Lexus RX400h Radiator replacement

Lexus quoted $1100 for a replacement.

I replaced it in a few hours with the following for about $130 (radiator, cap, coolant)

• Radiator:  Denso 2213144..  $80 from RockAuto  https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=4722843&cc=1441484&jsn=365
• Radiator Cap:  CARQUEST Radiator Cap Part No 10241... $8 at Advance Auto
• Coolant:  Just over 2 gallons of ZEREX Asian Vehicle Red Ready-to-Use Antifreeze Coolant.. $13 each from Advance Auto

The swap was pretty straightforward but the bottom 2 bolts were a PITA.

Here's the order of the items that were removed.

Cover under front bumper

Cover over radiator support

Removal of cooling fans

These can be reached by going under the car and facing the fans

far left bolt

far right

Top rail removal

The bottom 2 bolts were a PITA.. The images below aren't mine but they show where they are hidden and they can be removed by going under the car and using a 12mm box wrench.

I placed the screws into styrofoams cups and grouped them by sections as I removed them.
This made it easy to ensure I didn't miss any and putting everything back was simply putting everything back in reverse order.

Added coolant and took it for a test drive to heat up the engine.

The temps are good and no leaks.

old vs new radiator.

Some posts mention the top left coolant intake was reversed but there seems to have been a design change.

This was pretty much an exact replacement.

I did have to remove the foam from the old one and hot glue them to the new one.

Crack in my old radiator

Google Home - Intercom - using HASS (Home Assistant)

Here's an intercom i put together using the following:

• HASS (Home Assistant)   0.35 or higher
• IFTTT maker

Once you have HASS working and can cast to Google Home or any Google cast device you simply need to create an IFTTT applet using maker


Now create an IFTTT applet at https://ifttt.com/

create a New Applet

Choose + this

Choose the Google Assistant service

Choose the phrase with a text ingredient

Enter the desired phrase to kick off the request

and use $ where you want your input.

You may also choose a custom response -- including

the $ if you want the phrase repeated in the response

Now choose + that

Choose the Maker action service 

web request

URL:  This is an externally accessible URL to your HASS instance

Method: POST

Content Type: application/json

Body:  add your device name.. as shown at /dev-state

Click Finish to save you new applet 

If everything went well it should look like the following

Create a additional applets to call other rooms

Google Home - Intercom - using google-home-notifier

Here's an intercom i put together using the following:

• google-home-notifier -- created by noelportugal  https://github.com/noelportugal/google-home-notifier
• php (code is below)
• IFTTT maker

First install and run google-home-notifier as instructed on his page (linked above)
I installed this on my Pi

When you start up the example.js as mentioned, it will give the following when it is ready to receive requests:

POST "text=Hello Google Home" to:
        http://localhost:8080/google-home-notifier
        https://*******.ngrok.io/google-home-notifier
    example:
    curl -X POST -d "text=Hello Google Home" https://*******.ngrok.io/google-home-notifier

For my application, I use the line referencing localhost info but changed localhost to the server it was running on since my php code is on a different box.

http://localhost:8080/google-home-notifier
to
http://ip_of_pi:8080/google-home-notifier

Next, create a php script similar to mine below:

change ip_of_pi in the code to the ip of where you installed google-home-notifier


The $url in the code was just for this write up but your should use an https connection and credentials since this is externally accessible

announce.php

    $url = 'http://ip_of_pi:8080/google-home-notifier';
    $post_data = "text={$_GET['sayWhat']}";
    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL, $url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post_data);
    $return = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);




Now create an IFTTT applet at https://ifttt.com/

create a New Applet

Choose + this

Choose the Google Assistant service

Choose the phrase with a text ingredient

Enter the desired phrase to kick off the request

and use $ where you want your input.

You may also choose a custom response -- including

the $ if you want the phrase repeated in the response

Now choose + that

Choose the Maker action service 

web request

Enter the url where your php code can be reached (needs to be externally accessible)

{{TextField}} is the $ item received as part of the + this from above
Method: GET
Content Type: text/plain

Click Finish to save you new applet 

If everything went well it should look like the following

Create a second js file and a second IFTTT applet for calling the 2nd (or more) room(s)