Oil Leak And Heated Seats And Questions

[Quixtar]

Hey guys I have a 1993 Lexus Es 300 and my mechanic says it has several small oil leaks and i don"t know what kind of radiotor fluid to put in this car and my heated seats don"t work... anybody familiar with this lol

[blk_on_blk]

Typical oil leaks come from valve covers and rear main seal. Heated seats could be from a blown fuse or a burned out heating element in the seat. OEM antifreeze is Super Long Life is pink - part # 00272-SLLC2 (but you can just go to your local autoparts store and get the premixed antifreeze, and that works fine).

[George_Jetson]

First, oil leaks, buy a can of brake cleaner and clean off your engine. The most likely cause of the oil leak will be the valve covers, but you have to clean the engine first, then see where the oil is leaking from.

Coolant, there are two types of coolant, the standard green coolant, and the extended life pink coolant. Your engine could have either one. You have to look and see what is in there. If you mix the green and pink together, you will get a gel that will clog your engine/radiator, and make your life misirable. You can change from standard to extended life, just make sure that your system is well flushed before changing.

As far as the seats go, check the fuses to start, always a good idea to start with the basics.

[blk_on_blk]

Are you serious that the intermix of the two antifreeze coolants will cause a gel?!?!? They should both be glycol based (with the green being standard glycol based), and if one is solvated with the mix, I would think the other should be, too. Any designer/engineer who puts the option of one or the other in the same vehicle with the aspect that they gel when mixed should be fired!! That's just a failure waiting to happen.

I did a quick check on this, and it seems the super long life pink has OAT additive, hence the description of 'super long life'. Toyota claims their SLL-pink is good for 5years/100K miles. Here's some info on OAT additives:

Organic acid technology

Certain cars are built with Organic Acid Technology (OAT) antifreeze (e.g., DEX-COOL [1]), which is claimed to have an extended service life of five years or 240,000 km (150,000 miles).

According to the DEX-COOL manufacturer, "mixing a 'green' coolant with DEX-COOL reduces the batch’s change interval to 2 years or 30,000 miles, but will otherwise cause no damage to the engine."

DEX-COOL specifically has caused controversy. It is causally linked with intake manifold gasket failures in GM's 3.1L and 3.4L and with other failures in 4.3L engines. Class action lawsuits were registered in several states, and in Canada,[3] to address some of these claims. The first of these to reach a decision was in Missouri where a settlement was announced early in December, 2007.[4] Late in March 2008, GM agreed to compensate complainants in the remaining 49 states.[5]

Typically OAT antifreeze contains a red or pink dye to differentiate it from the conventional glycol-based coolants (blue or green). Some of the newer OAT coolants claim to be compatible with all types of OAT and glycol-based coolants; these are typically green or yellow in color (for a table of colors, see reference above).

Also, here is some info on Toyota's SLL-pink (from a retailer, so it's probably pretty biased in it's presentation):

Toyota Genuine coolant is the only guaranteed compatible antifreeze for your vehicle's cooling system and offers protection against corrosion of metallic parts and damage to rubber parts. The use of non-genuine coolants will corrode the parts and gradually block the cooling system, damaging the engine. The boiling point of the Genuine coolant is kept at the optimum level for operating temperatures in a Toyota vehicle. This ensures no evaporation of the coolant, thereby maintaining the level of the coolant for optimum operating temperatures. Features include:

o Designed, tested and approved by Toyota R&D.

- Ethylene Glycol based for extra long lasting aluminum protection.

- No silicates.

-Cannot gel

-No seal abrasion.

- No borates.

-No aluminum corrosion or pitting.

o Formulated with de-ionized water

- Pre-Diluted 50/50

- No additional water needed for reducing concentration.

I was presume, with a 1993 vintage, Quixtar will have the standard green off-the-shelf coolant.

[George_Jetson]

I have not personnally mixed the two types of anti-freeze, but I have been warned about it. It could be a myth, but I would rather not find out if it is true. Being a 93, it is a safe bet that it started out with green anti-freeze, but there is no reason that someone could have changed it over. I have filled systems with pink anti-freeze, after giving the system a good flush to get all the old stuff out. I have heard of no problems, other than the mixing issue.

[pmerryman]

The 93 ES does NOT use super long life antifreeze. Lexus did not begin using that on the ES until 2002. The 93 uses plain Toyota Long Life antifreeze which is deep red in color. It can be purchased from Toyota or Lexus for about $20 a gallon, and needs to be mixed with equal parts of water. The super long life (pink stuff) comes pre-mixed and does not require any additional water. I ahve seen hundreds of Lexus cars where people have mixed the old fashioned green coolant with the red Lexus coolant without any problems. Personally, I would never use the green stuff.

As far as your oil leaks go, take the previous advise and clean the engine off and see where it is leaking. It will most likely be the rear cam seal and rear valve cover gasket.

The seat heater is probably a faulty seat heater element. If that's the case, they are very expensive to replace. Check the fuse first.

