2000 lx470 head gasket fail 163k miles

[lx450landcruiser]

Hello all

My fathers 2000 lx470 just return from the dealership with a notice for a replacement head gasket. My first reaction was thats absurd as his cruiser is babbied its whole life, no towing, no offroading, and in the past year has only put about 5000 miles on it (to and from work) (only 30,000 in the last 5 years) its at 163k currently. All routine services done at approprite times by lexus or toyota dealers. I have read a few posts on here about possible issues but i thought i wuld get your opinions. Now for starters the truck runs great no issues no smoke no mixed oil or bad coolent. It has never over heated and he has never had to add any coolent.

Here is a picture of the "damage" this is the passanger side just under the head. looking strait at it its slight more forward towards the front of the motor but not too much.

Im going to do a pressure test as soon as the truck cools down a bit.

 

[Glacierskier]

I have been wrong in the past.... so maybe.... leaking freeze plug?

 

[SWUtah]

Not broke don't fix it. Clean it off and check in a few K's miles and watch the coolant level.

 

[hankinid]

A leak-down (dynamic compression) test will give you the cause of the leak very quickly...make SURE you remove the radiator cap before testing
hth

Steve

 

[lx450landcruiser]

just did a pressure test on the cooling system. Hold strong at 16 psi for the last 2 hours, no leakage or drips anywhere. I guess will hold off on the headgasket . Real test will be the cross country drive in the next few days.

 

[Supra88]

What did you do to perform this test? Did you take it somewhere or do it yourself? I have a leak I'm trying to track down myself.


...via IH8MUD app

 

[lx450landcruiser]

yes i preformed the test

http://www.harborfreight.com/radiator-pressure-tester-kit-61666.html

its harbor freight but its a pretty nice set acctually

 

[Supra88]

Perfect. Thank you. Sorry to steal your thread.


...via IH8MUD app

 

[super90]

Blown head gaskets on the 2UZFE are almost unheard of. The only one I know of was due to a severe situation and drastic overheating as a result of total lack of attention. Sounds like you are on the path in finding the real culprit.

 

[lx450landcruiser]

drove it from Az to colorado then from colorado to washington (17 hour drive strait) no issues at all, water temp never got above 197. No signs of leakage either. I have no idea what it was?

 

[sacmaster]

Back when I still had my 2000, I drove it on a ski trip up to snowshoe one time, and I got there and realized I had lost a bunch of coolant. I had no choice but top it off with green coolant from a gas station. As soon as I got home, I took it to my indy guy and had the entire system flushed and replaced with proper red coolant. Never lost another drop and never figured out where it went in the first place. Drove the truck another 75k miles without issue before I sold it. Regret selling it every day.