benny20

Hi guys
haven't posted here for ages, the ES has run sweet for the last 18months, yesterday did a 100k trip, no probs check water ect, 10 miles from my house woosh over heating header tank blowing steam all hot , let cool down

So Question , we have the radiator in the front grill, with the header tank on the right, But on the r/h side there is a second radiator & cap, this took about 3 pints of water ??? just wonder if it was an extra rad?? cooler , it has a rad cap like the other >? once topped and cooled down the ES drove perfect? in fact better dont want to drive to far just in case, it has not leaks, no water pump leaks, (but not pressure tested) so a mystery to us ?? your thoughts guys.

Bennyandthejets
UK

llcoolpass

real quick, you have the lexus in uk, or is it windom? and second question, you have what engine in it...? for example 4vz-fe

to your problem, what you said was a little confusing so I want you to break it down into clear stages with more detail.
some questions I have: your temperature gauge indicated what and at what point on your trip?
what's a header tank?
what's a second radiator doing in your car?
please, provide pictures of your engine bay, perhaps with some small arrows [with letters neext to them] and a key to explain what part each letter is pointing at. that would be awesome.
love to help you, but I can't until we get those things straight

benny20

Thanks for the reply, our engine is a Windom 2.5 litre V6 DOHC 4vz-fe
the header tank is the small plastic tank connnected to the cooling system which acts as a over flow it has low & full and sits near the right hand strut,

Sorry its not a radiator, it a 4" long metel casing with a rad cap that sits by the manifold & linked to the main rad, ( minifold cooler???) perhaps.?

I dont know if you guys have it on your 3.0 litre V6.
Thanks llcoolpass for the reply , we have a engine manual somewhere on CD, we will try that as well Cheers

benny20

sorry just realised to guys are 7 hours behind us so we've been posting in the early hours !!
Back later !!

kelseyboy

I HAVE SOME BAD NEWS...
My CAR was doing the same thing, over , over, no leaks etc.etc.
the water temp dial was fine , it was fine, it was fine , THEN BAMM IT SKYROCKETS INTO THE RED AND THEN MY OVERFILL TANK IS STEAMING.

I Live in tulsa OK USA,
At my local dealer their head mechanic, (A Lexus GOD) he knows absolutely everything.
( he worked on Garth brooks GX and stripped it down to the shell looking for an electrical glitch and finally found out that it was a mold problem from the factory in the ecm that controlled the electrically controlled windows, garth would just drive around and his windows would roll up and down for no reason.)

OK now I have established his credibilty :/ he asked me if I had changed my coolant lately? I said no.
Barry said that my coolant had changed polarity from pos to neg??? and had started pulling material off of a thin spot on the back side of the HEAD GASKET!!!
so instead of sucking water into the cylinder(what normally occurs) It is blowing fire into the water jacket.
That is why in one second my car would overheat.


99% sure it is you HEAD GASKET bro

You can call me to talk about it further.

kelsey- 918 289 3505

llcoolpass

well it might be a head gasket. i suspected that as a possibility in this case, but like I said, can you post a picture... I'm not sure what the terms your using are.... I'm pretty experienced with cars and have done major repairs on this engine before... and so have other people... only way to really narrow things down is with more info, and you shold know that if it's a coolant leak or head gasket leak your engine might be easily saved if you address it quckly like I did with mine


here's jeremys engine, take this picture and put arrows and a key like I asked so I can better understand what happened without getting a headache or make your own, better picture

benny20

thanks llcoolpass Kelsey boy. picture is spot on, its the yellow rad cap next to the V6 enblem. which we found ours does not take water ? it feeds back to the main radiator, the header or overflow tank (plastic) is full to the mark, let it cooled down after the overheating, topped up with water & drove 10miles with no probs or high temp on gauge ?
can't get our ES engine manual up on our system to check the cooling system. hence the thread here.

we pray it isn't headgasket, the car has been so reliable is the last 2 years thats why we have kept it, we have to bite the bullet fill some containers with water and take it for a road test and see if it overheats, but thought we'd try here, thanks again guys

Steve
Bennyandthejets

llcoolpass

Ok , please, I beg you, for the love of all that's holy, tell me things in a more concise, clear manner. You shouldn't make people work hard to help you. If you don't like to take your time and write well, that's your loss. Beggars can't be choosers. You seem to think it's reversed, but I'll give you a second chance - again.

