2008-2018 Radiator Failure and Public Service Announcement (9 Viewers)

[bloc]

Warm.

Technically at the L line is fine (so no rush at all) but adding some until it’s at H with the engine hot wouldn’t hurt and give you a little more buffer against future problems if gig develop a slow leak. Plus you’ll have some on the shelf if needed in the future.

 

[hiwasseetaco]

No help from Lexus dealership (09’ LX 147k). Ordering parts.

 

[bf7527]

Ran across this thread today so was anxious to get home from work and see if my new to me 2013 LX with 126k had any issue of the “crack” and sure enough it was there . I was really worried that my 2008 Tundra had the same issue, but luckily has a different radiator. Thank y’all for the heads up! I’ll be looking into a replacement radiator soon.

 

[bloc]

Ran across this thread today so was anxious to get home from work and see if my new to me 2013 LX with 126k had any issue of the “crack” and sure enough it was there . I was really worried that my 2008 Tundra had the same issue, but luckily has a different radiator. Thank y’all for the heads up! I’ll be looking into a replacement radiator soon.

View attachment 2304219

Ugh.. yeah, that one is ready to go. Avoid high temps and towing or trips where you are far from help until you get it fixed.

Also.. thoughts on some kind of high-visibility thread with the important stuff from here condensed down? EVERY current or prospective 200 owner needs to know about this issue.

 

[Tadem]

Ran across this thread today so was anxious to get home from work and see if my new to me 2013 LX with 126k had any issue of the “crack” and sure enough it was there . I was really worried that my 2008 Tundra had the same issue, but luckily has a different radiator. Thank y’all for the heads up! I’ll be looking into a replacement radiator soon.

View attachment 2304219

2013 LX with 86K. I didn’t see crack when I bought it. But ever since I discovered it it’s been getting bigger and bigger every time I look at it.
Currently waiting on my parts to arrive. to be honest I had exactly what you are seeing and didn’t do anything for the whole year. one time after light off-roading during summer month I could clearly see crack increases by half inch.

I put an appoxy with fiber patch and it’s been good for past 6 month. But as everyone said before have no idea what’s going on under it.
I’ll take it apart and report back with pictures.

 

[Supra88]

Warm.

Fill it to "F" when cold. Check it the next few days as you're probably purging out air from the radiator swap. Top of to "F" each time (when cold).

 

[g1701gst]

Fill it to "H" when cold. Check it the next few days as you're probably purging out air from the radiator swap. Top of to "H" each time (when cold).

What Supra88 said is correct and here is maybe more info than you wanted from the service manual:

 

[bf7527]

.

 

[FerrisBueller]

Just bought a 2018 LC, wanted to add another data point to this thread. Here's my radiator @ 52,000 miles. Looks like old design. No crack yet.

 

[fasteddie2015]

Not pretty but its reinforced before any cracking occurred. We'll see if it lasts.

I might try to clean it up or add another, smoother coat tomorrow. If I had it to do again, I'd let the epoxy (JB Plastic Bonder) set a while before applying it so it wouldnt run and drip.

View attachment 2207142

3 months and a few thousand miles since my sloppy, pre-emptive reinforcement and its holding.

 

[PDoyle]

Ya but it's always in the back of your mind

 

[bf7527]

After reading all 51 pages of this thread, AFTER purchasing a 2013 LX, I have called Lexus customer care and my local dealer. LCC documented everything I told them and gave me a reference number to our conversation. Per their instruction I contacted the local Lexus dealer to do an inspection to verify the “faulty” radiator. The dealer said it would cost $135 to diagnose in order to pass the info to corporate. I’m capable of doing the replacement myself, but the temptation to see the result of the diagnosis is looming though I know that’s $135 I could apply to a new radiator. Thoughts?

 

[Supra88]

What's the benefit of having them look at it?

