2008-2018 Radiator Failure and Public Service Announcement (6 Viewers)

[DPA200]

If you're at 113k I'd personally do the water pump and thermostat as well. You can skip it if you want, but they tend to start leaking slightly in the 100-150k range it seems and to replace it you'll need to basically drain the radiator again and pull everything you're replacing anyway.

For sure good advice. Mine may or may have not been leaking at 80k miles. I had it at a Toyota dealer in NYC, and was about to move cross country. So whether it was actually leaking or not, i went ahead and replaced at that point. The one I'm scared to dive into is the starter issue, what mileage has that failure been? Have a big trip this summer with a lot of off grid travel, so just want to get any dealbreakers dealt with before then

 

[linuxgod]

Starter seems to be a crapshoot above 100k miles. Typically no warning apparently. I've heard an absurdly long screwdriver and jumper cables can help you bypass the solenoid, but I'd be hard pressed to try that myself.

FWIW when I wheel out to the middle of nowhere without another vehicle if we're just stopped for a few minutes to get out and look around I typically will leave the engine running, just in case. It's not always practical though of course.

 

[DPA200]

Starter seems to be a crapshoot above 100k miles. Typically no warning apparently. I've heard an absurdly long screwdriver and jumper cables can help you bypass the solenoid, but I'd be hard pressed to try that myself.

FWIW when I wheel out to the middle of nowhere without another vehicle if we're just stopped for a few minutes to get out and look around I typically will leave the engine running, just in case. It's not always practical though of course.

yeah we often camp in the middle of nowhere, so leaving the engine on wouldn't help for that. Good idea for short stops though just in case. Is there an official thread on the starter issue? sorry for my laziness in lack of searching

 

[linuxgod]

yeah we often camp in the middle of nowhere, so leaving the engine on wouldn't help for that. Good idea for short stops though just in case. Is there an official thread on the starter issue? sorry for my laziness in lack of searching

Real time STARTER help

Out of town Easter morning and 200 doesn't want to start. All accessories functioning. Will intermittently start....maybe every 4th try. Batt tested good. Seems to start more "consistently" with jumper cables hooked up to my 100 series and being rev'ed. Even switch batteries with no change. Any...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[DPA200]

I just posted this on another thread... but probably more pertinent here. So sorry for the double post:

I just replaced my radiator, upper and lower hoses, water pump, thermostat, fan clutch, serpentine belt, tensioner, pulley, and flushed my coolant this past weekend. My 2010 has 162k on it and the radiator was leaking. Everything else I replaced actually looked like they were still in really good shape considering the mileage.... at least no visual damage or extra play that I could tell....

I also ended up cleaning out my throttle body... which wasn't part of my plan but after putting everything together i started getting P2111 Throttle Actuator Control System - Stuck Open. I must have dislodged some soot when I stuck a rag in there while working on everything else. The throttle body was extremely dirty! BTW, when you get the P2111 error... the vehicle goes into extreme limp mode. Depressing the accelerator only raised my RPMs by 100 or 200 over idle... so not a fun one to have pop up on me when I was a mile away from the house when testing out all the stuff I just replaced.

I purchased all four oxygen sensors and a new MAF sensor as well... but decided to make sure everything was running okay with all the parts I replaced before messing with anything else.

I did a lot of research on the parts and tried to figure out the OEM manufacturer for all the parts so I could purchase them from Rock Auto for a fraction of the OEM price. The only parts I probably would have done differently are the hoses and pulley. I knew the hoses I purchased weren't the OEM manufacturer but I figured they were rubber so who gives... but they seemed significantly thinner than the OEM hoses I removed. Also the idler pulley I put on immediately threw white grease after running it for 10 mins. I'm not sure if that is normal or not, but I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Here are the part numbers I got from Rock Auto:

View attachment 1663678

I also bought these on Amazon as it was a better price:
View attachment 1663679

I picked up all the coolant at my local dealership with my TLCA 15% discount.

