My wife texted me these pictures of my T4R while I'm traveling for work... crap

[twalk]

be sure to check the block for an extra gasket.

Noted. Will do.

Thanks!

 

[19963.4lsr5]

How bad does the rust look?........

No worse then my engine bay looked when I bought it over a Jeep GC.

With 255kmiles I expected some problems.....however, 60% of every bolt or nut I had to remove was either already broken off (sway bar mounts, battery hold down and two of the three airbox mounting bolts) or rusted soo bad heat and a two day soak didn't help. Plus a lot of bolts had the threads stripped out. The PO or owners were..........

Frame rust hole on drivers side at trans cross member was all I found so far. One thing I discovered fixing it was that wherever there was welding done to the frame the inside has rust.

I will be flooding the entire frame with a oil before winter.

 

[Zottyzot]

I'm on the edge of my freakin seat here...

 

[Scruffy]

Have you looked in the radiator? When my milk shake happened to mine it filled up the radiator and coolant reservoir with tranny fluid and made a mess on the ground by my front drivers side tire and all down the drivers side under carriage.

 

[twalk]

I'm on the edge of my freakin seat here...

So far so good after a new oil filter and 5.5 qts of oil.

I had a lot of oil pour from the filter into the skid plate, so a trip to the car wash to power wash the under carriage was in order.

No new drips in 24 hours. I've only driven about 10 miles since then, but it's looking pretty good!

 

[twalk]

Guess what!?

More spots on the floor of the driveway after a short drive today...

So I started to look around again. I drove it around the block, then stopped, left it running, hopped out and got underneath to try to track it down. As I peered under the truck, there was a rapid dripping coming from under the front driver's side...

What I found was a leaking coolant cap. The hose that runs to/from the radiator to the right, over into the reservoir has a black cap that the hose is clipped to. That cap appears to be leaking, and coolant fluid is running down from the top of the reservoir, down into the skid plate, all over the front-left suspension, brakes and wheel. It also runs down along the engine block, over near the oil filter...

I think this may have been the culprit all along. It's been so elusive because it stops leaking shortly after turning the motor off, so I wasn't able to see it in action previously.

Will update again after I've fiddled with (or replaced) the leaking component.

 

[jmildoc]

now you have an excuse to buy a KOYO radiator.

 

[twalk]

now you have an excuse to buy a KOYO radiator.

Man, I sure hope not... The leak isn't form the rad itself, so hopefully it's just a matter of the inspection mechanic putting too much fluid in, or just a bad cap/hose.

 

[amalik]

or just new radiator hoses =)

now you have an excuse to buy a KOYO radiator.

 

[twalk]

Here's is a video of the coolant leak.

Has anybody had this issue? Any ideas on what the cause is?

I removed, cleaned and replaced the hose cap for the reservoir, but the problem persists...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdb43CHJDoY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[chadsy]

Here's is a video of the coolant leak.

Has anybody had this issue? Any ideas on what the cause is?

I removed, cleaned and replaced the hose cap for the reservoir, but the problem persists...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdb43CHJDoY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

a bad radiator cap will cause this

 

[twalk]

a bad radiator cap will cause this

Do you literally mean the radiator cap, or the reservoir cap?

 

[Crashnrondo]

Did you have a pink milkshake? That fluid coming out doesn't look "right".

 

[twalk]

Did you have a pink milkshake? That fluid coming out doesn't look "right".

It looks like the pink "high mileage" variety of "antifreeze". I know the green stuff is usually rated to 50k miles, but the corrosion inhibitors in the pink stuff is supposed to be good for 100k.

I didn't put the coolant/antifreeze in the 4Runner. it was full when I purchased it last month, so I'm just guessing.

 

[Crashnrondo]

So it's not thick or oily feeling? I didn't mean to scare you it just looked strange in the video.

 

[twalk]

So it's not thick or oily feeling? I didn't mean to scare you it just looked strange in the video.

It is a bit thicker than what I had expected, but it's not oily or sticky. It just appears to be pretty thick against that white reservoir, but it's actually pretty thin, and drips very fast when it gets to the bottom of the frame and starts hitting the floor.

 

[twalk]

Also, the truck is consistently running at normal temps.
I drove it up and down some hills last night and the temp gauge never crept upward, so either I'm not driving it hard enough to see the impact of the coolant/radiator issue, or the issue isn't consequential.

 

[chadsy]

Yes, I meant the actual radiator cap if that doesn't work next thing to check would be your thermostat, then radiator.

Also, the coolant looks a little brown? What does it smell like? Looks like it could possibly be a blown head gasket.

 

[twalk]

Yes, I meant the actual radiator cap if that doesn't work next thing to check would be your thermostat, then radiator.

Also, the coolant looks a little brown? What does it smell like? Looks like it could possibly be a blown head gasket.

It is a bit reddish-brown. No other head gasket-related symptoms, though, but I'll be on the lookout for them.

I'll check out the rad cap, thermostat and radiator first.

 

[twalk]

The reservoir cap appears to be designed to allow for this type of overflow.

I removed that cap while the engine was running, and lifted it up until the hose was elevated above the reservoir, and I observed a steady trickle of fluid from the radiator into that reservoir...

Is the radiator steadily emptying itself of coolant? If so, why, and what would be the cause (and subsequent fix) for this?