Hi all, I'm sort of a predictive maintenance guy. I'd rather repair now than get that phone call from my wife later on the freeway. When Lexus radiators begin to leak is it slowly from the tank joints or does a hole just appear within the core? I am the original owner and have always changed the coolant as required. It's 13 years old. Should I just replace now or wait? Thanks.

 

Would not hurt. Amazon has the Denso OEM for pretty cheap. I picked up one with the towing package and will do mine before long. Woman are also not so good at monitoring guages and it is more likely they will overheat a motor vs men who do maintenance on their vehicles. If she drives it a lot another good reason to go ahead and do it.

 

It appears that many of the radiators do have a tendency to leak from the upper seam however there is no way to know if yours will go soon or years from now. As mentioned the Denso radiator is offered at Rock Auto for around $100 and change. If you are concerned and either can do the work yourself or have an independent shop do reasonably, why not just go for it? Make sure you change the thermostat while you have it out and check the hoses as well. Good luck.

 

I'd wait until next time you change the coolant and then I'd do the radiator, three hoses and the thermostat.

 

Don't forget that some of your ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid) will remain in the old radiator and must be accounted for, so make sure you check your ATF level after the installation. You can use a pair of earplugs to plug the 2 ATF hoses once they are detached from your old radiator to stop the flow. Also for your 13-YO car, the 2 foam strips on either side of the radiator will not likely to survive the relocation. Plan to buy new ones!

 

On the UK Lexus owner's club site there is concern about the ATF radiator within the main radiator failing and the transmission fluid being contaminated causing instant destruction of the gear box.
Apparently by the time any any contaminated cooling fluid is noticed the gear box is lost.

I am considering changing my 11 year old radiator more for that reason.

Is this a known issue in the USA?

 

I have not heard anything about this issue. There are very few transmission failures other than some early 2004 models.

 

I'll be the contrarian and say you'll probably be fine just waiting until the next timing belt service to replace the radiator (unless you just did it) And I would just go ahead and replace the main hoses, radiator cap and thermostat while you're at it. All the radiator problems I've had over the years have never been catastrophic, usually it just starts weeping a bit at a seam.

I'm not aware that radiators rupturing are a widespread issue on this model LS, as far as I know mine is the original and has 160k miles on it.

But the other Lexus my wife drives a GX, there is a radiator issue that's very common and it would be smart to get ahead of it with a replacement. I got a Denso from RockAuto, but just as an aside, while that is the OEM, it was a completely different radiator than what came from the factory and was actually made in Thailand.

 

Early 2004's do not have a problem with transmission failures. The recall had to do with a parking pawl pin that could fail and cause the car to roll if parked on a hill and the emergency brake was not set.

 

You are correct Lavrishevo. That recall however, did require the transmission to be replaced.

 

I just updated my post on this called.....Coolant Leak.

 

True, but having the unit replaced due to a design flaw is not the same as failures. It was a safety concern. Though I have never heard of someone having the parking pawl fail.

 

Thanks all! Great info. Any thoughts on Denso vs.Koyo? Also "changing three hoses" was mentioned. Where is the third one?