I followed the advice to reuse the passenger side radiator mount off the old radiator so I didn't have to remove the bumper and grill and that worked really well. The one thing that I did get caught up on was draining coolant from the engine block. It took me forever to find the cylinder block drain cock plugs as shown in the diagram below. The driver's side was almost impossible to see... and incredibly hard to reach. You can see the passenger side plug through the wheel well fairly easily... but the driver's side isn't in the same spot... I jacked the car up, stuck my head between the tire and fender and closed one eye and could just make it out (would have been slightly easier without the tire on). I had to use about 16" of extensions and and pivoting socket to reach it... luckily you just need to loosen the nut to drain it otherwise I never would have attempted as I doubt I could have gotten it back on without pulling the whole engine. If anyone needs any help finding these I can go out and take a picture.
View attachment 1663680

you mind taking a picture? doing mine on Monday am

 

[DPA200]

Is there anything else i should do while i'm in there? thermostat (part number?). water pump was done at 80k, I'm now at 113k. Here is the list what i got

 

[Mogwai]

The shroud fits as everything is the same but the upper tank. To run the 200 expansion tank, the stock overflow tank needs to be cut from the shroud. Additionally, the oil dip stick is slightly tweaked so it can be removed to check oil level, and the wire harness that feeds the air pumps relocated. I will post more info and pics this week. It's an excellent set up that will improve system efficiency and life.

@bjowett always solving real world problems.

And I like that there's now a dark beer emoji.

 

[DPA200]

Just changed the radiator on my 2008 this weekend, and thought I'd add a few notes/observations. tl;dr: it was hard.

• Ordered parts from Priority Toyota of Richmond, VA. Price shopped some of the places noted earlier (Camelback, Boch, S. Atl). Camelback was cheapest (at first) but a) there was an extra shipping charge after I placed the order, and b) it was going to take too long to ship it to Northern VA to meet my timeline. Both were understandable, but I canceled. Priority was the closest dealer that had an actual e-commerce site (vs. "email us for a quote") and the price ended up being about the same in the end. Shipped out the next day and arrived quickly. Recommended for mid-Atlantic folks.
• Before ordering I went through this whole thread to figure out what to order. In the end I just bought:
  • Radiator 16400-50384
  • Upper Radiator Hose #1 (16571-38080)
  • Lower Radiator Hose #2 (16572-38131)
  • Toyota Super Long-Life Coolant (approx. 1.5 gallons) 00272-SLLC2 (local dealer)
• Things I didn't do:
  • Only changed the coolant in the radiator, didn't drain/change coolant in the engine (replaced at 100k)
  • The clamps (90466-A0026, 90467-43002) on mine looked to be in very good shape so I didn't replace them
  • Water pump, serpentine belt, tensioner, and idler (replaced at 100k miles)
  • Oil cooler hoses (top/front and back/bottom): wasn't sure what to order, and besides they looked to be in good shape.
  • Fan clutch: might should've done that, but since I was going to try to change the radiator without taking apart the whole front end, I skipped it. Plus it looked like it may be hard, and I was short on time.
• I had a heck of a time getting all of the ARB skid plates off. Part of it was just figuring out how they were attached (threaded boss vs. loose nut behind the plates). And there were so many fasteners that I had to keep searching for why it wouldn't come off! Note I was in the street on a creeper on jack stands so there wasn't the most clearance.
• I collected all of the various tips (e.g., TexAZ, DrewDat, NWFL4Runner et al) for a quick and easy swap. Unfortunately I had to abandon this path since I couldn't get the passenger side mount off of the old radiator. The bottom has square nuts held in place by the molded plastic of the mount. They 'broke loose' and spun so I couldn't get them off. In retrospect maybe I could have wedged a flat-blade screwdriver in there to try to hold them.
• So I called an audible and moved over to using @Mogwai 's removal and installation pictures. Worked fine. I took off the bumper (not too hard actually).
  • Recommend a binder clip or something to keep the headlight washer line from emptying everywhere.
  • Didn't remove the air intake, hose, etc. since I didn't need to access engine drains
  • Didn't remove the fan or shroud. Detached shroud from radiator but was able to get radiator out and new one in.
  • Didn't bother with taping everything to prevent scratches. I'm careful, and besides I have way bigger pinstripes to deal with!
• Hardest part was getting the @#$@!! hose clamps off and on the lower/left radiator hose.
  • Not a lot of clearance to access the top clamp, not enough "swing" to wiggle it back and forth to get it to slide down. Used basic slip-joint pliers. A small set of Channel-locks might have worked better.
  • It was also tough to get the old hose off and new hose on. Found that wetting the inside of the new hose and outside of the plastic male piece helped a lot.
  • This may have been easier if I had removed the shroud and fan, I don't know.
  • Bottom was also hard, but not as bad as the top.
• Be meticulous about labeling each and every fastener! I did a C+ job of that, so when one of my radiator mounting bolts appeared to go missing, I spent an hour searching, and then sorting through the various bags of bolts to figure out what really went where. Was confusing since some of the radiator bolts were similar size to the skid bolts, different lengths, etc. Ended up buying a bolt from the BORG.
• Coolant capacity was listed at 14-16 liters, so I bought 5 gallons to be safe. "Duh" moment when it was full after about 1.5 gallons that the 14-16 liters included the engine coolant. Local dealer allowed me to return the unused 3.
• Installation & buttoning it up went pretty smoothly other than the lower hose and the missing bolt. There was definitely a pucker factor when I turned it on. I was *pretty* sure I had reconnected all of the hoses securely but not 100%. Fortunately there was no oil, coolant, etc. gushing out and it warmed up and held temp just fine. I will note that I couldn't feel the upper hose warming up as mentioned in the instructions. But the temps did go to normal and hold throughout the test drive and beyond.