I'm going to do my best [for free] to understand your poor, flouridated-water, thinking as demonstrated in your writing ability.

The cap that is visible is the filler neck cap. That's what you take off, when the engine is cool, to add the coolant mixture.

If the head gasket has failed, one symptom is coolant loss. see if you're losing coolant.
Secondly, check for bubbles at the filler neck hole. To do that, you wait for engine to be cool, and make sure the system is compeltely full. Then start the engine, turn the HVAC controls to fresh air mode, full hot, full fan speed, then burp the system [squeeze release the upper radiator] every few seconds of trapped air and add coolant mixture as necessary. After doing this for 10 minutes or so, you can be sure it's full. If you see massive frothing of bubbles, you can rule out low coolant causing it while the head gasket leak causing it can be concluded. Check the motor oil. Is it milk chocolate? is it contaminated with coolant?

I have to wonder, is your coolant filled with rust or aluminum oxide debris? Has the coolant mixture been changed every two years, if not, what interval was employed?

Head gasket failure isn't the worst thing that could happen, especially if the car is still valuable and in very good shape.

kelseyboy

THE weird thing about it was I would NEVER overheat if it were just parked, even if I let it sit for hours.

while under a load (driving) it would over heat hit and miss, until finally it started doing it everytime I drove it.

Now I am 99.5% sure it IS THE HEADGASKET.
This condition is the only thing that scares me about buying another ES

GEORGE_JET

Have you looked at the oil? Pull the dipstick and see if anything looks odd. Then check the compression, these engines should be running around 200 psi (the exact number is not as important it is how close each cylinder is to all the rest). Also you need to check if the hydaulic fan is working? Is the power steering fluid at the proper level? Keep in mind that the fan will always spin, even at idle on a cold engine. So do not just look at the fan and assume that it is working. You have to actually test the fan to insure that it is functioning.

benny20

Hey Guys
thanks for the input. llcoolpass just chill !!!, we are former car dealers, not mechanics. just needed some trats with this engine, and what the cap was , for which we now know. The ES has stopped overheating, and at present is back to normal, thanks to George jet for the tips , and yes all OK. we dont know if the head gaskets was damaged , the guys at the gararge will check it out today , but no normal signs oil all clear ect . so the guys will test and sort it. thanks for all your help

llcoolpass

dude, reread what you said. it kind of doesnt make sense. I'm not sure what you are saying.... I got thrown off by some words like ''trats'' and some other things.

in other words... what was wrong with the car? and what head gasket test do they plan to use?

good luck

kelseyboy

My oil is was all clear too,
I think it was 6 months or so before it overheated for the 2nd time.

I would definitely change the coolant, I do not believe that the mech will notice any compression differences unless they tested it while it was overheating.
I am telling you guys this is a sporadic thing unlike anything I had ever heard of until this time. you will not get any steam coming out of the exhaust either like a conventional blown head gasket .

It may have to do with the head/ head gasket design. (speculating)

I am not speculating on the BLOWN HEAD GASKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT LEAKS compression THEN WHEN IT COOLS DOWN IT SEALS BACK UP (WEIRD)

I would not Trust it to drive on long trips.

TAKE IT TO OR TALLK TO A LEXUS SPECIALIST BEFORE YOU TOAST IT.
OR CALL BARRY
LEXUS OF TULSA
(918) 665-3987


I have said my 20 cents, peace

GEORGE_JET

I feel that there is probably a issue with the fan, and is probably intermitent. App 8 of the 10 mechanics that I know have no clue what the implications of trying to troubleshoot a low impedance circuit, with a high impedance meter. A few did not even know what the difference between meg and kilo ohms are. While these people were good mechanics, I would not want them troubleshooting my computer.
Now the other question is, has the head gasket been compromised, that remains to be seen. It is evident there is a problem with the car. If no obvious problem is found with the cooling system, I would recommend replacing the temp sensor for the fan controller, and the soleniod on the power steering pump.

llcoolpass

george jet, about the fan, I disagree with you ... when the car is moving, it has the problem, not moving no problem, so the hydraulic fan is probably working enough

and do you know what he's talking about ? trat? and all that weird stuff