shinbo

He priced it out as 6 hours worth of labor, but with unskilled hands as mine that will more likely do more damage than not I leave it up to the professionals while sacrificing my wallet in the process.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

After reading all of this, to me it sounds like a water pump failure. But with multiple coolant leaks in the system (assuming that diagnosis is correct), then all of them will obviously need to be attended to first BEFORE anything having to do with a headgasket replacement.

xxmariolxx

Lol first mechanic needed some quick $ in his pocket

shinbo

Money well earned if diagnosis is correct, so hopefully

shinbo

Yeah, only thing is I actually had the water pump already replaced 3 years ago. If it's the case, that seems a bit early to refail no?

shinbo

Sigh, I was hoping that the new mechanic would call back with good news but not quite. He wants to keep the car over the weekend and try something on Monday.

He he said the car ran perfectly for about 20 minutes but then there is air in the system and the lower hose is not quite pushing the coolant through. He said it’s too early to say it’s the gasket and will try to get rid of the air on Monday and see again.

shinbo

So my 2nd mechanic called back today and seems to think that it's the gasket also, they replaced everything, radiator, thermostat, water pump again and the car isn't so much overheating but building up a lot of pressure and he thinks the head gasket malfunction is causing pressure build up that in turn causing misfiring on cylinder 5.

He said its a shame cause the car runs beautifully but not sure if it's worth the massive bill it would cost to fix.

xxmariolxx

That sucks what year and how many miles. 250 or 350. I haven't really herd either having gasket issues but that's a bummer

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Did they actually pressure test the thing cold? If not purged properly they boil over.

shinbo

is350, about 115k miles

shinbo

I'm not 100% sure they did pressure test it cold, but they kept it over the weekend and retried it on Monday. At this point it seems pretty likely culprit as two mechanics have tested it and the 2nd one can't think of anything else it might be.

xxmariolxx

Wow fairly low to be the gasket that's unheard of but of course possible that sucks hopefully it's just air in the system. I was expecting something like 200-250k miles +

shinbo

Yeah it's a major bummer, I was hoping to keep this car for another 5 years or more. At this point I think I'm going to give the Blue Devil sealant a try and see if it works.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

I still would want facts.
A leak down test or bare minimum a compression test.

That said did someone leave something in the new radiator that blocks flow? A garden hose and/or IR gun could help solve this. Where is the heat going if its not leaving the engine.

Recap:
Engine boils over and dumps coolant into the reservoir. Is this correct?
There is no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. Is this correct?

A pressure test was never done on the coolant system. If it passes this test that. Your problem is something else and it's not the head gasket.
Anyone know if the thermostat can be put in backwards?
Ask them how they filled and burped the system.

GL

xxmariolxx

Yes I searched around forums and a few people with the GS350 had similar issues where mechanics all said it was the gasket. And it turned out not to be. I wouldn't quit in the car. I'd take it home and start working on figuring out what it is. A bad head gasket on a Lexus with 100k miles is like a %.01 chance