2010 RX350 cylinder problems

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Jan 4, 2025 | 01:01 PM

#16

Clutchless

CL Community Team

Joined: May 2005

Posts: 7,145

Likes: 1,710

From: VA

Time to put some K-seal in it (or not) and trade it in. Nothing would have prevent it. It just happens on older higher mileage vehicles.

Jan 4, 2025 | 04:25 PM

#17

carguy75

Instructor

Joined: Nov 2015

Posts: 1,045

Likes: 350

From: Atlanta, Georgia

Quote:

Originally Posted by yasvish

Just wanted to post a quick update -
I did a pressure test myself and can confirm the leak. Also white smoke out of exhaust. I tried looking at the oil and it seems more chocolate colored than normal but not 100% sure.

I took it to one more shop about 10 miles away who did another borescope and confirmed the coolant leak but gave me a really high labor cost for just diagnosing further - eg if it's just head gasket or needs an engine( $3000 ) . I called the dealer who wants 5500 for diagnosis !

I do not think it is worth it at this time. I can't keep driving it around to shops either and would need to tow it - it overheated a couple of times while driving back from the above mentioned shop - I pulled over and stopped for a bit then made it home.

I plan to call one more shop next week but right now my thought is to just replace the car. The car also has some minor body damage because I dropped collision on it a year ago and as luck would have it - someone hit my car and drove off

.

The main issue is trust and finding a good mechanic .
At this point I am just going off some recommendations for independent shops who apparently are not that interested as soon as they hear the age of the car. I even called a shop that apparently specializes in Japanese cars and he just said he doesn't even look at coolant leak issues but sends it to the dealer

I heard there are products for leaks ( K-seal ) etc but I also see bad reviews about them . At the most this may be short term solution ?

Thank you all so much for your help - it was invaluable.
If anyone has any ideas on what I could have done to prevent this , that would be much appreciated too. I did the normal recommended maintenance/oil changes so far .

The issue could have been from just running the engine coolant too long before changing it. Older coolant can become acidic and eat away at the rubber seals. The 3.5 engine is also prone to having head-gaskets rust out and leak as well due to a portion of the steel head gasket being exposed to the elements outside of the engine block.

The 3.5 V6 is a reliable V6 engine(up to about 200k miles), but is not immune to problems with higher mileage(over 200k miles) that may require a rebuild or gasket replacements.

Note: It is odd tha the dealer service center did not notice the weeping coolant(or drop in coolant level) before as they were servicing your RX350 regularly and should have inspected the engine fluid reservoirs like the engine coolant and brake fluid during those visits. Hopefully the service center did not notice the coolant issue and decided to wait to tell you until it became a major issue for you to pay them to repair it.

Last edited by carguy75; Jan 5, 2025 at 06:28 AM.

Jan 4, 2025 | 04:58 PM

#18

LeX2K

Lexus Fanatic

Joined: Sep 2010

Posts: 25,917

Likes: 4,274

From: Alberta

Apologies if posted where are you located? This engine is prone to head gasket failure due to salt intrusion, kinda an odd failure or least I have not seen it on other engines. JDM 2GR will run about $2,000 factor in another $1,500 or so to put it in. Worth it? Not sure.