2014 - Radiator crack (1 Viewer)

[kandabear]

No local dealer had the new radiator in stock. So I ended up sending the wife on a 130 mile round trip to get one in Kansas City at Olathe Toyota. Wife said they were very nice and helpful.
Pics attached of new radiator and part number on box.
The newly designed part has captive attachment nuts, which was helpful on reinstall. I believe that the FSM has you remove a lot of stuff to get the radiator out but I ended up mostly doing it from the top, not even pulling the fan shroud, and I just zip tied everything out of the way as I detached things to more easily install the new radiator by myself.
Did the tensioner idler and serpentine belt as I could not find any evidence it had been done on this one since new (we're not the first owners) and doing that with the radiator out made it quite simple. The serp belt had no cracks and really not much visible wear, but I think all that was OEM. Toyota really makes good stuff! 12 years and 160k and the belt was still ok!
Total time for everything was about 3 hrs working slowly and cleaning as I went.
Anyway, got some piece of mind for the road trip!
Thanks to everyone on the forum. I dont post much, but read often, and there is always a good answer to my questions with a search here.

 

[Tripledave]

I have one in my garage that is the victim of UPS’s handling..

I, too, have two radiators that were victims of mishandling during shipment. They’ll work but I paid for a new one and damn it that’s all I would settle for. With that said, I’d let them go to a mud member In need for the cost of shipping.

 

[bloc]

No local dealer had the new radiator in stock. So I ended up sending the wife on a 130 mile round trip to get one in Kansas City at Olathe Toyota. Wife said they were very nice and helpful.
Pics attached of new radiator and part number on box.
The newly designed part has captive attachment nuts, which was helpful on reinstall. I believe that the FSM has you remove a lot of stuff to get the radiator out but I ended up mostly doing it from the top, not even pulling the fan shroud, and I just zip tied everything out of the way as I detached things to more easily install the new radiator by myself.
Did the tensioner idler and serpentine belt as I could not find any evidence it had been done on this one since new (we're not the first owners) and doing that with the radiator out made it quite simple. The serp belt had no cracks and really not much visible wear, but I think all that was OEM. Toyota really makes good stuff! 12 years and 160k and the belt was still ok!
Total time for everything was about 3 hrs working slowly and cleaning as I went.
Anyway, got some piece of mind for the road trip!
Thanks to everyone on the forum. I dont post much, but read often, and there is always a good answer to my questions with a search here.

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Great job getting it sorted, and doing all that in three hours you are ahead of the curve. If you come up with any other interesting work please share it.

 

[dstewart3ss]

Hope its OK to hijack this thread rather than starting new. I don’t have much frame of reference for how “bad” my radiator looks. I’ve got some other maintenance to do so would prefer to hold off on a new radiator for awhile. Thoughts on my condition?

 

[bloc]

Hope its OK to hijack this thread rather than starting new. I don’t have much frame of reference for how “bad” my radiator looks. I’ve got some other maintenance to do so would prefer to hold off on a new radiator for awhile. Thoughts on my condition?

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Check the above linked thread.. it is very long but you can browse through for similar pictures.

IMO yours has progressed significantly and should be changed sooner than later, especially because it’s summer. You are out in the area that most of them pop. At the very least get a jug of pink coolant from a Toyota dealer and carry that in the vehicle.

 

[dstewart3ss]

Check the above linked thread.. it is very long but you can browse through for similar pictures.

IMO yours has progressed significantly and should be changed sooner than later, especially because it’s summer. You are out in the area that most of them pop. At the very least get a jug of pink coolant from a Toyota dealer and carry that in the vehicle.

I’m not seeing a linked thread…? Thanks for your feedback

 

[molanginaeda]

Hope its OK to hijack this thread rather than starting new. I don’t have much frame of reference for how “bad” my radiator looks. I’ve got some other maintenance to do so would prefer to hold off on a new radiator for awhile. Thoughts on my condition?

That's look like my radiator when I discovered the crack. I did the JBweld fix right away. But because I'm planning for a cross country travel trip, I went ahead and replace the radiator.

I even make a funny tiktok clip from the repair.

 

[lx200inAR]

This is the thread most people link. To say it's long is an understatement.

