Engine Cooling

[jbrubaker]

So I ran into a little issue with my ES300. Have had the car about 10 days, drove from Texas to PA and this weekend drove from PA to Florida.

Temperature gauge is about midrange, which I think is acceptable, when cruising down the highway.

When the engine is warm and sitting in traffic or at a stop light, the temperature gauge creeps up to almost the red mark on the gauge, ut upon pulling out, the gauge goes right back to the mid range.

I opened the coolant overflow container (which BTW is full to the top), and noticed that there are 2 small holes in the plastic, each about the size of a pinhead, right above where the hose connects to go down into the overflow container. Also, the lid on this container does not fit very tight at all.

Is this correct? If I take the cap off the engine where the cooant overflow cantainer connects, there is no fluid at the top there, and I wa able to add about 1.5 pints of water, and it will take much more.

At first I thought maybe the auxiliary fan wasn't kicking on, and the air was cooling it sufficiently, but it seems that it is not pulling water out of the overflow container when it needs it, and not sure how it can with the two holes in the plastic.

And this is the same whether the AC is running ornot.

Any thoughts or experience? again, I am coming from owning German cars, so not completely sure how this system is to work.

Thanks in advance! :)

[jbrubaker]

So I read a bunch of other posts, which leads me to a second question...

How full should the power steering fluid canister be? The ull mark is not clear on the dipstick for this, and the canister is about 1/2 full, but below the 'funnel' neck inside the canister.

Thanks again!

[lbinh]

My 93 Es overheating was caused by not enough coolant in the system. I had plenty in the overflow tank just very low in the system itself. Top off both radiator caps when engine is cool over period of time. May have a lot of air pockets in the system.

I experienced same issues as you have. Thought fan was not running a full power and temp gauge would rise to red when stopped. This occured after a long road trip within Texas.

I had to add almost a gallon on water to filler necks of both rad. caps.

Unfortunately the ceramic radiator on 93 ES developed a crack a month later. Had to get radiator replaced with steel one. Almost year later and not a problem.

Of course I check fluid levels religiously now. :chairshot:

[jbrubaker]

Thanks. After adding the water it did not act up, but I am going to top off system today with Engine coolant.

Appreciate the input!

[Lex3486]

Hope that fixes it! Hope you don't find out that you've got a bad head gasket like I did! That was a trip tryin to figure that one out...runs like a top now though! ;)

[SKperformance]

there should be a hose on the coolant cap to let it suck the bottom of the tank not the top. I think that is your problem .If it is missing it will cause the eninge to suck air in and get large amounts in which will not cool and cause hot pockets.

start the car cold one day . Open the rad cap and let the engine idle for a while ,as the level on the engine goes down ,add toyota red coolant to help burp the system of air .Then buy a new peice of hose and attach it to the coolant cap

[jbrubaker]

So here is the update, and hopefully the solution. Let me give a little more backgrund on the problem though, as I have been thinking about it and today's experience.

Car overheate on y wife (of course!), just on her way home from work and just before she was to leav with my daughter for a cross-state trip (Pennsylvania).

She pulled off the road, and I drove to where she was, about 10 minutes from home. Took off the radiator cap, and bone dry. Also the coolant overflow tabk was dry as well, but I suspect that was from the water boiling out of it.

Anyway, refilled it with water and coolant and drove it home. As I went past my neighborhood mechanic's garage, I notice he was in, so I stopped to get his opinion.

Lifted the hood, and the coolant overflow was full again. (BTW, there is a hose down into the container, I may not have explained that adequately.) Anyway, removed the radiator cap to check the level, and there was pretty much no pressure on the system.

Pressure checked that radiator cap, and it would not hold any pressure. He just happened to have a radiator cap for a different mdel Lexus, but the same poundage. Tested the pressure on it, and it held pressure.

So refilled the engine with coolant again, emptied the overflow canister down to the fill line, pu the cap on, and let the car run for about 15 minutes. The overflow canister did not fill up again, but stayed right on the line, and the engine needle styed dead solid in the middle. So I would say prolem solved.

BTW, the great part of this is an observant wife who pulled over as soon as she noticed something was wrong. Probably saved the head gaskets and maybe even the heads or the rest of the engine. I cannot stress this enough for new drivers to pay attention to the gauges. They are there for a reason.

So on to the next issue, the temp gauge needle is burnt out, so I am going to get that repaired or use one of the methods from the forum for doing it myself.

Hope this will help somene else!