Is300 2001 A/c Problems & Water/coolant Leak

[embeleco]

(Sorry for "cooland" in the subject... I was referring to Coolant but I don't know how to change the subject)

Hi.

This is my first post... sorry for the long post. Also pardon my english as well.. I'm from Puerto Rico... I have a 2001 IS300 were the A/C went bad. I take it to a shop and they change Compressor and Evaporator and it is working as expected. Suddenly like 1 1/2 week after the job was done the car begin leaking some liquid under the passenger seat going out a tray [i don't know what is covering that tray that runs from the passenger seat all the way to the rear tire.].. anyways I look all liquids and they were ok... but radiator was missing water... so after checking it seems that coolant and water is for some reason leaking...

I took it to another shop [lexus shop] and now they are saying that the heater is broken.. and that is why I have that leak. I didn't talk to the mechanic only to the service manager on the phone. My question is... if the heater is broken I should see water entering into the cabin right? But why the leaking is mostly under the rear door on the passenger side?

Is there another heater hidden on that tray? The car start leaking after riding the car for a while and then stopping and turn it off.. then when off is when the leaking start..

Just wondering... if you guys can help me... I'm not an expert on mechanics... but I paid lof of money to get the A/C fix and it is working but now leaking water and coolant is not good at all..... I took it back to the first shop where they fix the A/C but it nevers start leaking because the car was turn on all the time... and I didn't know that when off if when the leak start.

Please advise....

embeleco

[smooth1]

Welcome to the LOC!

I can fix the subject mispelling for you.

Ok, it sounds like either the heater core or the piping just before it is leaking. I don't really understand what your question is, but it sounds like you just need to get that fixed. I would make sure the ac evaporator drain line is not plugged up also. That can lead to water inside the cabin on the floor boards, but if your having an issue with the coolant, that has nothing to do with the ac operation and is probably unrelated.

[embeleco]

Smooth1,

Thanks for helping me with fixing the subject :-)

Right now I don't have any water inside the cabin or on the floor boards (at least not for now).. is leaking under the car... and is coming out from a "tray" or something similar that is located under the passenger seat all the way to the back near the end of the rear passenger door. It seems to be water w/ coolant [same color/same smell]... and actually water on the radiator was low... my local lexus dealer / shop told me that the heater was broken... my question is:

how do you know the heater is broken without taking the evap out or even the moving the console? also if the heater core is broken... water would be inside the cabin right? and not leaking under the car near the rear passenger door...

And why the car star leaking when I stop and turn off the engine... I would like to know if there is another pipe under the car were water/coolant runs as well... I need to make sure because if it is the heater core I can bypass the water not to go inside the cabin.. because I don't use the heater at all. Here in PR is 90 degrees all year long..

Again I don't have any experience on car motors...only putting gas on it. But the local shop wants more than 1k dollar to fix the heater core... because they need to remove dash/evap/etc..

TIA,

embeleco

[flop170]

maybe remove the tray that you say it's leaking from and find out where it's really leaking from???? listen to smooth1.... he really knows his stuff.... this is just me guessing at what i would do to figure it out..... before i called my "source for all info that is amazingness"......... lol......

[bartkat]

Is there coolant running to the tansmission oil cooler? Could the leak be in one of those lines?

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[smooth1]

Yeah, I think it's leaking much furhter forward near the fire wall, and being caught and traveling along some of the underpanels and just coming out there.

Have you gone under the car and really looked close or have you just popped your head to the ground and saw where the wet spot was? If you want to find out where exactly the leak is, then your gonna need to get the car raised up on some jack stands or a lift, get under there, and start removing the plastic underpanels so you can trace the leak back to it's origin.

But here's my thoughts. If your not going to fix it yourself, then don't waste your time as you'r gonna pay them to find it and fix it anyway. If you are going to fix it, then have a second car ready so after you take all the panels off and find the leak you can jump in the other car and go to the autoparts store to get the part or parts to replace the leaking ones.

[embeleco]

Smooth1 et all,

The local lexus shop told me that the heater core was broken and that is why is leaking water w/ coolant under the car because for some reason is traveling some underpanels and coming out near the middle of the car. Don't know why water is not coming out inside the car as well.

Anyways.. I will do a water bypass before entering inside the car. My question is... there is nothing else that is getting water/coolant from those water connections going inside the car? just the heater core right? The transmission oil cooler will not get water from those water connections right?

Thanks in advanced,

embeleco

[bartkat]

The transmission cooler lines are separate and run all the way to the radiator. I think you're safe to by bypass the heater core. I did that once on another car where the heat wouldn't shut off.

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