skassamali

All,

I picked up that LS430 and sitting in line at Costco for gas and the temp gauge started rising. The dealership was right around the corner luckily, but when I started driving it, the gauge started falling. Is this a major problem like the cooling fans or something like a fuse blown? The car is great otherwise, but this issue has really got me concerned about the car. I drove 400 miles from Lubbock to Austin with no problem.

Thanks,

Sajjad

Jabberwock

Relays on the fans may be intermittently going.

Sitting at idle in Texas summer with air going stresses the cooling system to the max. Way more than when driving which forces air through radiator.

Put it in park when its fully hot and turn on air and check to see if both fans are running. Also check obvious stuff like the coolant is the correct type and correct mixture, and that the radiator and overflow are full, and that the radiator cap is on tight and holding pressure. The cooling system only works right if it holds pressure.

skassamali

Turns out the coolant was low. The dealership filled it up and checked the system pressure for leaks.

Jabberwock

East fix - glad it was minor. Engine overheating can make your butt pucker pretty quick.

btw - Costco gas is inexpensive but I have noticed I get worse milage using it - think it has more ethanol in it than Tier 1 gas. And Costco gas likely has little or no additive package in it. Not the end of the world but there is a reason it is cheap gas besides volume selling.

I use Costco gas once in a while but mostly use QT (Quik Trip) gas which is Tier 1.

Silverpaws

Yeah but just think how the engine feels!

caddyowner

Do you mean Top Tier gas or something different that you have in TX?

Jabberwock

TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline Retailers

Gasoline retailers must meet the high TOP TIER standards with all grades of gasoline to be approved by the automakers as providing TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline.

In addition, all gasoline outlets carrying the brand of the approved retailer must meet the TOP TIER standards.

Additional gasoline retailers are added to the TOP TIER list as they meet the standards. The retailers known to be on the TOP TIER list are shown below.

TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:
USA Canada
76 Stations Chevron Canada
Aloha Petroleum Esso
Chevron PetroCanada
Conoco Shell Canada
Country Mark Sunoco Canada
Entec Stations
Exxon
Holiday Stationstores, Inc.
Kwik Trip / Kwik Star
MFA Oil Co.
Mileage Stations
Mobil
Phillips 66
Quik Trip
Rebel Oil
Road Ranger
Severson Oil
Shell
Texaco
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Tri-Par Oil Co.
U.S. Oil

Info on additive package in top tier gas in link below. Ethanol content and the quality of the additive package is the only difference between different brands of gasoline sold in retail gasoline marketplace. The basic gasoline content is exactly the same for all brands because it all comes from the exact same local distributor - for all brands..no exceptions, despite all the marketing hype the gasoline is identical except for additive package.

http://www.toptiergas.com/deposit_control.html

jayclapp

I'm a bit suspect on nearly anything gasoline dealers have to say. This group states that the standards were developed with the help of 4 major auto makers, including Toyota.

So, if this is really a requirement for Toyotas, why is it not even mentioned by Toyota when specifying the gasoline requirement? Toyota only requires a specific octane requirement.

Is "Top Tier" just another advertising scheme?

Jabberwock

Jay - agree it is good to be skeptical on anything gasoline marketing related. So much hype and misinformation in the market.

Unfortunately there is very little info or data available to the average consumer on quality of gasoline. This is one area where Fed or even State government could actually be of use by forcing sellers to provide actual info the product being sold instead of marketing hype.
As far as I can tell this top tier stuff is legit but it could be BS

jayclapp

The Top Tier list may be legitimate, but my point is that there may be many others that are just as good and don't feel the need to joint this group (it probably requires a fee to join).