HD-GS4

CarFax isn't perfect, but it sure is better than nothing. There were several GS400's in my area that I was considering, but they pulled up as being totalled, with evidence of odometer fraud. Unfortunately you can't trust 100% when it says that a car is perfect, but I don't see why you couldn't trust it when it says that a car has problems?

chuckb

carfax is good for finding out how many owners, where car came from and if it has a salvage title.
as far as if a car's been wrecked or mistreated, I wouldn't rely on carfax for that.

HD-GS4

I am pleased to report that the problem I was having has been fixed! The Lexus dealer seemed clueless, so I took the bull by the horns and fixed it myself.

I bought two products made by Valvoline/Zerex that are designed to clean and flush the radiator and the rest of the cooling system. Yesterday, I flushed the radiator as per the instructions on the bottle of the first product. You basically drain the radiator, install the cleaner in the radiator, fill the car up with water, and let it idle with the heater on high for 10 minutes. The radiator then needs to be flushed with fresh water until nothing but clear water comes out. Once that was done, I installed the second cleaner product that basically goes in the radiator, along with water, and then you need to drive the car for 6 hours to get it to work through the entire cooling system and radiator to clean it out. I am pleased to report that after only 1 hour of driving, my heater is toasty warm- even on the highest blower setting. Once I'm done driving the full 6 hours, I'll drain and flush again, replace the leaky radiator, and fill the system back up with Toyota radiator fluid/distilled water.

Thanks to all of you that chimed in. I'm truly glad that those of you that thought I had a cracked head gasket, or bad heater core ended up being wrong this time.

fasted1953

That's great! BTW, did the carpets ever dry out?

JellyBean

Great!!! I love a happy ending.

Edit: And thanks for the feedback! I'm sure this thread will help quite a few people in the future.

chuckb

yah, what was the story on that?

rheiy

blacksc4:
Glad to hear you got the problem with your heat solved. I think its really sad that the Lexus tech couldn't help you. They are supposed to be highly qualified mechanics. Perhaps you ought to ask the service manager why you were able to fix it and they could not. If I were you, I'd find another dealer for future service. Anyway...good luck

HD-GS4

Yes, they dried out. Apparently, the car was detailed right before I bought it. The carpets were cleaned with water and shampoo, and then they just slapped the mats down on top of the carpet without letting it dry out first. Since the bottom of the floormats are rubber, it didn't allow it to dry.

Anyway, thanks for your concern and help.

chuckb

that makes sense. there is a local detailer here that literaly takes a hose to the floors and soaks the whole interior, then blows a fan on them. needless to say they don't dry fully.