mscheidm

I started smelling that sweet smell of coolant after a couple hot Sacramento summer days after I parked my car. I checked the coolant level and it was a little low so I added about a cup. There have never been any coolant on the ground or on my garage floor. My 01 LS430 has about 135,000 miles. After cleaning up the white/pinkish dried up crud I drove for a couple weeks still smelling the a little when it was hot. It looks like there is a slight leak on both corners of radiator, but I would think I would hear it hissing and there would be more leaking out. Anyone have any idea where it is coming from and what I have to do to fix it? I am hoping I don't have to replace coolant resoviour which appears to be be integrated with fan shroud.

empringham

is the car over heating at all? i ask because if the car is still running at operating temperature then we can rule out things such as a thermostat/ WP.

mscheidm

Car has not overheated and the needle always sits slightly above mid point on the temp gauge.

LSKelvin

iTrader: (3)

I've got this same exact issue. A few months ago I changed out the timing belt along with everything associated with it (Aisin kit, 170* thermostat, etc), and also put in a new radiator. Afterwards I noticed my coolant reservoir would go dry in 3 days or so. So I just kept adding coolant to the reservoir till I could get around to fixing it. But by the time I got to looking it over the coolant quit disappearing in such a rapid fashion so I just left it alone. Coolant level still drops but its much much slower now. Never overheated, temperature reads slightly above middle, no signs of leaks anywhere. But I can't smell any coolant at any time. My friend told me to change out the radiator hoses while I was at it but it was already too late as I already had the new radiator up and running.

This is on a 2004 with 170k

Boomer01

It's time for a new radiator. Mine had a similar problem and a new radiator fixed it. They're not very expensive and fairly easy to install.

Tom57

In this instance, after changing the TB/WP and radiator, chances are likely that you didn't fully fill the entire coolant system (allowing the thermostat to open and get all of the burps and air pockets out. So, it took some time for the system to take from the reservoir to fill the main system.

LSKelvin

iTrader: (3)

Jeez, the cooling system on this car is outrageously difficult to burp. I burped it a good 3-4 times before I even attempted to drive it anywhere. Even did it parking on the driveway facing upward when I couldn't get all the bubbles out in the garage. Burped the radiator on my 4runner at about the same time after a water pump change and that was just a one and done job. Didn't even have to move onto the driveway.

mscheidm

Thanks to those of you that responded on this forum. Based on your recommendations I am replacing the radiator. I ordered the Denso 221-3170 on Amazon ($118.08 + $9.45 for shipping = $127.53) along with new hood struts so I don't chop my head off while replacing the radiator.

Anyone have any hints or recommendations on swapping it out to make it any easier?

Thanks,
Mark

Tom57

For larger cooling capacity, you could go with the radiator for the "tow package" >

Tom57

Here are the instructions from the manual ...

mscheidm

I was lucky enough to make it 4 months with this minor leak with my radiator without having it totally fail on me. I replaced the hood struts and radiator this weekend. The car has 135K miles and still had original hoses. I called the local Lexus stealership to get quotes on parts (upper and lower radiator hose, 4 hose clamps, thermostat and gasket) which came out to be $133.59 (before tax). I called the local Napa store and same parts were only $59. After talking to my mechanic buddy, he said that he wouldn't replace the thermostat if the car had never overheated so I skipped that one.

The Denso radiator fit perfect. I should have also picked up the small hose clamps for the transmission cooler lines and some tranny fluid before I started the job. The original hose clamps for those rubber lines didn't seem very tight and after I put the old clamps back on I could easily pull those hoses off. I wasn't comfortable with that and had to make another trip to parts store to get the smaller hose clamps.

Replacing the hood struts was very easy, but I should have stuck a rag in the corner of the fender well in case I dropped the new ball/nut mounting bolt for the strut. Of course, it slipped out of my fingers when I was trying to screw the lower one in and it fell down into the dark hole of nowhere. That was my other trip to the parts store to buy one of those telescopic magnetic pickup tools. Luckily I was able to extract it with this handy tool.

It took me 4.5 hours...with 2 trips to the auto parts store, and a couple searches on youtube to get some help (Thank you Funky Mechanic!).

The car never ran hot (needle always sits about 1/16" above 1/2 way mark on temp gauge), but only 1/2 gallon of coolant drained out, and when I filled it up it took 1 1/2 gallons. After letting it idle to normal temp and cool down, coolant level still showed full in radiator and overflow tank. I drove 5 miles and let it cool overnight and still no drop in coolant level. Even though some transmission fluid came out of cooler lines when I disconnected them, the transmission fluid level looks good on dipstick.

I am guessing I saved at least $800 over taking to dealership between parts and labor.

This forum makes doing these jobs much easier. I appreciate all of your help and guidance.

campisi

Good call on the hood struts! I knew my hood struts were on their last legs and would drop once in a while but I was too lazy to replace them. I just did my TB / Waterpump etc and after it was all done I was doing some last minute checks and the dam hood dropped right on my head! I saw it coming and was able to get one hand up to blunt it just a little but still .... it sucked. Am ordering new hood struts on Amazon now.

L8RSk8R

rkw77080

The Lexus repair manual recommends “bleeding” the heater core to remove air pocket created when you completely drain all coolant from the system. This is done by running your vehicle with the A/C set to maximum heat, which will divert some of the hot coolant into the heater core to warm up the cabin. The hot coolant will expel any air pockets and fill the void in the heater core.

Beyond that, there is not really a need to perform “burping” on the LS430. Your radiator cap is essentially a pressure relief valve and is located at the highest spot of the entire cooling system. Air pocket, if any, will eventually accumulate under the radiator cap. As the coolant in the cooling system heats up and expands, it causes the pressure to build up, and the radiator cap is the only escape route. The setting of the radiator cap spring is set to prevent over-pressuring the system, so once this maximum pressure is reached, the valve is pushed open, allowing the accumulated air and some coolant to escape from the cooling system, through the overflow tube into the bottom of the coolant reservoir. This arrangement keeps air out by, well you can think of it as “burping” into the reservoir.

Once the engine cools back down, a vacuum is created in the cooling system that pulls open the spring loaded valve, sucking coolant back in from the bottom of the reservoir to replace what was expelled previously.

This is the reason why you should check and top off the reservoir level after a few weeks from coolant replacement.

campisi

Thanks for explaining that rkw. I have NEVER burped any system after a drain/re-fill (including my LS) and I've never had any problem. If the cap and overflow system is doing it's job it's not needed.