Cant believe it actually happened to MY runner: Pink Milkshake

[Tomsriv]

It sounds to me like you blew a head gasket. That can cause bubbles in the radiator and a loss of coolant. The coolant compression test is the way to go, thats how we used to check when I worked at a toyota dealer. A shade-tree mechanic way of checking would be to remove the radiator cap when it is cold, then start and let it warm up. Once the thermostat opens and the coolant flows, look for bubbles in the coolant.

 

[1985taylor1925]

It sounds to me like you blew a head gasket. That can cause bubbles in the radiator and a loss of coolant. The coolant compression test is the way to go, thats how we used to check when I worked at a toyota dealer. A shade-tree mechanic way of checking would be to remove the radiator cap when it is cold, then start and let it warm up. Once the thermostat opens and the coolant flows, look for bubbles in the coolant.

Hm, thats a good piece of info for the future, thanks. Oddly enough, Im not loosing any more coolant. I lost coolant twice on trips up to the mountains after I had changed the radiator cap. Well, I thought I was loosing coolant, cause every time I checked it after the engine cooled off it was a inch or so lower. But maybe it just appeared that I was loosing coolant. Cause now its been steady for a week, and about 200 miles. I took a trip up to the mountains yesterday and didnt loose anything. So maybe what I thought was a loss of coolant was it simply filling compartments in the engine? Im not sure how that works. But it's stabilized now

 

[zcruiser]

Hm, thats a good piece of info for the future, thanks. Oddly enough, Im not loosing any more coolant. I lost coolant twice on trips up to the mountains after I had changed the radiator cap. Well, I thought I was loosing coolant, cause every time I checked it after the engine cooled off it was a inch or so lower. But maybe it just appeared that I was loosing coolant. Cause now its been steady for a week, and about 200 miles. I took a trip up to the mountains yesterday and didnt loose anything. So maybe what I thought was a loss of coolant was it simply filling compartments in the engine? Im not sure how that works. But it's stabilized now

Possible. May have taken a bit to fill all the cavities. Still good idea to get a compression check!

 

[Tomsriv]

I'm glad to hear it stabilized. I used to have a 17 year old Volvo I got as a college graduation present, it would need coolant every 2 weeks for the 2 years that I owned it. I never figured out where the coolant was going, but the problem never got worse. As long as you don't see coolant in your oil and it passes smog you are good.

 

[BrianSD_42]

the coolant is going somewhere, you just need to find out where. It is not "just disappearing"

 

[zcruiser]

On my other car, it is leaking out of my overflow tank. I think it got cracked in a small fender-bender a couple years ago. The tank is difficult to get to w/o removing the front bumper, so I just keep adding coolant every few weeks.