2008-2018 Radiator Failure and Public Service Announcement

Edited by Moderator to change date range in title Curious who else has had a failure of their radiator on their 200 of the 08-10 model years by a crack on the top next to the molded in platform. I got lucky and found mine before it was catastrophic. I notified @TexAZ because I know his truck...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[bloc]

This is the thread most people link. To say it's long is an understatement.

2008-2018 Radiator Failure and Public Service Announcement

Edited by Moderator to change date range in title Curious who else has had a failure of their radiator on their 200 of the 08-10 model years by a crack on the top next to the molded in platform. I got lucky and found mine before it was catastrophic. I notified @TexAZ because I know his truck...

forum.ih8mud.com

Yeah I wouldn’t expect anyone to read it all, but scrolling through to see the images and relevant conversation could give some context to @dstewart3ss

 

[dstewart3ss]

Yeah I wouldn’t expect anyone to read it all, but scrolling through to see the images and relevant conversation could give some context to @dstewart3ss

I’ve scanned through a handful of the 74 pages (wow). Seems like general conclusions are once you see the cracking, it could bust any time or it could last awhile longer. Safe bet is to go ahead and replace although it looks like some have found longer term success with the JBWeld or alternative ‘patching materials’.

I just bought this 2010 with 165k miles…to my knowledge on the original radiator. I’ve got some other maintenance I need to spend $ on pretty soon so I’m leaning toward trying the patching to hopefully by me some time. No long trips planned outside of 3-4 hours one way to the coast. I’m also calling around to get quotes on replacement.

If there’s anyone reading this with firsthand experience in a similar position as me, I’d love to hear what went well/not well - I can’t read through all 74 pages to find more

 

[bloc]

I’ve scanned through a handful of the 74 pages (wow). Seems like general conclusions are once you see the cracking, it could bust any time or it could last awhile longer. Safe bet is to go ahead and replace although it looks like some have found longer term success with the JBWeld or alternative ‘patching materials’.

I just bought this 2010 with 165k miles…to my knowledge on the original radiator. I’ve got some other maintenance I need to spend $ on pretty soon so I’m leaning toward trying the patching to hopefully by me some time. No long trips planned outside of 3-4 hours one way to the coast. I’m also calling around to get quotes on replacement.

If there’s anyone reading this with firsthand experience in a similar position as me, I’d love to hear what went well/not well - I can’t read through all 74 pages to find more

I've been watching this phenomenon since I got mine in early 2018. In general people have a failure somewhere between 1/8-1/4" of crack propagation past the driver's side edge of the flat area. And, most radiators don't seem to crack much out toward the passenger side like yours has.

A patch is probably a good idea, and as long as you get that done before anything leaks they do seem to hold a while. My issue has always been not being able to see further crack development.. though if it starts leaking you'll definitely still know.

Either way I'd be budgeting for a radiator.. they aren't expensive from the discount sites at about $350, but their difficulty seems to be in them actually surviving shipping. Being in such a large city you may be able to find a discount site that is local to you though and just go pick it up.

 

[Bryanmc]

Yeah, you will have to do it eventually. It won’t not rupture at this point, just don’t know exactly when.

If you have to spend that money at some point, I’d do it sooner than later to remove the anxiety of when it will blow.

 

[dstewart3ss]

I've been watching this phenomenon since I got mine in early 2013. In general people have a failure somewhere between 1/8-1/4" of crack propagation past the driver's side edge of the flat area. And, most radiators don't seem to crack much out toward the passenger side like yours has.

A patch is probably a good idea, and as long as you get that done before anything leaks they do seem to hold a while. My issue has always been not being able to see further crack development.. though if it starts leaking you'll definitely still know.

Either way I'd be budgeting for a radiator.. they aren't expensive from the discount sites at about $350, but their difficulty seems to be in them actually surviving shipping. Being in such a large city you may be able to find a discount site that is local to you though and just go pick it up.

Good info - I had to replace the radiator in my wife’s GX - was still under warranty so Lexus ordered it and installed it - back ordered for weeks then Lexus installed the dented radiator like it was no big deal - luckily I checked it out and made them replace it! You’d think they could figure out how to safely ship a radiator after all these years.