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

[hiwasseetaco]

I’ve contacted Lexus and the dealership. I’ve only put 1500 miles on vehicle since purchase. I think they should help me out but there is also a time / hassle factor since I live 1.5 hrs from dealership. If i can get it done locally at a good price i’m not even gonna try follow up. I’ve got calls into a few shops.

 

[hiwasseetaco]

I have a guy that will do it for $250 labor. I bring parts.
Radiator, fluid, cap? Anything else I should replace while I’m there?

 

[Supra88]

I have a guy that will do it for $250 labor. I bring parts.
Radiator, fluid, cap? Anything else I should replace while I’m there?

That's a good price. See my earlier post for other things you should do. Makes it really easy when the radiator is out.

 

[4gotalot]

I think I may have an issue..... Is this what we are talking about?

How many miles on the LC/LX?

This kind of info helps all of us when we go into the dealer asking for assistance for a known failure and just info for the rest of us.

Look for dry pink antifreeze below that foam piece and around the trim. This may tell you how long it has been leaking.

 

[hiwasseetaco]

09’ LX 570 148k. Purchased in Feb of 2020. We’ve put 1500 miles on it.

 

[stithis]

I'm assuming the updated style comes with a white sticker? Any failures for the newer style? My 2011 came with a white label instead on the radiator. Do I have the newer design?

 

[bloc]

I'm assuming the updated style comes with a white sticker? Any failures for the newer style? My 2011 came with a white label instead on the radiator. Do I have the newer design?

Spend the time digging through this thread. There are very clear pictures of the new design.

It has only been out for a year or two so no one has put enough miles on it to say for sure if it will fail in the same way, but it is changed exactly where failure used to be common, and in a way that should help reduce stress at that point.

Also I’m not willing to say a sticker necessarily means you have the new design. It is possible toyota moved from a stamp to a sticker on the old design before updating the tank shape.

Or you could post a picture of yours and we’ll confirm whether it is new or old, and help future people finding this thread not have to go back and find the pictures.

 

[PDoyle]

Picked this one up from Rock auto in January. No stamp at all on the top.

 

[Supra88]

As far as I know the OE radiators haven't incorporated the new design.

 

[bloc]

Lots of people have posted ordering new radiator from OEM and getting the new tank design, as well as it coming on new 2019 and 2020 200s.

New design: (click the link to expand the attached image)

View attachment 2183519
From a 2020 HE.

Not sure how easy to see, but on the new style the place where the flat touches the rounded top is in the middle of the label space, not on the side nearest the engine as on earlier models. And the height of the label platform above the rad top curve is not as high. Finally, at least visually, there is still that transition from curved to a raised flat label space. But now there's a place for a crack on the top and bottom of the space. Maybe there is something internal that makes this less threatening, at least that's my hope.

Also see page 38 of the thread for photos of the replacement part -seems to match what is on my truck.

Old design:

Just checked mine. 2015 LC with 120K. Looks good to me. I'm going to hold off on trying to add any reinforcement for now.

View attachment 2183586

 

[stithis]

Spend the time digging through this thread. There are very clear pictures of the new design.

It has only been out for a year or two so no one has put enough miles on it to say for sure if it will fail in the same way, but it is changed exactly where failure used to be common, and in a way that should help reduce stress at that point.

Also I’m not willing to say a sticker necessarily means you have the new design. It is possible toyota moved from a stamp to a sticker on the old design before updating the tank shape.

Or you could post a picture of yours and we’ll confirm whether it is new or old, and help future people finding this thread not have to go back and find the pictures.

This is mine...my model year is 2011..although I bought it last year, dealer must have changed it..

 

[bloc]

This is mine...my model year is 2011..although I bought it last year, dealer must have changed it..

View attachment 2298593

Nice. You shouldn’t have anything to worry about then.

 

[stithis]

Nice. You shouldn’t have anything to worry about then.

Hopefully...

 

[hiwasseetaco]

Any thoughts on a replacement from these? Totally unfamiliar.

 

[Supra88]

Definitely go OEM. It's inexpensive.

 

[gaijin]

Any thoughts on a replacement from these? Totally unfamiliar.View attachment 2298888

Why? When you can get the latest OEM for less than US$300: OEM Radiator Assembly

Seems like the wrong part to play Russian Roulette with an unknown third party.

Just my $0.02

HTH

 

[bloc]

Not only that, those are all copies of the faulty original design. That’s not to say some of them didn’t get lucky and accidentally solve the problem area, but they are general built on a budget so assume everything else about the radiator is worse than OEM. Thinner metal cores, less tubes, worse plastic and gaskets, etc.

Even if you put in a new example of the old design, you can be confident you’ll get 80-100k miles with pretty much only the problem spot to worry about after that. With cheap aftermarket? Could be anything.

 

[hiwasseetaco]

(In Joe Dirt voice ) Daaaang alright already!
Thanks for the redirection to the OEM.

 

[hiwasseetaco]

Buuuut the 09’ is a touch more....

 

[tincan45]

Buuuut the 09’ is a touch more....

View attachment 2298966

Don't take this to the bank...but I don't think there is a difference between model years? Others can confirm.