kiwi

anyone have a how to for a block heater on an RX330??

i have a pretty good idea, but hoped someone on here has already installed one.

i do know it is the cartridge style, not the screw in type

rcy

If it's like the Rx400h (and it should be), both being the 3MZ-FE engine, I followed these directions (which were from a Highlander Hybrid), also the 3MZ-FE engine. By the way, it's not a cartridge style, but the old school immersion heater (heater in the coolant) unless that's what you meant anyway...

http://www.greenhybrid.com/wiki/inde...n_Instructions

One thing I didn't have to do was remove the heat shield from the exhaust. I have no idea why he did that, as I could reach the drain plug for the block quite easily from underneath. I also removed the oil drain thingy (the black thing under the oil filter that directs oil from the filter when doing a filter change) to make for much easier access.

See here for my experience doing this..

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...howtopic=60576

and here

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...yone-else.html

for a good idea of exactly where the block heater goes. (although the greenhybrid.com post also has good pics.)


The hardest part for me was removing the bolts that the cover plate was mounted to. I ended up using vice grips and prolific cursing. If you can find a socket that has that star shape, you'll be way ahead of the game.

kiwi

great thanks, i wil tackle that shortly

do you think i could just leave the studs in the block and reuse the nuts that hold on the little plate??

if not, what size is the 12 point stud?? i think its a 5mm, but want to be sure.

rcy

Reusing the nuts on the original studs might work, but I have a feeling that the studs aren't long enough. In the greenhybrid post you'll see that cover plate that goes over the block heater has prongs that face toward the engine, so the plate itself isn't flush to the block. Thus, the plate might be sitting too high for the original studs.

5mm is right I think. If you can find them, what you actually need is a 'female torx socket', and not a regular socket. I stripped mine using a 5mm normal socket and had to resort to vice grips and several new profanities.

baba19

As an owner of Lexus rx 2006, driving via I95 in SC and the temp of Radiator went up in 3 minutes, so I stoped and checked out the problem, to make story short, we found out the Heater block is damaged. asked How ? no one could answer, how much does it cost 1450 dollars ,.
what? yes sir it takes 10-12 hours to just take the dashboard in and put it together for a 100 heater block, it takes 2 men for 10 hours. LMAO
as a Manufact. engineer i asked why to put this component back of fir wall and back of a dashboard, please someone answer.