Coolant LOW again

P

PSUPOWER

New member
Hey!

this is the deal, hopefully somebody can shed some light before I go to the shop AGAIN tommorow AM. So late JAN I got our V8 4runner timing belt done, along with the pump, new coolant and cam seals! SO when I got home that night, I went under the hood to look around and I noticed my long life coolant was LOW, in fact very low! SO I took the car back in the next day ASAP and they looked it over. I believe it was air pockets where not all out. fast forward to today 4-24-11, my maintenance light came on, looked under the hood and my coolant is low AGAIN!!!!:mad: This is the 2nd time I had to take our 4runner back in b/c of the coolant after having the TB done in jan! O and no leaks under the car, I inspected and no signs of leaking!

So my question, could this be more pockets? Well, I will find out tommorow

Sadly, after this, I will be taking our toyotas to another shop here in NC. I felt this should have done right the first time or espically after the 2nd time...Darn, if I did not look, I would have broken down...

Thanks
 
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If it was not leaking before the work you had done, I would insist that the shop take responsibility to make this right.

There is some possibility that they will find another problem, unrelated to their repair, but I bet not. Sounds like they miss setting a gasket or seal.

Get it fixed, don't take the chance on overheating and destroying an engine over such a small issue.
 
Air pockets usually disappear within the first 200-300 mi of city driving after a coolant change. I doubt your problem is due to air pockets 3 month after the fact (unless you don't drive the 4runner much, in which case an air bubble COULD be the culprit).

Assuming that air pockets are not the cause and because you say there are no visible signs of leakage, I'd be concerned. Check your oil for coolant comtamination, maybe you have a head gasket leak... Have you dropped your skid plate? It's very possible that you have a very slow leak somewhere that is pooling up behind the skid plate and evaporating before it has a chance to drip onto your driveway.
 
Well the maint light is unrelated, as that just goes off at specific time intervals.

My coolant a few months ago was really low too. Like, maybe I could have filled a shot glass with it. I refilled it, and for the most parts its stayed at the full line. I'm interested to see what your issue is.

And what symptoms do you mean by air bubbles/pockets?
 
I had my timing belt and pump changed 10k ago and my coolant is at the L mark (engine cool). I wouldn't have noticed, but my father-in-law said I left a spot in his driveway. Even after dropping the skid plate and idling for 10 minutes (with some elevated revs), I can't seem to find a leak. I'm hoping the spot is from something else and air bubbles led to the low coolant level. I'm not assured because on a prior car I had a small leak that appeared to fix itself only to blow the weep seal on Pocono Raceway [sigh]...so a leak that stops is not necessarily fixed if you push your t4r periodically (e.g., tow, mountains, stoplight shenanigans).
 
Late at getting back at this, but there was a leak. the hose that feeds off the coolant tank to that top gasket had leakage, so the mechanic put this black tar " sorry but I forgot what this stuff is called " around the leak and edges on that gasket...well fast forward to this past monday, I looked under the hood and saw a small amount of pink coolant coming out...Now this is pissing me off, the coolant is still full but a tiny amount seaps out but very little, little coolant as I put my finger on that one spot and had some on my finger...bottom line, issue not resloved long term...so I took it to another toyota shop and they offered to reseal this at a good price....You know, this would be my third time going back to this one shop if I decide to go back, what makes me think this guy will get it right for the 3rd time..ya know!!!???
 
PSUPOWER said:
Sadly, after this, I will be taking our toyotas to another shop here in NC. I felt this should have done right the first time or espically after the 2nd time...Darn, if I did not look, I would have broken down...

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hey,

Where in NC are you? Just so I know where NOT to take mine if I can't get mine to usual mechanic. I hope the third time was the charm and you got it fixed.
 
Check your oil, check it from the dipstick. If your oil is brownish then the coolant may be going into your engine. You may have a blown head gasket.
 
that was the ISSUE and I finally got it fixed but had to go to another shop! knock on wood, they got it right. it's been two weeks since the repair and no leakage. finally! not sure what the deal was with the other shop but they just lost my business..



riverider said:
The shop that did your work has made a mistake in getting it sealed, and nothing will help until it taken apart and fixed right. Don't allow anyone to just pour in a sealer as some might try. Sadly you just got a service monkey that did a rush job on your 4Runner.
Click to expand...
 
Bunch of monkeys these mechanics....they replaced my water pump at 100k, since the timing belt also had to be replaced and it was part of preventative maintenance. Cost me $1500 for everything and when I got the car, the coolant level was almost not visible....in addition, they sprayed coolant all over the engine compartment, meaning they did not use the vacuum fill method???
 
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