Eight problems related to radiator have been reported for the 2003 Toyota Highlander. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2003 Toyota Highlander based on all problems reported for the 2003 Highlander.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the engine overheated. An independent mechanic was contacted and the technician diagnosed that the motor bolts were stripped, causing radiator fluid to leak. As a result, the motor needed to be rebuilt. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 146,000. Updated 11/12/cn.
Original owner of a 2003 Toyota Highlander 2. 4l 4-cylinder engine, serviced by Toyota dealer and local repair shop. My wife was driving the care when the engine temp shot up. Pulled over and took car to shop for diagnosis. --- my repair shop serviceman told me the radiator was almost empty, and it likely had a blown head gasket - a $2500 repair by my local repair shop. But when he went to take off the head, the bolt cylinders came out too, almost all were loose and apparently caused the leakage over time. He didn't have the tooling to fix the bolt sleeve issue, and I'd need a water pump, too. There are numerous reports online of this happening with this engine. Toyota should recall this to restore consumer confidence.
Original owner of a 2003 Toyota Highlander 2. 4l 4-cylinder engine, serviced by Toyota dealer and local repair shop. 4 months ago it was making a fluttering noise and I had it serviced, it needed an oil pan gasket, got a full oil change, too. But apparently it also had a bad water pump, and had developed a coolant leak, and was burning oil. -- we never noticed any white smoke coming out the back, and no coolant temperature variance, always in the middle after warming up. We never got a low oil light warning, no check engine light while driving. --- the SUV shut down on it's own just coming off a highway exit ramp. I started it up again to pull over a block away and then shut it off. It steamed up, overheated. The tow service guy couldn't restart it. --- my repair shop serviceman told me the radiator was almost empty, and it likely had a blown head gasket - a $2500 repair by my local repair shop. But when he went to take off the head, the bolt cylinders came out too, almost all were loose and apparently caused the leakage over time. He didn't have the tooling to fix the bolt sleeve issue, and I'd need a water pump, too. So for less than the cost of all the repairs, known and possible future problems, like rust or other worn internal parts, he recommended a rebuilt engine, with higher quality steel bolt sleeves, (the way the original engine should have been made). He investigated and alerted me to the complaints online, and reminded me to keep the repair receipts. --- I am devastated, and had to borrow money from retirement to pay for this, since the kelly blue book value was still a few thousand higher than the repair cost. I bought this car new and serviced it with the anticipation of driving it for at least another 50k miles. It never had a single overheat problem, ran like a top, driving me back and forth to work 45 min away.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving 45 mph, the temperature gauge increased suddenly. The vehicle was towed to a mechanic where the contact was advised that the motor bolt was stripped, causing the radiator to leak fluids and the engine to overheat. The contact was advised that the motor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileage was 140,000.
The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Highlander. While traveling 55 mph, the contact noticed that the vehicle had began to overheat. After examining the vehicle, the contact noticed that the radiator was leaking from the bottom of the lower block. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle has not been repaired. The current and failure mileages were 115,000.
There are two speeds associated with this. It was on the freeway driving back home when the check engine light came on at about 65 mph. Later, after exiting the freeway and driving for about 10 minutes, the radiator hose blew off from the pressure, shooting coolant and contents of the radiator back onto the engine (4 cylinder). I was going 40 mph at the time. The thermostat must not have been working because I wasn't reading any overheating going on, though there obviously was. After getting it diagnosed, apparently the bolts were stripped, the head gasket blew, and the engine got too hot. I am now asked to pay almost $3,000 to rebuild the engine (rethread, etc. ). This thing with the head gasket and the bolts failing at relatively low mileage (114,000 in my case) seems to be a recurrent problem with this particular make and model. I had been driving it and keeping it well maintained for about five years with relatively few problems until this happened.
1. Engine overtemp 2. Engine continually runs hot. Cannot use vehicle 3. Replaced head gasket, radiator, thermostat.
1) noticed radiator fluid slowly leaking under bottom (towards back of engine). Had mechanic check engine, - was leaking at back of head gasket, took apart engine and noticed 3 back bolts to engine block (heads) could be removed by hand. When heads were fixed could not install new bolts (would not tighten) - mechanic said there is a manufacturer defect - no threads. 2) cannot fix engine - need new engine 3) trying to get Toyota to pay for repair - in progress with them now - no resolution yet.