IS300 options after overheating issues.

[Evarus]

Hello All.

I'm in a bit of a pickle. The other day i noticed a thumping sound/gurgle from the dashboard. I thought it was just the AC being strange. Then on the way to a friend’s house i noticed the engine light on and the temp on red. I pulled over right away and popped the hood...... lots of steam most of it coming from the rad sides not the cap. I suspect the radiator has been leaking and is cracked thus the gurgle from the heater matrix. It took ALOT of water to fill I’m guessing it was more or less empty.

Now it still drives with no white smoke or mayo in the oil. But I'm still losing water when the car is sitting so I’m sure the rad has a crack in it. Normally drinks around 2L a day at the moment. I’m guessing the overheating made it worse.

No my real problem is what to do next i have a few options but I’m totally unsure what to do as the head gasket might be gone but i don’t know. I also have a limited budget for the repair £1500 total. But i would also like a performance increase if possible!

Oh also this is the perfect excuse to sneak some extra power/mods past the girlfriend! So shhhhhhhh lol

These are the options but i think i have my heart set on v8 power now! damn you guys!

1) Replace radiator and hope for the best...
2) Radiator + new head gasket
3) Radiator + GTE head gasket + Turbo (hope the engine has no problems after overheating for a short time)
4) Aristo/Supra swap? going to cost allot for the engine!
5) By a LS400/GS400/SC400 and do a transfer of the 1uz and other bits. Have found a car for £500-600(non vvti). Can the rest of the bits needed be done for £900? I will want to if possible keep the E-Shift box from the is300 but will swap to the standard box if it costs less and is easier to do.
6) Give up on the IS and sell it. Possibly buy another Lex and loose a load of cash .

I would love your opinions as i need to start getting this fixed quite soon.
It seems the swap is fairly easy but doing the ecu side of things is a pain. Can anyone advise as to how difficult it really is without needing loads of extra hardware? Oh and also any off the shelf options for the headers for a Right hand drive car?

(I have posted some of this to my.is but i want your opinion as well.)

Thanks for taking the time to read this and i hope to talk to some of you guys soon.

Alex

 

[stevieg]

You'll need a radiator regardless, known issue on these cars. Put a new radiator in it and go from there

 

[4U2QUIK]

yup, sounds like it's coming apart like most japanese radiators of that era.

 

[Evarus]

Off to my local performance shop today. Should find out whats up with it and then can work out what to do next.

 

[Evarus]

Hello All,

After having the Lex overheat i decided to get the head checked and all turned out to be fine! Turns out the rad had uncrimped its self and pissed all the water out. Anyhow! On the + side it gave me a good reason to sneak some mods past the gf.....

Soooo now its getting rebuilt with a few extra items!

Cometic MLS Performance Head Gasket Supra 3.0 2JZ-GTE .051" = 1.3mm
ARP head bolts.
New waterpump
new cam belt + tensioner
New aux belt
full gasket kit
Mishimoto radiator
Mishimotor oil cooler

Oh and while the head was being skimmed i had the engine ported and polished. Nothing too crazy but an ok job i think! They did a bit of work on the valves as well let me know what you think! The engine has 110k miles on.

So yeah that puts me read to install a turbo i think
Might be worth a mod moving this thread as sticking with the I6 sorry v8 guys!