My 300 Has A Fever!

[LovaLexus]

I was in traffic today and the car started over-heating -I turned off the ac and let it cool down in a parking lot then drove it back home to "rest". I notice that the car is leaving small amounts of oil/green like fluids. All levels are up to par and the oil is filled up. ANyone have any ideas??? :(

[SpeedRacer959]

Your waterpump is probably going out, it would explain the overheating in traffic, but ability still remaining to get home.

I just had one replaced in my wife's Civic not to long ago as a preventive measure.

It's a wear item that will go bad eventually...shouldn't be more than a couple hundred to fix with labor. (not Lexus labor though of course, then you'de be talking $7420.32 down and $299 a month for 60 months....plus parts cost.) I'm sure others can testify to that.

Let me know how much it is to fix when you find out, I'm curious to know.

-Jimi

[SKperformance]

you didn't meantion the year

but water pumps have what is called as a weeping hole

when the bearing starts to wear ,it begins to let fluid escape through a small hole to let you know it is on its way out

it is usally right beside all the belts as it is run by one of them

look for the dripping there

when you get the timing belt changed it is always best to change the pump as well

i didn't the first time and it went 5 months later

so get the belt done at the same time

usually about 800 at lexus

[poneyboy]

I'm not convinced that your water pump seal is the reason you're overheating - especially if you aren't losing much fluid. You should be going down significantly if your pump seal's going out. And even if it's your pump seal, I can's see how it's affecting your ability to cool unless your're losing fluid significantly. This happened to me and I didn't have any trouble with overheating, I just lost too much fluid.

I'd also want to know the year and whether you have one of the whimpy radiators. It's also possible that whoever replaced your coolant last time didn't do it correctly and there's a significant amount of air in your system. Another thing that can go bad is your fan - if you have one of the hydraulic ones like I do, the switch can go bad and you win't get enough fan action at traffic lights. The same thing can go wrong with the electric fans. I only know about my year, 93 with regard to cooling, but it's definately not designed with robust enough components from the factory. The new, thicker radiator is much better at cooling. In fact, the fan almost never needs to come on any more and it runs about 2 degrees cooler in the hottest part of summer.

SPEEDRACER - i had mine replaced recently in Atlanta for $650 at Lexus. This included the timing belt of course. My local independent wanted the same amount, but my Lexus warranties their work for 1 year. For what it's worth, they yelled at me for using the green coolant.