LX450 Potential Head Gasket leak / Cracked Head

[Miamedia]

1. Take it back to your neighbor and get your money back?

2. Put a can of Bars leak head gasket repair in it.

I talked to my neighbor and he seemed surprised. The vehicle had a history of overheating, so the head probably warped at some point and then blew soon after I bought it, which is just bad luck, I guess. I thought about using Bars or Blue Devil, but the leak is severe - coolant comes gushing out of the radiator when I top it off with coolant and start it up.

 

[BILT4ME]

I talked to my neighbor and he seemed surprised. The vehicle had a history of overheating, so the head probably warped at some point and then blew soon after I bought it, which is just bad luck, I guess. I thought about using Bars or Blue Devil, but the leak is severe - coolant comes gushing out of the radiator when I top it off with coolant and start it up.

Well, stop doing THAT or you'll hydraulic a cylinder and bend a rod. Then it will get messy.

 

[Miamedia]

Well, stop doing THAT or you'll hydraulic a cylinder and bend a rod. Then it will get messy.

Good points - the head gasket is getting replaced this week and fingers crossed that neither the block nor the head will be cracked. If all goes well, my LX450 will have a new Toyota head gasket, Toyota water pump and thermostat + Toyota red coolant, assuming the Koyo radiator, with 40K miles on it is still in good shape. If not, I'll have the shop yank it out and install a new Toyota radiator. My plan is to deal with the power steering pump later, as I need to find out if it is a reman Toyota pump or an aftermarket pump. If the latter, I will end up yanking it out and replacing it with a new Toyota power steering pump. If it is a reman Toyota pump, I will buy the rebuild kit for it.

The high pressure power steering hose ($320) costs almost as much as the new Toyota power steering pump ($400), which seems crazy when Napa has the same high pressure hose for $80, but I guess it is what it is.

 

[BILT4ME]

Good points - the head gasket is getting replaced this week and fingers crossed that neither the block nor the head will be cracked. If all goes well, my LX450 will have a new Toyota head gasket, Toyota water pump and thermostat + Toyota red coolant, assuming the Koyo radiator, with 40K miles on it is still in good shape. If not, I'll have the shop yank it out and install a new Toyota radiator. My plan is to deal with the power steering pump later, as I need to find out if it is a reman Toyota pump or an aftermarket pump. If the latter, I will end up yanking it out and replacing it with a new Toyota power steering pump. If it is a reman Toyota pump, I will buy the rebuild kit for it.

The high pressure power steering hose ($320) costs almost as much as the new Toyota power steering pump ($400), which seems crazy when Napa has the same high pressure hose for $80, but I guess it is what it is.

If I had to do it again, I would take my existing hose to a hydraulic shop and have a new hose placed on my old hard lines.

 

[Miamedia]

Thanks again for all of the feedback. In addition to all of the OEM parts at the top of this thread, I decided this morning to have Hi-Tech Auto also replace the radiator & fan clutch with OE. The Koyo radiator only has 30K miles, but it is rusting and there was some blockage. The OE fan clutch has 40K miles on it, but I can't be 100% certain that it is OE, so it's coming out as well.

I am planning to run Pennzoil 10w-30 w/ the Toyota OE oil filter. If I start burning through too much oil, I will probably switch to Castrol GTX High Mileage 5w-30 Synthetic Blend. I have had bad luck running full synthetic in older, high mileage engines, even though the thread on this forum, re: Mobil 1 0w-40 full synthetic is quite compelling, given the lab analysis.

 

[Rifleman]

Napa has the same high pressure hose for $80

For way less money then buying the factory power steering hose go with the Napa hose. I installed tons of them on my customers cars, and never had a problem with them.

 

[Miamedia]

For way less money then buying the factory power steering hose go with the Napa hose. I installed tons of them on my customers cars, and never had a problem with them.

Thanks for the advice. I like Napa - I buy parts for my '94 YJ there. For the LX450, do you recommend going with the Napa power steering pump or staying with a new and/or reman OEM pump? Thx.

 

[Miamedia]

Follow-up to the head gasket replacement on my LX450 -- neither the block nor the head were cracked, and Hi-Tech Auto should have everything installed by tomorrow afternoon. I dropped off a new Bosch battery for them to install this past Saturday and also had them install a new lock actuator (rear door on the driver's side) and a new locking mechanism for the rear tailgate. Will post up a few photos of all the work when I pick the vehicle up tomorrow. Thanks again to all for the advice & feedback.

 

[Rifleman]

Thanks for the advice. I like Napa - I buy parts for my '94 YJ there. For the LX450, do you recommend going with the Napa power steering pump or staying with a new and/or reman OEM pump? Thx.

If your able to replace your own power steering hose, you'll be able to save yourself some more money by rebuild the stock power steering pump, it's not a hard job at all. Here's a link to another Mud thread that will walk you through it, step by step.
fj80 and lx450 ps pump rebuild

 

[Miamedia]

If your able to replace your own power steering hose, you'll be able to save yourself some more money by rebuild the stock power steering pump, it's not a hard job at all. Here's a link to another Mud thread that will walk you through it, step by step.
fj80 and lx450 ps pump rebuild

Excellent - thanks. The previous owner put a reman pump on the LX450 - not sure if it is after-market or an OE Toyota pump. I will try to figure it out when I remove it. Is it also possible that the wrong type of power steering fluid is in the system? I heard that the incorrect fluid can cause a groaning sound from the power steering pump in Toyota vehicles.

 

[BILT4ME]

Excellent - thanks. The previous owner put a reman pump on the LX450 - not sure if it is after-market or an OE Toyota pump. I will try to figure it out when I remove it. Is it also possible that the wrong type of power steering fluid is in the system? I heard that the incorrect fluid can cause a groaning sound from the power steering pump in Toyota vehicles.

