AlexRS

Hello guys,

I've been reading this forum for quite a while - there is plenty of interesting information, i've had a JDM Land Cruiser previously and found LX470 section very useful, my mom has an IS250, and about a week ago i've bought a RX330, 2004, 110 miles in the odo. And happy to join your community.

Several days ago I've encountered an interesting situation with RX330 - never seen anything like this.
In my coolant tank there are traces of oil. Engine oil itself is pretty clean, has several thousands miles on it, but nothing critical. Transmission fluid is clean as well. Even coolant is clean. What can that be then? blown head gasket?
The engine temperature is stable, heater works, everything seems fine (except radiator is leaking a bit, but i know that it's a common problem, so i'm ready to replace it). I am confused.

mtlrx

I'd check to be certain it is motor oil.
The transmission and coolant share the radiator, check the rad is not bad, introducing transmission fluid to the coolant.
Compression test may reveal a head gasket id=f it is indeed engine oil.

BlackLexRX

Yeah not a good thing to find. There's a few things to check. Register it on Lexus owners site to see what service it had at the dealer. Def drain and fill coolant, oil, and trans fluid. Compression test is in order and you should do an oil analysis which will show if coolant is also in oil among other things about engine health. That is a condition of blown head gasket, doesn't look like trans fluid to me, but who knows. Sounds like it still runs good, these have hearty engines, but you should spend a little to check it and bring it back in spec as needed. Good luck and welcome to the forum. Happy New Year.

matts6887

Indeed; i agree; take a sample of the fluid in question to get it analyzed and hopefully that will tell u whats happening. As any liquid in the coolant other than coolant itself could definitely be a sign of a good sized problem such as head gasket etc which if it is that; is a BIG job and undertaking to get done and very pricey and time consuming.

biggus

Cracked radiators in the RX330 are a very common issue - and many were replaced under warranty. It's much more likely based on your mileage that you have trans fluid in there and not motor oil. Only way to know for sure is to have a sample of both your coolant and your oil looked at to see if they are mixing at all.

AlexRS

I really appreciate input, everyone.

I took samples of engine oil and trans fluid, sent everything to lab and had it tested for ethylene glycol.
Well, the mystery solved - glycol is present in transmission fluid, so that means new radiator.

My car has tow package and canadian built, and it seems that this is my part number - 16041-0A412.
I was trying to find Koyorad replacement, and Koyo site says that 2689 will fit. But ebay and amazon sellers say that this 2689 fits only japan made vehicles. Could you recommend any decent quality rad that fits my model?

thank you!