[Quixtar]

ok thanks guys for the help anybody know about doing body work on these ars I have a dent in my rear bumper and my my hood won"t close all the way?

[Lexucan]

Are you serious that the intermix of the two antifreeze coolants will cause a gel?!?!?

This is true in some cases. It happened to me. :cries:

When I bought my ES it had green anti-freeze in it. I had no idea how old it was or what brand it was so some months later I bought some Toyota red (not premixed) coolant from the local dealership, drained the green stuff out (unfortunately didn't do a complete flush) and then put in the red coolant. A day later I noticed the car was running hotter than normal so I opened the rad cap and had a look. The core was completely clogged up with ugly gunk. I ended up having to buy a new radiator as it was so plugged with the stuff it could not be flushed out. :(

[George_Jetson]

Sorry to hear that you had to replace the radiator, I quess it is true. Is it true that Toyota charges $20 for a gallon of antifreeze? That is a rip off. There are several good brands that are cheaper. The key is flushing the system completely before changing.

[Lexucan]

Is it true that Toyota charges $20 for a gallon of antifreeze? The key is flushing the system completely before changing.

Yes, it was almost that much - about $18 (and change). Had I known ahead of time of the possible incompatibility issue, I would definitely have done a complete flush first, but at the time, I figured anti-freeze is anti-freeze... :(

[George_Jetson]

Sorry man. I thought the same, fortunately for me someone told me otherwise. I also never thought that they would have pulled this on us.

[ArmyofOne]

Are you serious that the intermix of the two antifreeze coolants will cause a gel?!?!? They should both be glycol based (with the green being standard glycol based), and if one is solvated with the mix, I would think the other should be, too. Any designer/engineer who puts the option of one or the other in the same vehicle with the aspect that they gel when mixed should be fired!! That's just a failure waiting to happen.

I did a quick check on this, and it seems the super long life pink has OAT additive, hence the description of 'super long life'. Toyota claims their SLL-pink is good for 5years/100K miles. Here's some info on OAT additives:

Organic acid technology

Certain cars are built with Organic Acid Technology (OAT) antifreeze (e.g., DEX-COOL [1]), which is claimed to have an extended service life of five years or 240,000 km (150,000 miles).

According to the DEX-COOL manufacturer, "mixing a 'green' coolant with DEX-COOL reduces the batch’s change interval to 2 years or 30,000 miles, but will otherwise cause no damage to the engine."

DEX-COOL specifically has caused controversy. It is causally linked with intake manifold gasket failures in GM's 3.1L and 3.4L and with other failures in 4.3L engines. Class action lawsuits were registered in several states, and in Canada,[3] to address some of these claims. The first of these to reach a decision was in Missouri where a settlement was announced early in December, 2007.[4] Late in March 2008, GM agreed to compensate complainants in the remaining 49 states.[5]

Typically OAT antifreeze contains a red or pink dye to differentiate it from the conventional glycol-based coolants (blue or green). Some of the newer OAT coolants claim to be compatible with all types of OAT and glycol-based coolants; these are typically green or yellow in color (for a table of colors, see reference above).

Also, here is some info on Toyota's SLL-pink (from a retailer, so it's probably pretty biased in it's presentation):

Toyota Genuine coolant is the only guaranteed compatible antifreeze for your vehicle's cooling system and offers protection against corrosion of metallic parts and damage to rubber parts. The use of non-genuine coolants will corrode the parts and gradually block the cooling system, damaging the engine. The boiling point of the Genuine coolant is kept at the optimum level for operating temperatures in a Toyota vehicle. This ensures no evaporation of the coolant, thereby maintaining the level of the coolant for optimum operating temperatures. Features include:

o Designed, tested and approved by Toyota R&D.

- Ethylene Glycol based for extra long lasting aluminum protection.

- No silicates.

-Cannot gel

-No seal abrasion.

- No borates.

-No aluminum corrosion or pitting.

o Formulated with de-ionized water

- Pre-Diluted 50/50

- No additional water needed for reducing concentration.

I was presume, with a 1993 vintage, Quixtar will have the standard green off-the-shelf coolant.

It will cause a gel...and my 1990 ES had long life.

The 93 ES does NOT use super long life antifreeze. Lexus did not begin using that on the ES until 2002. The 93 uses plain Toyota Long Life antifreeze which is deep red in color. It can be purchased from Toyota or Lexus for about $20 a gallon, and needs to be mixed with equal parts of water. The super long life (pink stuff) comes pre-mixed and does not require any additional water. I ahve seen hundreds of Lexus cars where people have mixed the old fashioned green coolant with the red Lexus coolant without any problems. Personally, I would never use the green stuff.

As far as your oil leaks go, take the previous advise and clean the engine off and see where it is leaking. It will most likely be the rear cam seal and rear valve cover gasket.

The seat heater is probably a faulty seat heater element. If that's the case, they are very expensive to replace. Check the fuse first.

most likely a valve cover gasket and/or cam seals.