I've owned a 2004 automatic Lexus IS300 for.

Tiny
KEVINTAKAI
  • MEMBER
  • 2004 LEXUS IS 300
  • 168,000 MILES
I've owned a 2004 automatic Lexus IS300 for about 2 years now and not too long ago I ended up getting into an accident where my radiator and fan got pushed up resulting in my hood sticking out a bit. I finally got around to taking my car apart and lowering the inside base to get the radiator and fan lower to get my hood back in place which was a success. I then put everything back into place but I completely forgot I drained out the radiator before doing so and I forgot to completely fill in the radiator with fluid/water. I then decided to drive out of town for about an hour. I was 30mins into my destination and next thing you know I came to a sudden brake, I was driving about 65-80 for a good half hour. Once I slightly tapped on the brake next thing you know my car started to steam like crazy from the hood and I pulled off onto the side of the freeway immediately. It was steaming so much it looked like cheech and chong's was smoking in my hood @.@ As I tried to pull over on the side of the road I could feel my wheel stiffening up. As soon as I pulled over I opened up my hood to let it air out all the steam. (The steam was white) I waited a bit for a tow truck to come pick up my car and let the car cool down to check the results. There was white residue of some type all over the insides and I noticed that the hose connected to the radiator that was lightweight slipping off the radiator. I tried to tighten it and it didnt work so next thing I did was unhook the hose. What I discovered when I unhooked the hose the piping from the radiator was cracking and chipping off and the pipe seemed to be flaking. I was wondering if anyone knows the results of driving on low radiator fluid and what I may have to do to fix this up. I probably missed out on some key facts but everything I could think of was off the top of my head. Can someone help me and tell me what I could possibly do to fix this? Sorry for this being all over the place I'm really worried about my car One last thing I forgot to mention while I was pulling over the steam was coming out of the hood, I couldnt tell if there was steam coming out of my exhaust or if it was because so much steam was coming from the hood. I was wondering If you could also give me an estimate on a blown head gasket if that is the situation here thank you~
Friday, January 18th, 2013 AT 6:30 AM

2 Replies

Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
  • MECHANIC
  • 52,797 POSTS
Sounds like the pressure from the cooling system cause the issue with the radiator.

Have the cooling system pressure tested and have a leak down test done for checking the head gasket. Most likely it needs head gaskets.

Rough estimate is about 1500-1800 depending on damage done.

Roy
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Friday, January 18th, 2013 AT 11:44 AM
Tiny
KEVINTAKAI
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Well most likely it was because the fact I wasnt driving with enough fluid. Would that really cause the worst of problems? Sorry im not that intelligent when it comes to cars.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Friday, January 18th, 2013 AT 7:50 PM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Sponsored links