Dirtyd210

Hi everyone,
For the last couple of days i seemed to smell a faint coolant odor from inside the cabin and opened up the hood to investigate. I noticed that there was slight coolant spray on the engine cover and near the black plastic housings near the driver headlight assembly.
I removed the airintake on top of the radiator to get a better view & left the car running with heat on & off to see if it was a hose causing the spray. After idling car 15-20 min and feeling coolant flowing through hoses, I still could not find a leak. Im wondering where it can be from or maybe if the radiator it self was leaking. I had my water hose flowing water to see if i can find some bubbles or something from the radiator, but still nothing.

Im not over heating and the car seems to be fine, I just want to be sure and not have a expensive headache ahead of me if i can avoid it. I want to remove the whole engine cover and just get a good look at everything. Anyone know how to do it? Is it just the 2 bolts on top? Any info or advice would be appreciated, you guys have already saved me an arm and a leg in the past... Thanks....

fergo308

Engine cover is two bolts and clips. Can you see any white staining? That's a tell-tale of a leak under pressure. My money's on a top radiator tank or hose/hose clamp.

Most coolant leaks will only show whent he system is at operating temp,and pressurised. You may need to go for a 10-15min drive and then open the bonnet and check it.
Keep an eye on the overflow bottle level in the meantime as well,you don't want it running low...


Justin...

jimbosr1

i would change the radiator cap.i change mine every 60k,12 dollars at any autoparts store.i think it will cure your problem.

Bocatrip

I have a similar situation finding white staining around the reservoir expansion tank. I've cleaned it up and then a week or so later I see the white dots over the tank. I had it pressurized yesterday finding no leaks. The tech seems to think it's the clamp on the overflow hose that drapes down from the top of the tank. There is a connection lower down towards the radiator. Are the overflow tanks known to leak? I'll be keeping an eye on mine but it does not seem to lose coolant so it must be a very small leak. I've price the tank just in case and it's not terrible at around $112.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Have you had any recent service done where someone might have added additional coolant to your overflow?

fergo308

Boca:
The tank on my old ucf11 split and would spray under pressure. Anything plastic in a cooling system will eventually fail,it goes brittle with the heat cycling.
Trace the spray back to the source if you can. A hose clamp not holding pressure is quite possibly the cause.


Justin...

Dirtyd210

Ok i figured it out..
After careful monitoring, I noticed a small hair-line crack about 2 and a half inches long seeping small amounts of water when i would squeeze on the upper radiator hose. All clamps and hoses are in fair/good condition and it looks like an exact match from where i noticed the spray on the cover..
I replaced the radiator fans about 3-4 months ago and just hit 170,000 miles... Looks like it is time for a new radiator..
I want to get that putty stuff you mix to at least seal the leak temporarily, I did this once on a 1999 eclipse my wife had, and it worked for months until we sold the car.
I also found a disconnected fuel vapor hose that seemed to quiet up the engine bay very noticably. Wasnt very loud before, but now it seems quiet as a mouse, Never had any engine failures or warnings either..

I guess this is the small price we have to pay when the mileage gets higher.

thanks for the help and feedback every one

Vpanin

Damn.............I hope that would be the only problem Ill have when my car hits 170k

Bocatrip

I don't believe the expansion tank is actually under pressure and therefore it is very hard to check for leaks. I see the white dots (stains) around the expansion tank but it's never wet. I don't want to spend $125+ for the tank if I don't need it. It's really tough to find this small leak. I'm sure it's only leaking when driving which makes it that much harder to locate.

svlexus

Get the infrafred leak detector fluid, you use a blacklight and itll glow from the source of the leak.

Bocatrip

I'm leaning towards the overflow tank leaking at the very bottom or front area which is not visible. I felt some moisture there this morning when cold. I cleaned it up well and will recheck tomorrow. I've noticed that the expansion tank and fan housings are all one unit. There seems to be a fair amount of labor to remove the assembly to replace the tank. The tank is $125+. Anyone out there every replace one on an LS430? Total cost?

Turtlespd

best advice i heard in a long time

mywong23

I just noticed white dried coolant spray on engine cover and various parts on the driver's side of the engine. coolant level was low, reservoir tank was empty.

so added water to refill radiator and will wipe off white residue.
hope to find source of leak.

probably need a new radiator.... on a 01 LS430 with 136K.

any recommendations where to buy?
I noticed the usual Lexus parts discounters list price of $467 down to $327.

however Radiator barn sells a radiator for $100, shipped!

Dirtyd210

1800-radiator has a shop here in san antonio 100 bucks is what i paid......

Bocatrip

I've seen a new radiator replacement on Ebay for under $100. This particular outfit sells a zillion of them for many makes and has a 100% rating. Before you go that route, be absolutely sure you are not leaking from the many smaller bypass hoses our cars have. I thought I had a leak since I purchased my car over a year ago. My reservoir tank and only the reservoir tank gets white stains on it without anything every going to the floor or losing any coolant in the tank. It always remains full. After much research, one of the tech gurus on this very site told me it was quite common for the reservoir to have the staining and it was not actually leaking. Supposely the red coolant is the cause and it some how sweats. He must be right because I have never added a drop of coolant to my car after one year of driving and it continues to stain on the outside of the reservoir. Go figure!