99 4runner leaking coolant

BucksCo

BucksCo

New member
This morning when I left my house I heard what sounded like water swishing back and forth from in front of the vehicle. When I got to the store I noticed coolant streaming out from under the front skid plate on the passenger side. Unfortunately I can't get the skid plate off due to the shop that changed my oil last must of used a torque gun to put it back on. I broke 2 sockets trying to remove the bolt.

It's been sitting for 3 hours now and is still trickling. I put a coffee can under it to catch the coolant and the large can is about half full now.

Any ideas what it could be?
 
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BucksCo said:
This morning when I left my house I heard what sounded like water swishing back and forth from in front of the vehicle. When I got to the store I noticed coolant streaming out from under the front skid plate on the passenger side. Unfortunately I can't get the skid plate off due to the shop that changed my oil last must of used a torque gun to put it back on. I broke 2 sockets trying to remove the bolt.

It's been sitting for 3 hours now and is still trickling. I put a coffee can under it to catch the coolant and the large can is about half full now.

Any ideas what it could be?
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Could be the lower radiator hose, the radiator itself, water neck that houses the thermostat, water pump, or maybe the oil cooler hose.
 
mtbtim said:
Could be the lower radiator hose, the radiator itself, water neck that houses the thermostat, water pump, or maybe the oil cooler hose.
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I'm hoping its just a hose. I'm fearing its the heater core but the inside of the truck is dry. I had one go out on me in a 91 Sonoma and the carpet got all wet and it fogged the windshield.

Thanks for the reply. I couldn't work on it today. I'm heading to the store to get a good quality 12mm socket so i can get the stupid skid plate off lol.
 
octanejunkie said:
THIS ^^^^^

Any update?
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Not yet. Heading out this morning to pick up a new socket. I leaked another coffee can worth of coolant over night. I just put a 3rd can under the truck to collect the drips.

I'll update everyone later this morning.

I'm hoping its just a hose. fingers crossed.
 
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The good and the bad

Bad News: I need a new radiator

Good News: It's not the heater core!

Great News: It looks like I avoided a strawberry milkshake due to the information on this forum. The leak is coming from a rotted fitting on the abandoned transmission cooler.

I'm 40k miles over due for a timing belt and water pump change. both were done a little over 100k miles. Im not at 240k on the truck. Might as well get it all taken care of while the radiator is being replaced.

Thank you everyone who's share info in this forum. I don't post much but I do read it whenever I need info on something. Its a great source of information.

IDK why the pic is displaying sideways. It's normal when I open up the file by itself.
 

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Better news, OEM radiator is only $120 delivered from Camelback

Glad it's an "easy" fix

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
BucksCo said:
Great News: It looks like I avoided a strawberry milkshake due to the information on this forum. The leak is coming from a rotted fitting on the abandoned transmission cooler.
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So you installed a transmission cooler and the tranny cooler part was already bypassed on the radiator? thats is crazy. Guess a little piece of you feels good knowing you know it failed and you saved your transmission.
 
calimobber said:
So you installed a transmission cooler and the tranny cooler part was already bypassed on the radiator? thats is crazy. Guess a little piece of you feels good knowing you know it failed and you saved your transmission.
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Yes. I installed a B&M cooler 4 years ago after reading about it here. What you see in the pic is a piece of the old line that I used to connect the 2 bibs on the abandoned stock cooler just in case of a failure in the upper part of the radiator. One of the bibs rotted off and thats where the coolant is leaking from.

240k+ on the original radiator.

I'm going to drop a new radiator from Camelback (thanks for the heads up!) after watching Tim's video on replacing the radiator and thermostat (Great vids btw).

I spent the afternoon clearing out the garage so I can get the 4Runner in there. It's tight, about 2.5' of work space at the front of the truck but it's better than freezing my ass off outside lol. I'll update this thread as I progress.
 
I use my garage mostly for home renovations and butchering deer this time of year. I just finished a kitchen remodel and got a buck during archery season 3 weeks ago. Glad the truck held out long enough to get those done lol
 
01thunder said:
i'd like to know what the difference is from 99 to 01-02, as the radiator is $324, while this one is 119!
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It's the same. That $324 on is for warranty, what ever that means. If you notice, right below that radiator, is the $119 one. They're all the same.


EDIT: Also, when I add it to the cart and try to check out, they charge $12 for shipping and their normal $3 service fee. If you add and upper and lower radiator hose it comes out to $151 and you get free shipping, which essentially gets you a hose almost free. I got my radiator this way and it was very well packaged.

Also, one other thing. The OP got 224K miles - OUT OF THE ORIGINAL RADIATOR. He lives close to me, so this is an area that salts the roads. Incredible that a radiator would last this long in this area. Gotta love these trucks!
 
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JRZEE2000TR4LTD said:
It's the same. That $324 on is for warranty, what ever that means. If you notice, right below that radiator, is the $119 one. They're all the same.


EDIT: Also, when I add it to the cart and try to check out, they charge $12 for shipping and their normal $3 service fee. If you add and upper and lower radiator hose it comes out to $151 and you get free shipping, which essentially gets you a hose almost free. I got my radiator this way and it was very well packaged.

Also, one other thing. The OP got 224K miles - OUT OF THE ORIGINAL RADIATOR. He lives close to me, so this is an area that salts the roads. Incredible that a radiator would last this long in this area. Gotta love these trucks!
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different part number but it's the same? you get yours from camelback?
 
JRZEE2000TR4LTD said:
Yes. I did. Did you see the page? Here you go. For an 02. Notice the (3) number 1's for the same part. The only difference is the $324 one says warranty which I'm not sure what that means. The next 2 are for and auto and manual trans which are obviously the same part.

https://parts.camelbacktoyota.com/p...siteid=214329&vehicleid=84053&diagram=8414045
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they all say warranty, which i don't know what that is either. i'll ask my parts guy at the dealer. i wonder why the price came down. i paid $200 plus 2 years ago for my rad.
 
01thunder said:
they all say warranty, which i don't know what that is either. i'll ask my parts guy at the dealer. i wonder why the price came down. i paid $200 plus 2 years ago for my rad.
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In the blue print, only the 1st one says warranty.

Usually people lower prices when they have a large supply.
 
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