LS460 - topping up coolant

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Is there an easy way to give the coolant a top up? It looks like I you need to take off the black plastic cover at the front of the engine bay, and even then there's still another black plastic thing (air intake???) which partially obscures the cap for the coolant reservoir. Surely they can't have made it a 10 minute+ job for the average Joe to simply top up and even check the coolant level? Without removing the black plastic cover it is very difficult to even check the fluid level which seems a bit daft.

 

Cheers for any advice.

[steve2006]

With all the cosmetic plastics fitted to modern cars it wouldn’t surprise me. Does it give guidance in the owner’s manual?

 

[Malc]

20 hours ago, TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Is there an easy way to give the coolant a top up?

filled for life maybe   

Malc

[Tulpen]

I'll have a look in my Owner's Manual tomorrow. We are in the middle of the storm at the moment and I'm not going outside...…..

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Thanks everyone :) Look forward to hearing what you find Tulpen. There is a gap in the plastic which says "coolant"....but it's not located in a way that you can top the level up.

[Tulpen]

On page 512 of the Owner's Manual there is advice on checking the coolant level. All you need to do is have a look in the aperture which contains the oil dipstick; the coolant reservoir levels are easy to see. If you do need to top it up then, as you say, you need to remove the forward plastic cover (very easy).  I've got a funnel with a flexible rubber hose on it which allows me to get into awkward fillers. Having said that, I have never had to top up the coolant between annual services.

You might like to know that there is a potential problem with 430/460/600 radiators. It is well documented on the forum but, basically, the oil cooler is in the water radiator and as the radiator ages, water can get in the oil.  I had mine changed at 100,000 miles/12 years and it was getting ready to fail.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Thank you Tulpen. The car ticked over 100k miles a few weeks ago. I do very little miles though. It is going in for a service in April so I'll get them to check the radiator out and go from there. I don't think it's losing any, but I topped it up from halfway between min/max shortly after buying it and found it was a right pain to do it, and wondered if there was an easier way. There appears to be no coolant in the oil....the oil dipstick is golden and there is no "mayo" on the filler cap.

Thanks again.

[Malc]

but isn't it the rusting unions at the pipework close by the radiator that is the root cause of the potential and costly  failures ?

not the actual ingress of oil / water mix at which stage it's all tooooooo late

I don't know, having the Ls400 which is exempt from these issues thankfully 

Malc

[Tulpen]

41 minutes ago, Malc said:

but isn't it the rusting unions at the pipework close by the radiator that is the root cause of the potential and costly  failures ?

not the actual ingress of oil / water mix at which stage it's all tooooooo late

I don't know, having the Ls400 which is exempt from these issues thankfully 

Malc

I was trying to be brief, Malc, which is why I suggested Ross read all the relevant stuff on the forum. I know that I'm glad I did...….and had the radiator changed.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Thanks people. I will get the guys to give the coolant system a thorough check over for any leaks, or signs that one may be imminent, as well as letting them know the common faults and they can advise and go from there.

 

Cheers!

[ambermarine]

With regard to the issue on leaking coolant and transmission mix within the radiator of certain Lexus models it could be that those issues are in part caused by the coolant itself.

It as been said that Lexus insist on Toyota red because they are making a killing on the price, this is nonsense the mix of coolant is very specific to the reaction of metals that are in the engine and cooling system and to that end any deviation from the science is likely going to cause issues.

It seems pertinent that the issue occurring in the LS430 were to say the least in a minority which points to a cause outside of manufacturing tolerances and is probably why Lexus did not acknowledge there was a design or product fault.

It cannot be emphasised enough how important it is to adhere to the specs issued for coolant in the LS range.