Coil Packs Replaced Twice, Radiator Now Has Boiling Water But Engine T

[Sudeep Mathur]

Hi All,

I bought the Lexus IS200 in february 2012. It had done 49000 miles and is a 52 reg. The first signs of problem appeared in March when I had the check engine light come on and was feeling the shuddering feeling on idling. This continued without much problems till i successfully completed a 00 mile trip to Birmingham. the car ran smoothly and gave no problem

Then a few days later, on a local journey, the car lost all acceleration. i showed it to a local mechanic and he diagnosed it as coil pack failure . 3 of the 6 coil packs had gone which i promptly got replaced,A few days later the engine check light came on again and then he repaired something he called the butterfly valve which he suspected could be leaking fluid on the coil packs causing them to die. After getting the car back, i made a few trips to London ( 70- 80 miles round trip) and was worjking fine. In the middle of June, I took the car on a trip to Stonehenge about 50 miles from my place. On my return journeyy, I felt the car was not accelerating enough. The engine check light had not gone off and I was fairly relieved to see there was no failure. As soon as I reached Reading, the TRC off light and the engine check light came on and the car died down. it would not start after the redlight and had to push it to a nearby petrol pump. The car started after about an hour and I could limp back home and drive it to the mechanic. He then told me that 4 more coil packs had gone and one of which was new one which had melted.

He replaced the same for me and also replaced the rocker cover gasket. He also put in something callled the radseal in the radiator as he suspected that radiator was losing coolant but was unable to identify any visible leaks

After that I took a trip to Oxford which was just a 30 mile drive but the car seemed to overheat, though the gauge was fine. I stopped to fill it up . the engine chekc light had come on again.I finieshed the journey quite comfortably although i did not dare to go beyond 50 at any time. When I stopped at home, the engine temperature gauge was still showing normal but the water in the radiator was boiling with sound. The mechanic was not able to comprehend the issue and suggested that it could be that i was losing coolant/ water though gear box or head cover gasket may be blown off. He removed the thermostatic valve but the bubbling has continued. He did a smell test on the radiator and concluded that there is oil smell in it. I personally could not smell it, The oil dip stickdid not have any emulsion as has been pointed out i n the case of other head gasket symptoms and the engine gauge is not showing a heating up of the engine.

As my radiator was replaced immediately after I bought the car, could this be a problem. Do advise and let me know if there is a good place to show this near reading. I have already spent more than £800.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Wow I've never heard of so many problems in 1 go with a Lexus. Seeing it getting pushed must have been a rare sight!

Sounds like your having a complete nightmare mate and to be honest it sounds as tho you've had some bad diagnostics or the mechanic your using doesn't know what's wrong and is using a little guess work. Did the garage actually read the fault codes before changing all your coilpacks? If so what were the exact codes? Post the fault codes on here and you will get a lot more help. And I'm no expert but I wouldn't have though a brand new coil pack would die straight away! If your oil and coolant were mixing in the case of a failed head gasket then you would for sure have the emulsion, mayonnaise type liquid in and around your oil. The engine temp would also get very hot and the gauge on the dashboard would go into the red. It doesn't sound like a head gasket to me.

Also toyota/lexus put a red die in their coolant so if it was leaking you'd be able to see where.

The major suspect sounds to me to be the new radiator you had fitted. Was it done by a reputable garage? Were the correct parts, coolant etc used?

If it were me having this many issues I'd be straight down the nearest Lexus dealer. Yes you are going to pay more but at least you will have the peace of mind that the diagnostic is accurate and that the work is being done to the highest level and the real problem is being solved. You could end up throwing money at this for weeks and not find the correct problem and independent garages will just keep taking your money happily even if it means your back the next day with the same problem!

[BenIS]

Seconded, go to lexus. My mrs golf has been losing water for ages, ive replaced parts here n there and nothing worked. finally today i took it for a pressure test and it was found to have a crack in the engine block and the head gasket had gone. There was no signs of water in oil or oil in the water. and no gunk around the oil filler cap. I know its not a IS200 but obviously if i couldnt see any evidence of head gasket failure or the crack then the same could apply. Probably worth gettin a pressure test done.

[E910]

Doesn't sound like a very good mechanic. If you're coils are going it due to the plugs being worn out. Did he not tell you to change them as well?

Is there any coolant in the system? If so how old is it or has it been raplaced with with water when you've topped up? It's anti freeze as well as anti boil so if it's old or too watered down it will boil on a hot day.

Radiator stop leak is only a very temporary fix. It blocks up the sytem after a while & causes more problems than it fixes. You'll want to flush the entire system & put a new thermostat in it. If you want to fix a leak properly then use Irontite.

[Sudeep Mathur]

Thanks for the suggestions. i visited the Lexus and have just received a response for them. they also suspect a head gasket failure and would need £700 just to open the head and see if the gasket is gone. They suspect that the head may be warped and catalytic convertor gone as well. replacing all these , would cost me more than the cost of the car. I am gutted to say the least