What is this gunk on engine parts?

westwind · February 25, 2020

Hi folks,

What do you see in these photos?

When my little sister’s beat-up, un-maintained 1995 LS400 broke down, she got another car and was going to give the Lexus away for scrap, so I told her I would try to at least fix it up enough to drive and see if I can get a few hundred dollars out of it for her on Craigslist.

I have never owned or worked on one of these cars before (just my old Volvo and my wife’s old Outback) so I am hoping maybe one or two of you kind folks might help me figure a few things out (and go easy on me for being completely unfamiliar with the car).

After diagnosing a dead battery (and a completely flat tire), one of the next things I noticed in the engine is this pair of leaks.

I have no idea what the parts are that they are on, and have not been able to find any kind of labeled engine diagram or anything like thaton Google.

sha4000 · February 25, 2020

The first pi

11 hours ago, westwind said:

Hi folks,

What do you see in these photos?

When my little sister’s beat-up, un-maintained 1995 LS400 broke down, she got another car and was going to give the Lexus away for scrap, so I told her I would try to at least fix it up enough to drive and see if I can get a few hundred dollars out of it for her on Craigslist.

I have never owned or worked on one of these cars before (just my old Volvo and my wife’s old Outback) so I am hoping maybe one or two of you kind folks might help me figure a few things out (and go easy on me for being completely unfamiliar with the car).

After diagnosing a dead battery (and a completely flat tire), one of the next things I noticed in the engine is this pair of leaks.

I have no idea what the parts are that they are on, and have not been able to find any kind of labeled engine diagram or anything like thaton Google.

The first pic is the fill hole for the coolant. You remove the bolt to bleed the system. I have a 98 which is slightly different but here's a video to get you started. I would flush the whole system if it were my car. The coolant seems to have a leak and is crusty. The coolant probably has NEVER been changed. I would also refill with Toyota red coolant or the equivalent you can find at advance auto which is Zerex Asian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGGwyjv36OU

The second pic is the heater valve which control the heat in the car. The 2 hoses are supposed to be connected to the valve which opens and closes when you change the heat settings.

westwind · February 28, 2020

Thanks so much for your reply!

Do you have any idea what would be the cause in the first place of the fill hole and heater valve connections leaking coolant like this?

For what it’s worth, the coolant reservoir appears to be at a decent level and the coolant looks reasonably clean (orange color).

sha4000 · February 29, 2020

10 hours ago, westwind said:

Thanks so much for your reply!

Do you have any idea what would be the cause in the first place of the fill hole and heater valve connections leaking coolant like this?

For what it’s worth, the coolant reservoir appears to be at a decent level and the coolant looks reasonably clean (orange color).

If the coolant color is orange then someone put dexcool in there which is a big problem especially if they never changed it. Coolant should be changed at least every 2 years and if you google dexcool there have been plenty discussions across the web about it's effect on cooling systems. I used it for a couple of years with no ill effects but flushed it out and put Toyota red coolant in there which is the OEM fluid. The hoses could be dry rotted or the clamps might be bad. That still would not explain the fill hole. I would flush the whole system repeatedly and fill it up with the correct fluid and monitor for leaks.

Edit:

I see the crust is not on the filler hole but on the hose in back and around the thermostat housing gasket so I would also replace the thermostat and gasket which is pretty inexpensive.