I spread it out over 3 days, so if I had to total it all up, I'd say it took me probably 10 hours. Good chunk of time removing skids, probably 1 hour on the aborted "easy approach", an hour sorting/searching for the wayward bolt. And some time head scratching to figure out what the instructions meant. And having to set up / break down each session took time too. But it is done and done right!

DN.

hey @DirtNap can you send me the link to these aleternate instructions where you remove the bumper? Just want to have as a backup. I've looked and looked and even though i saw them once, can not re find them

"So I called an audible and moved over to using @Mogwai 's removal and installation pictures. Worked fine. I took off the bumper (not too hard actually)."


Thanks

 

[dustbowl]

My disposable income isn't as high as some others, but it would be interesting to see if this actually fits....

258.93€ |Aluminium Radiator & FAN Voor Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Serie UZJ200 2UR FE V8 4.7L 8cyl Benzine 2007 op SUV j200/Roraima|Oliekoelers| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

I bought an aluminum radiator like that for a 100 series and it fit just fine. i didn't buy it from that source though. an afterthought,the vendor i purchased the aluminum radiator from was winner racing off of ebay or maybe it was from their website.

 

[DirtNap]

Here you go
Mogwai's post with radiator instructions

 

[dustbowl]

i just checked my 2011 LX570 and it has a very faint hairline crack showing but no leaks. it is still under warranty so do you think Lexus will swap out under warranty?

 

[bloc]

You can try showing them select posts and pictures from this thread.

If that doesn’t work, as others mentioned, if someone were to accidentally lean on the radiator in the wrong spot or put stress in some other unforeseen way it might start leaking. At which point they’d probably be obligated to fix it.

 

[ckkone]

Joined the fun and installed a new radiator yesterday, original had 120k miles and the same common failure. Got a TYC from Wal-Mart for $91 and some Pentofrost A1 from Autozone for $10. Only thing that appeared to be of less than OEM quality was the bushings and hardware used for mounting so I just reused the OEM stuff. The fit was perfect and everything lined up with the OEM locations.

Didn't read this entire thread but I was able to remove and reinstall without removing the fan or fan shroud, overall I'd say a job.

Next on the list is the starter...

 

[cathaan]

My turn... 2009 LX570. I was changing out brakes all around yesterday and popped the hood for a nice surprise. I was in there 2 weeks ago installing a siren and everything was fine! 125k on the clock

 

[Sandroad]

My turn... 2009 LX570. I was changing out brakes all around yesterday and popped the hood for a nice surprise. I was in there 2 weeks ago installing a siren and everything was fine! 125k on the clock

View attachment 2066866

Sure isn't a very exclusive club. These have become a PM item at about this mileage.

 

[ZenCruiser]

Today is my turn to discover the hairline radiator crack leaks. Fortunately, I discovered it soon enough to avoid the coolant-everywhere crime scene.

Mine is a 2008 LC200 with almost 125K miles.

 

[OregonLC]

Been there... 7/22/19

 

[Viking03]

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 is close to mine in Serial number to see his radiator and his is also cracking, but not leaking in this spot yet. If you have a 2008-10 200 you should look at the top of your radiator for the tell tale signs of a crack. I know a few other 200 owners have been able to get Toyota to cover their radiator replacement after the warranty was finished due to this exact failure. I'm curious how many others have replaced or see cracking in this area. I called my guys at my normal Toyota dealer and am waiting to hear Toyotas response on this. I have a 2008 with 166k, so I don't expect much.
View attachment 1231563 View attachment 1231564

 

[Viking03]

I have a 2010 LC, and found the exact same crack on my radiator today. Damn! Well it was gonna happen sometime. Glad it wasn’t in the middle of a road or trail trip.

 

[Viking03]

I have a 2010 LC, and found the exact same crack on my radiator today. Damn! Well it was gonna happen sometime. Glad it wasn’t in the middle of a road or trail trip.View attachment 2082725

Happened at just under 130k miles. Right on schedule apparently.