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head Gasket replacement soon?

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Old 04-08-10, 10:57 AM
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jami1
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Default head Gasket replacement soon?

I found something out about my car that I am not too happy about, on sunday I put coolant in the tank because the tank was empty, Today I checked it again and its empty, I do not see white smoke in the tail pipe, and I do not see blue smoke either, Everything is running fine, Car runs great.

I am just learning about cars, but I dont think its normal for the tank to be empty, Where did the coolant go?

Any advice is appreciated oh, I have a 1998 es300. going to hit 190100 miles soon.
Old 04-08-10, 01:24 PM
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JSM1284
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Is the radiator full? If not, its sucking the coolant from the overflow tank to fill itself.
Old 04-09-10, 05:42 AM
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jami1
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I checked under the radiator cap and there is fluid in there. I am going to put some more in today and see how long it takes to be empty again.
I do not notice any puddles when I move from a parking space.
Old 04-09-10, 01:26 PM
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jami1
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ok- update..

I checked the coolant again toady, there was brown stuff at the bottom of the resevoir..
doesn't look like oil though I am not sure it was also empty so I put more coolant in it today, I am going to keep my eye on it at the same time I am also going to take it to my mechanic tonigth to have it checked, as he is checking the AC at the same time.

I am hoping I wont need a new engine soon, I can't afford it.
Old 04-09-10, 02:25 PM
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BoostedE21
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Brown "stuff" is pretty typical of older cars. No huge worry there, but you could always flush your system. The coolant system is pretty much the only one you can run water through with the engine running.

If it burns coolant, you SHOULD be able to smell it. And see smoke. But if you do have a headgasket leak - as long as you still have power, you don't necessarily need to replace your engine. I know people who have driven 30,000 miles on a bad headgasket with no issues - you just have to keep adding water to the system when it gets low.

If you have some friends that are mechanically inclined, headgasket jobs aren't THAT hard. But you do have to follow some pretty specific torque specs, and clean the surfaces really well.
Old 04-09-10, 06:43 PM
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jami1
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ok, thanks for the advice, I was with him for a while, he was checking the AC system and adding freon to it. Now my AC works perfectly. It seemed to be very low in freon, the compressor makes the awful noise as it cycles on and off, but he said that is fine.

He checked for leaks, but he could not find any, he is going to do a pressure test on the Cooling system on sunday, he said he will do it for free. if I do need new gaskets he will charge me about 600 - 700 dollars for the work, and he said he would have to have my car for about a week. But he says at the same time he doesn't think it is the gaskgets, he believes that there is a leak some place behind the engine that we can't see. he asked me to keep and eye on the coolant levels until sunday.

I added more coolant today earlier, before seeing my mechanic, I drove about 40-50 miles and now there seems to be no change, the levels are still the same. Engine was idling for a while as my mechanic checked for leaks.
Old 04-10-10, 09:11 AM
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have you tried draining your oil and looking for coolant in the oil? if it's not burning off or leaking out of a cracked hose or something, that's really the only other place it could go.
Old 04-11-10, 04:14 PM
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jami1
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ok, so mechanic checked everything for me and gave me good news. HE changed the oil for me and checked the cooling system for leaks. He did not find coolant in the oil and he did not find any leaks in the cooling system.
he said there was probably air in the radiator, the fluid levels are unchanged since friday.
Old 04-11-10, 04:56 PM
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Originally Posted by jami1
ok, so mechanic checked everything for me and gave me good news. HE changed the oil for me and checked the cooling system for leaks. He did not find coolant in the oil and he did not find any leaks in the cooling system.
he said there was probably air in the radiator, the fluid levels are unchanged since friday.
Yep. I was sort of wondering if that was the case from the beginning. It sucks that you invested so much time into diagnosing a non-existent problem - Good to have a clean bill of health, though!
Old 04-11-10, 07:38 PM
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Glad to see your ES got a clean bill of health!

I RARELY ever see head gasket issues on the 1mz-fe...its usually the old 3vz-fe engines that had common head gasket issues...
Old 04-12-10, 06:35 AM
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jami1
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I know, I was scared, It was not a wise thing to do but when i brought the car I checked it my self. I know a little about cars but I am not a mechanic, Should have brought my mechanic with me to check it over before I bought it. The thing is I met the guy from Craigs list. he initially was selling the es300 for 3900. But with registration, taxes title and all the other fees it would easily be more than 4200.

I talked him down, it was the only ES as all the other ones I wanted to get was already sold before I could get the money. I drove down to delaware county to take a look at the car, and tried to talk him down, from 3900 to 3500. He was complaining telling me that he brought the car for 3600 and had to put more money into, he told me that he had to get the valve gasket replaced. I told him ok, but he decided to let me get it for 3500. I dont know maybe he liked me. lol but I felt that he didn't give me enough fight. He also said he got alot of calls on but I wondered why no one bought it. I decided to buy it any way cause I wanted the car so bad. I fell in love with it from the moment I saw it.

I read alot of horror stories where people buy cars and the seller makes it look like the buyer is getting a deal when in reality they are not getting a deal.

I am glad things worked out. I was holding my corolla just in case I had problems but I think I can rely on my lexy. ( I named it Lexy) I love my car so much, I get so much attention in it. People stop me and ask me how much I paid and the mileage. They also ask me what year it is.

Everyone that sits in it, always tells me, " Damn, How much you pay for this, it is a nice car man.!" and most people dont even know the engine is running. When I tell them the amount of miles the car has, no one believes me.


My mechanic always tells me that he knows my car well, tells me that the newer cars are not as good as the older cars, and he always tells me not to get rid of my es300. He tells me that those cars are some of the best in the world. When I come to him with problems, he checks it but then tells me, that my car is a good car. He says that the newer american cars cost more, but dont give me what my car can give me.

My cousin has a 1999 Oldsmobile Alero, his car has a little less milelage than mine.
he has a check engine light, traction control light, ABS light, all turned on, and no one can seem to find out why.

I have 191000 miles on my ES now, when I got it, it had 188000, and runs great.

I am just LOVING my car!

Thank you for readin.
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