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Just before embarking on a trip with my 2008 GX470 (160k miles) with the potential to be stuck or hours in the cold this winter, i decided to look under the hood and see if anything was a-miss.
Sure enough my radiator overflow tank was very low for the first time in years. I decided to check the tank and undid the cap (cold of course). I found the cap had cracked with the spring just sitting there on the on top of the other half of the cap still stuck in the radiator neck. The cap was in a few pieces, with one piece inside. I decided to try and grab the gasket and it fell all the way to the bottom of the radiator.
I thought of getting a long claw pick up tool and it worked. I ordered a long one off amazon and was able to fish out the other part of the cap! check out the pics and hopefully this idea works for someone else!
Try at your own risk of course. I did this back in early March 2023, been fine since then.
I got two brand new caps from the dealer, one to replace right away and the other for back up!
Surgery! Nice work. Does the new cap look like the original? Toyota is phasing in a new design in some cases the new cap looks cheaper.
Yes, blind surgery! Here's two pics of the cap. I don't see a change other than the color of the plastic that failed. The color change could just from aging and the heat. Seems like a part of the car should be built more stoutly!
The 80's Toyota cap doesn't come apart like that but it's not compatible with yours the shape is a bit different. Still it lasted 15 years most cars are long gone by then. Are those zip ties doing the job? Seems like a future failure point.
06-02-23, 02:11 PM
broken radiator cap retrieved, check your cap