Yes it's possible. It's SUPPOSED to be Dexron 3.

You can drain/flush/fill/repeat.

 

[bicycleagent003]

If this is your daily driver, and you are going to rebuild the PS pump, I recommend getting a used (known Toyota) pump and rebuilding that while your groaning one is still in the truck. I found the rebuild to be a bit tedious, and I would not want to count on getting it out, rebuilt, and reinstalled in one wrenching session. Some have also mangled the ends of the high pressure lines getting them off, so there are a couple ways this job can take a bit of time. I don't like working under time crunches on my truck, it causes errors and injuries.
Know that if you do swap in a new (to the truck) pump you will have to transfer the drive gear. Others have mistakenly installed the gear too shallow or too deep and had to take it back out to fix that issue. If you transfer the gear, take good measurements before you remove the gear to install the gear on the new pump at the right depth on the shaft.

There is also a bearing there, which many recommend changing out. The size is on this board somewhere, I bought mine on eBay a few years ago and can't access the listing, so I can't give you the size to order. I changed mine, I think it's worth doing, and the bearing is about twelve bucks.

Also, if you do rebuild the PS pump, the Gates kit works great, and I believe it comes with the large O ring which seals the pump itself.

This is not a big big job, but (for me) it could end up taking a weekend, including the pump rebuild. I work slowly and bang up my knuckles a lot.

Good luck.

 

[Rifleman]

Others have mistakenly installed the gear too shallow or too deep and had to take it back out to fix that issue. If you transfer the gear, take good measurements before you remove the gear to install the gear on the new pump at the right depth on the shaft.

Please understand, I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, and having done this job myself, i can tell you that pump gear can only go on that shaft until it bottoms out, no matter what you do. The reason for that, is due to the fact that the shaft on the pump, and the hole in the gear are both tapered. So no matter how hard you try, your only going to be able to put that gear on that shaft until it bottoms out on the shafts taper, and that's as far as it's going to go on. So if you've lined up the gear, and shaft key way, torqued the shaft nut to the correct torque, there is no way you can "adjust the depth" that that gear goes on that shaft.

 

[BILT4ME]

The main problem with swapping the gear is that people mar the teeth with a set of channel lock pliers or a vise. Then the pump makes a godawful noise while the engine is running because the teeth are chewing on the crank gear.

 

[bicycleagent003]

Thanks to the two posters above, who corrected me about how the drive gear install/swap can go wrong. It's been a few years since I did mine, I stand corrected. I didn't run into a problem when I swapped the gear to my rebuilt PS pump, and I misremembered what others said caused them trouble. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Miamedia]

I had a new OEM power steering pump installed with new low pressure lines - the high pressure line was OEM and still in good shape, so I did not replace it. However, the shop in San Diego that installed the new pump used Toyota clear power steering fluid - not Dexron III. Now when I turn the wheel while driving, I hear an awful groaning noise, which is much worse than the one that my old pump was making a few weeks ago. I specifically told the shop to use only Dexron III and to use the upgraded Gates low pressure hoses which I bought from PHHKit.com. However, the owner of the shop claimed that the Gates hoses I provided were the wrong size. Just maddening, but I do not think that is the issue with the new pump installation.

Other than draining / flushing out the incorrect power steering fluid, and adding in the correct ATF Dexron III fluid, is there anything else the shop could have monkeyed when they swapped out the p/s pumps? Can the wrong fluid damage the new OEM pump and/or my P/S rack?

To add insult to injury, they scraped up my front bumper, which they have agreed to pay for, and they installed the Samco Xtreme silicone PHH (Pesky Heater Hose) which I bought from PHHKit.com in the wrong place, which makes me wonder what they installed when they removed the original PHH.

I am bringing my LX450 back to the shop in San Diego on Monday morning to see if they can make things right.

 

[Pin_Head]

Clear power steering fluid is correct and I doubt that it is causing the noise. It is just Dexron III without the red dye.

 

[Tools R Us]

...
Other than draining / flushing out the incorrect power steering fluid, and adding in the correct ATF Dexron III fluid, is there anything else the shop could have monkeyed when they swapped out the p/s pumps? Can the wrong fluid damage the new OEM pump and/or my P/S rack?
...

Power steering fluid will work just fine, will not damage anything, likely to work better than ATF. The LX450 has a p/s box, not a rack, old school.

 

[Miamedia]

Here are a couple of updates - The fluid level was low on my new OEM ps pump, so when I topped it off w/ Toyota clear, that sorted out the groaning noises I was hearing when turning. Here are a few photos of the work under the hood - the PHH hose I ordered ended up in the wrong spot, but I will sort that out this weekend.

In addition to the new ps pump & hoses, I had the following replaced: head gasket set, front crankshaft seal, radiator, fuel filter, water pump, fan clutch, all belts & most hoses, spark plugs & wires, heater control valve, valve cover gasket, thermostat, oil pump cover seal & battery. All parts are OEM, with the exception of the Bosch Battery, Samco Xtreme heater core hoses, and NGK plugs & wires.

Thanks again to all for the advice & pointers.

Next projects for my LX450:

-Brake flush, rotors & pads
-Sunroof replacement
-New Stereo & speakers
-Viper Alarm w/ remote start
-Replace leather on both front seats
-Repaint entire vehicle
-Roof rack removal

 

[GSTMike]

Are you sure they didn't install the PHH hose in the right spot? You seem to have a bunch of Samco Sports hoses! Have you pulled the cover off in the wheel well and visually confirmed there's not another Samco hose in the PHH spot?