abtx

Hi fellow Lexus owners. My Lexus broke down yesterday night and I'm waiting till the garage opens on Monday and I've been wondering if anyone here might help me diagnose the issue.

So it's a 2006 model with about 110k miles on it, I'm the 3rd owner. Few days ago my heater stopped working (I live in the the UK so it's chilly here already). I googled it, got some coolant (or antifreeze), topped it up, drove for about 10 miles tops, everything worked fine.

The next day I take it out for a drive and want to show off to my gf how clever I am and blow some warm air on her cheerful face. The coolant's been topped up, engine warm, and bam. I keep getting cold breeze from the vents. At this point we were approx 2 miles away from home, I keep driving and toying with the A/C but I have a feeling it won't work. Then I notice the engine temp gauge going riiiiight up the red line.

We stop, wait for the car to cool off a bit, pop the hood up, carefully open the fluid cap, fill it in, the fluid goes down. Repeat. It goes down. Repeat...

Long story short I called the AA. They came and by then there was obviously a puddle underneath the car (under front row seats) so I pointed it out: "hey man, I've got a leak here, that's all the bloody coolant I poured in a moment ago". Dude checks it with his glove and he looks at me, then looks at the glove smeared in white creamy fluid and smells it, and says it's probably servo or transmission fluid.

Now I realise it might be a more serious issue and remember that the gearbox was a bit jerky for 2-3 seconds driving smoothly at low speeds when changing from 1st to 2nd, it happened about 5 times during past week and felt as if you'd drive a manual and didn't give it enough clutch/throttle, but it was very very gentle.

Anyhow, the AA guy said we should try the closest garage and will be ok to drive there, he'd escort me. I drove it about a mile to the garage and left it there. Now I got to wait for the garage to open on Monday and give me the verdict (or, most likely, wait for another week before they have time to look at it).

So I wonder what this may be. One detail I left out is that there are traces of some oil in the antifreeze can. The leak under the can might have been all transmission (or servo, but I don't think so as there were no symptoms with steering power, but the transmission), but it as well might be some antifreeze and the fluid. The AA guy shoved a tone of bio-powder or something on the puddle and we drove off so I didn't take a close look. When driving to the garage gear changes were as smooth as ever, engine stayed at the right temp, but as I mentioned it was a short, one mile / 5 minute drive.

So here I am, dear Lexus forum, crowdsourcing some brains out to get a better picture of what kind of trouble I am in for this time and how big of a hole in my pocket it might burn.

Cheers!

PS: gearbox oil has been changed in 2017, under 20k miles ago

lexo98

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like when you added antifreeze you didn’t burp the system and air was trapped inside. The fans also won’t turn on and you will overheat depending on what type of coolant used it will bubble up. Hopefully you didn’t blow the head gasket and now oil is mixed in with the coolant. Maybe your radiator is bad and is mixing coolant and trans fluid

abtx

@lexo98 the engine runs ok, the transmission is mostly ok as well, but there were traces of sth oily in the antifreeze can (transparent kind of small oily bubbles) and some of the liquid was light milk only once and only a small amount with the leak. The car goes to a garage tomorrow on a recovery truck. Fingers crossed it's just the radiator !

mspearl95

sounds like you have oil mixing with your antifreeze. usually that means blown head gasket.

abtx

@mspearl95 either that or the transmission I presume. Hopefully not both.

abtx

I've taken some pics of the fluid puddle.

mspearl95

wow that doesn't look good, whatever it is. did you look at your dipstick or inside of oil cap to see if there is any of the same stuff?

abtx

Well, having to think about it, I did pour a bottle of radweld into the cooling system and topped with antifreeze, so that might be why the colour is now pink. I checked the dipstick, everything seems normal. Oil cap doesn't have any marks of the substance.

Gotcha350

If its leaking as out fast as you can fill it up you probably have more than a head gasket failure. I'd look for cracked hoses and then try a cooling system pressure test. As others have mentioned, check the oil dipstick and cap for any creamy residue after the engine is a little warm not full operating temperature. While you are doing that you can also do a leak down test on each cylinder.

abtx

@Gotcha350 Yes, it all goes out as soon as I top it up. The dipstick was fine and no creamy substance on the cap neither. No white smoke. Car's in the garage now and I'm waiting for their verdict.

Gotcha350

Sounds like a hose if its leaking out that fast...I hope that's all it is!

abtx

Thanks. I just called the garage, they said it's the gearbox. The garage is an auto box specialist, they want to replace it altogether for about £2000. The gearbox didn't show any symptoms before so I wonder if I can fix the leak and then keep driving it until it does. I'm now gonna take it to another garage for a second opinion.

Gotcha350

I wonder if the transmission oil cooler in the radiator has failed. I would have it checked as well before replacing the transmission otherwise you will damage the new one as well.

Gotcha350

I wonder if the transmission oil cooler in the radiator has failed. I would have it checked as well before replacing the transmission otherwise you will damage the new one as well.