Margate330

I have no idea friend.

Any chance your leaking petcock has made its way down to there?

evident

I mean I can't see how ... i have a tube going into the petcock drain and any other drippings would have went onto the subframe which sits below that. Could it be that the previously leaking fluid is somehow seeping through the bellhousing and engine gasket?



I am going work to get my rack and pinion installed for now so I can pull this car out of the garage and carefully hose the engine bay down. That will give me the option to also just take it to my mechanic to have them help diagnose it should i decide to throw in the towel. My state inspection is due in June and I'll be gone for a week so it needs to go to a shop anyways.

HobieMarty

You can get a pressure test kit and pressure test the coolant system while the engine is cold, this will pin point exactly where your leak is coming from. I had a mysterious coolant leak, pressure tested it, and found that it was coming from the coolant by-pass pipe in the valley of the engine under the intake. There is a thread about it on this forum.
I tackled the issue myself, it wasn't terribly difficult, but you do remove a lot of things, and it was just time consuming, but hey, I saved myself about a thousand bucks or more. Good luck!!!

evident

If that's the rubber hose that goes into the metal one that you have to disturb when changing out the water pump on the passenger side of the engine by the dog bone top mount, I had a boroscope there while the engine was running and off to see if any leaks were coming from there and i confirmed that it's dry.

my next step will be to pressure test this thing when the car is cold, with the battery and air intake box removed so i can get a better view. Won't be for a while though till i get my rack and pinion done!. I guess i should be happy that when i turned my car on there wasn't any leaks coming from my fresh new water pump install.

Margate330

I like pressure testers because they don't lie.

If it's leaking, it cant hide under pressure. Lol

That's great unless it's your only car because it can open a seal or burst the failing part and it's time to call a cab to the auto parts store for emergency repair parts. Haha

Yep, happened to me on that valley plate seal

evident

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...late-leak.html

This is what happened to you right? I think the 2GR has a similar but different issue headgasket can leak rad fluid to the outside according to the car care nut. which would also show red cake in that valley area.

Margate330

Yes sir!

Did you see the red cake in that pic on post 1?

Mine was pink.

It must've been slowly leaking for so long it filled the entire valley to the top. Lol

​​​​

HobieMarty

The coolant by-pass pipe is a metal pipe that has O rings at each end that seal it into other metal fittings. There is indeed a short rubber hose at the water pump. The leak I had was from the O rings in the metal by-pass pipe. The only way I could pinpoint the leak was with a pressure test kit. Only apply as much pressure as what is specified on the radiator cap. Overpressurization can cause other leaks for sure, don't install the fittings and just start aggressively pumping pressure into the system, just apply the correct pressure and hold it there, the leak will reveal itself.
I hope this helps.

evident

Update: So i dunno if i should be happy or be wary... two nights ago I finished installing my rack and pinion and bled my PS fluid, then proceeded to fill my coolant back up without bleeding and left it overnight and i see no leaks. I backed the car out of my garage and proceeded with the coolant bleeding proceedure to get all the air out and i still see no leaks. that was about 20 minutes with the car on and revved to 2500rpm at times. Engine is still warm so maybe any leak is evaporating off. I just hosed the underside off to get off the crusty coolant and moved the vehicle, I won't be driving it for a while but i'll keep some cardboard underneath to see if it's still leaking and do a pressure test. I don't have time until next week to take the car in for an alignment and i'll be keeping all of the underbelly pans off until it gets the alignment and state inspection.

evident

update2: I just pressurized my system for 24 hours at around 16PSI... the next morning i came and looked at it and.... 16PSI. I guess it really was just the drain plug that was causing all the leaks... somehow the fluid got to underneath the transmission!

Margate330

Awesome job proving it@evident .

I needed to hear a success story today.

HobieMarty

That's awesome!!! It sounds like you have fixed the issue for sure. Good job!!! 👍