Water Reservoir

[KevQuirk]

Hey guys,

My car seems to be losing water, on looking at the water reservoir at the front of the engine bay I can see that there is a small hose coming off the top of the reservoir which isn't connected to anything. The hose is around 2-3 inches long but I'm not sure if it should be connected to anything or if it is a deliberate thing for overflowing.

I assume the cap has a pressurised vent on it to let water/air out should it need to so I really am in two minds as to what this hose does.

Thanks in advance.

Kev

[normski2]

Don't know for sure...but this sounds like an overflow pipe.

You need to find out why you are losing water asap. That is of concern.

[KevQuirk]

Yeah I know, I'm quite concerned. I really hope it's not the head gasket! Mind you, its a 2007 with less that 110,000 on the clock so I should be covered by the extended warranty.

I've booked it in for a diagnostic at my local dealer on Wednesday. I'll update once I know the results. The mechanic I spoke to said it's probably just the pump. But it's not out of the realms of possibility to be the HG. :(

[steve2006]

There will be a hose from the reservoir to the radiator and the one on the neck of the filler will be an overflow if excess pressure were to build up in the cooling system, it does vent straight out into the atmosphere so will have a free end.

[normski2]

Well, the water pump has had issues on the 220d (two were done by my previous owner), so I hope you are right.

Assuming no oil in water reservoir and no mayo under the oil filler cap?

[KevQuirk]

No nothing like that, and I've been keeping my eye on the oil to see if it's going that horrible grey colour when water gets in, that's fine too.

Hopefully Wednesday will bring me good news!

[KevQuirk]

Sorry about the delay on this posts guys. I've had nothing short of an absolute nightmare on this.

I took it to my local dealership who told me that the head gasket was gone. Luckily I have a good friend who is a very good mechanic so I took it to him to double check and, if necessary do the gasket. He confirmed what Lexus said and we went ahead and did the head gasket.

Once everything was back together the P/S (Power Steering) light was on and I had absolutely no power steering. So, my mechanic though that this was simply a problem with the computer because the batter had been off for a few days. He tried numerous computers but they just wouldn't talk to the ECU.

He took it back to Lexus and their computers couldn't talk to it either. More investigation from my guy found that there was an after market ECU on the car and what looked like a tracker (I assume the previous owner was a company car). So he took that out and put the electrics back to factory - still no PS and the computer still won't talk to it.

So, back to Lexus - they still couldn't talk to it either. They deduced that either the rack or the ECU had gone and needed to be replaced. They said if the "had to bet" they would go for the rack. So we went away and put a new rack in. STILL no PS!!

We got back on the phone to Lexus who told us that it just needs a "15 mile run" and the PS will reset itself. Sound like rubbish to me but we took them on their word. I've now put about 35 miles under the wheels and the PS still isn't working. We've agreed to give it another 50 or so miles just in case and then we're going to look at replacing the ECU also.

Five weeks in and the original issue of the head gasket is resolved but there have been so many other issues. I'm sure most of you can understand how much this has cost me as well. Hopefully replacing the ECU later on this week (if the PS doesn't reset itself) will fix the problem, but I am massively out of pocket and very frustrate by the whole saga.

I'll update you all again once the ECU has been replaced to let you know how things are going. Has anyone else ever had anything like this?

[normski2]

Aaarrrgggghhhhhh! That did not make good reading. That is horrible news to have to deal with and I can well understand your frustration.

Hope it gets sorted soon with the result you need.

[Exdee]

Sorry to hear you are having issues with your car.

As far as I am aware the ECU needs re-calibration after installing a new steering rack. Did you guys re-calibrate it using techstream? If not I would recommend doing that before replacing your PS ECU.

[KevQuirk]

Thanks for the info Exdee, I'll go back to my mechanic with that and see what he says.

@normski - it's been an absolute nightmare but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Whilst I didn't have my Lex I was borrowing a 2003 basic model Ford Ka from a friend. I have to say, even without the PS it's like a whole new world having my car back haha.

I'll let you guys know once we have more news. Thanks for the comments!

Kev