silvr

2008 RX250. Large coolant leak. Pics and video attached. Bad radiator?

Context: Wife was driving and noticed engine temp light come on, temp gauge maxed out. Took a few minutes to find a spot to pull off the road. Popped hood and noticed coolant sprayed around radiator cap area, battery area, and front driver side of radiator. Got the vehicle towed home.

I removed some of the shrouds and took this video under the hood about 45 minutes later, some of the coolant had already dried:


Appears to be coming from the top and side of the radiator itself, but maybe someone with some keen eyes can see something I don't. Appreciate any advice, Going to do repairs myself, so long as there is no major engine damage.

Mesquite77

Wow, sort of appears the overheating caused too much pressure which blew the pressure cap like it is supposed to. I would fill with distilled water, and see if engine runs and look for leaks. Takes some time to get all the air out of the system, may have to top off several times before a leak is verified.

So, either overheated because was low on coolant due to a leak, or overheated for other reasons and blew out the coolant. Either way radiator and filler neck and cap are major suspects, as well as the thermostat.

silvr

I thought so too at first, but then on closer inspection, it looks like the radiator itself may be leaking from the top. I'll have to take the top support brackets off to verify. Will be getting to it this weekend.

Also, after most everything else was dry, saw some fresh looking coolant leak on the front/side of the radiator:

kamlung

iTrader: (8)

if you have an autozone near you, you can rent a pressure tester... you remove the cap and screw the hand pump on and pump the system up a few psi to pressurize the system... you will find the leak very quickly when it starts spraying... i've used it to find cracked hoses buried behind the engine that i couldn't see...

dpleticha

When my 2006 RX400h sprung a leak, it turned out it was a vertical crack on the passenger side “tank” seam. Old plastic cracks is all can say. New radiator was around $100. Just be careful when you are replacing it as anything plastic will also be getting very brittle.

silvr

FYI for anyone who was following, the radiator had a leak in the plastic on the driver side near the top. Probably lost enough coolant to overheat, then blew out through the rad cap.

Got a new rad from dealer along with the two main hoses and replaced. Been running great since.

Felix

Typical Toyota/Lexus radiator leak, I ended up w/ a Koyo radiator........

LeX2K

Next time I do a rad replacement I'm trying out the Koyo. It will be years before I know how it holds up but I'm tired of made in China Denso.

Leeper

Thank you to Felix for chiming in a few weeks ago when I had my radiator do the same (2004 RX330), turns out it was slow leaking from both sides driver side was top and bottom front and back. Symptoms were a small leak under car when I looked from the top it looked like someone sprayed a little bit of pinksilly string as it was bubblegum pink droplets and stuff at the lower drivers side like I hit something, upon closer look the passenger engine side also had signs of leakage. When I took off the fan shroud it was obvious that both sides had been leaking slowly for sometime. Not sure if it was the OEM or not. Per several recommendations I did go with a Koyorad as I read that the cheaper ones often fail quite quickly. Not a hard repair job at all there's several YT videos that will walk you through it

for 2004 RX330 with tranny cooler it was $210 shipped from RockAuto PN# - Koyorad A2689 (*** NOT the A2689-1 model)

silvr

I considered Koyo but went with OEM partly due to the sale that was happening at the time, parts were 30% off for anniversary promotion.

I do wish the radiator was all aluminum, it's always the plastic bits that fail.

Felix

First thing I looked for.....Seems like the aftermarket doesn't want to do a alloy tank radiator for Toyota/Lexus....

LeX2K

70's Toyota's used to have all metal radiators, brass I think. Worst thing that happened is solder joints cracked any rad shop could fix them.