling and giving me some encouragement.

 

Radiator cap looks like leaking either from bad cap or over pressure. Change that first and clean all pink residue. As for radiator it has a plastic top and if not bad now with leaks will be. It is a very easy straight forward job replacing and aftermarket radiators are available for as low as $68 that work.