 

[sdnative]

After reading all 51 pages of this thread, AFTER purchasing a 2013 LX, I have called Lexus customer care and my local dealer. LCC documented everything I told them and gave me a reference number to our conversation. Per their instruction I contacted the local Lexus dealer to do an inspection to verify the “faulty” radiator. The dealer said it would cost $135 to diagnose in order to pass the info to corporate. I’m capable of doing the replacement myself, but the temptation to see the result of the diagnosis is looming though I know that’s $135 I could apply to a new radiator. Thoughts?

Exact same thing happened to me. In the end, corporate refused to provide any assistance, and I was getting the impression they never intended to from the start. I asked corporate to compensate the diagnosis fees and they refused this also even though they required it to proceed with the claim. They tried to "go to bat for me" and ask the dealer to refund, but it wasn't the dealer's fault as they performed the service that I asked them to.

In the end, I documented the issues and did the work myself. I did save about $2500 from dealer quote to replace the radiator and fix the engine valley coolant leak myself so I felt a little better about that. I was also able to learn about the 200 series / 3UR better and changed a few other things like water pump, thermostat, belt, hoses, fan bracket, etc while I had it all apart.

So feel free to proceed but I wouldn't have high hopes that corporate will do anything.

 

[bf7527]

There is no real benefit. I guess it just peaks my curiosity more than anything to see if they would help. It’s a gamble and I doubt I move forward using the dealer, but it’s irritating that they would charge that money just to pop a piece of plastic and say yep, there’s a crack alright.

 

[99toylc]

Well I just joined the club of the owners who did their own replacement.
Initially I did the epoxy repair about 2k ago and it held up beautifully, however... I found pink crusty stuff while looking for something else right at the upper edge of the aluminum / plastic junction (from the engine bay side) and decided that my experiment was over and not worth waiting for things to go south.
New radiator it was.
I will only add to this thread that I didn't have to remove the bumper or the fan and it's clutch and managed to remove the old one just fine by loosening the trans cooler (or warmer if you'd like) tips (angled up originally) down 180deg and pulled it straight out.
It helped out to throw the AHC in to "High" as it gave me a little extra room to work under the truck.
New radiator went in no problem in reverse order.
A couple pics of the situation below:

 

[99toylc]

And the mandatory pics of the new replacement:

 

[bloc]

Well I just joined the club of the owners who did their own replacement.
Initially I did the epoxy repair about 2k ago and it held up beautifully, however... I found pink crusty stuff while looking for something else right at the upper edge of the aluminum / plastic junction (from the engine bay side) and decided that my experiment was over and not worth waiting for things to go south.
New radiator it was.
I will only add to this thread that I didn't have to remove the bumper or the fan and it's clutch and managed to remove the old one just fine by loosening the trans cooler (or warmer if you'd like) tips (angled up originally) down 180deg and pulled it straight out.
It helped out to throw the AHC in to "High" as it gave me a little extra room to work under the truck.
New radiator went in no problem in reverse order.
A couple pics of the situation below:

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View attachment 2311233

How many miles? That radiator was due to go, based on both the crust and the color of the top outlet. Most of them posted here don’t get that bad..

 

[grinchy]

Well I just joined the club of the owners who did their own replacement.
Initially I did the epoxy repair about 2k ago and it held up beautifully, however... I found pink crusty stuff while looking for something else right at the upper edge of the aluminum / plastic junction (from the engine bay side) and decided that my experiment was over and not worth waiting for things to go south.
New radiator it was.
I will only add to this thread that I didn't have to remove the bumper or the fan and it's clutch and managed to remove the old one just fine by loosening the trans cooler (or warmer if you'd like) tips (angled up originally) down 180deg and pulled it straight out.
It helped out to throw the AHC in to "High" as it gave me a little extra room to work under the truck.
New radiator went in no problem in reverse order.
A couple pics of the situation below:

View attachment 2311229

View attachment 2311230

View attachment 2311231

View attachment 2311232

View attachment 2311233

Isn’t that just a leak at the hose? Which then ran down the length of the Fins?

 

[99toylc]

142k - truck spend 99% of its time near Dallas Texas so I'm sure it worked some overtime with A/C on.
The inside of the radiator was very nice and clean.

No the hose was perfect and no sign of leak - most likely air forced the pink stuff up the plastic neck from the edge below.