Rad overflowed and Pink milkshake take a look please!?

[beliboy32]

Is this the pink milkshake that being my car to the yard????

My rad overflowed from the filler tank today ..... Yeeaaaaahhhh.

Levels were fine temp was ok. when parked it and came back out, most of my rad fluid was on the ground. I let it cool emptied the remaining fluid ran it again to see where the leak was. turned out from the filler tank, When I ran it it was backing up before it was over heated. The fluid looked like this , see below,

What does this mean where do I start

 

[alumarine]

Check your transmission dipstick and see if it's the same colour as that stuff.

 

[NODNARB01]

Check your trans fluid before panicking.
I'm not familiar enough with the red antifreeze to know what it normally looks like but it doesn't look all frothed up like pink meringue


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[4runnerWiniarski23]

Def does not look like pink milkshake...
Better question is what caused the overflow?

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[JayRolla]

That looks like Toyota red coolant. If it mixes it's a lot lighter pink.

 

[stir_fry_boy]

Possible victim of a head gasket.

 

[beliboy32]

good but bad

The bad:

Ok so i checked my tranmission fluid and yes it was milky more white but not as white as the second picture above(looks like it was heading that way).

The good:

When this happened I happen to be stopping and parked the car, by complete shit luck. So the milkshake may have gone through the transmission a max of 2 minutes.

My engine Oil was still the same color.

Problems that need to be resolved:

What caused the overflow i have zero idea. My guess is the pressurized transmission cooler inside the rad must have leaked and caused it to over flow or the thermostat must have gotten stuck at the exact same time.

What my plan is:

I'm going install the tranny cooler i just got, again good luck(i hope)
I'm going to flush the rad and flush the tranny until the fluids are good. From that point change the thermostat do a compression test to see about the head gasket.

any other suggestions ??? or thoughts?

 

[JRZEE2000TR4LTD]

The bad:

Ok so i checked my tranmission fluid and yes it was milky more white but not as white as the second picture above(looks like it was heading that way).

The good:

When this happened I happen to be stopping and parked the car, by complete shit luck. So the milkshake may have gone through the transmission a max of 2 minutes.

My engine Oil was still the same color.

Problems that need to be resolved:

What caused the overflow i have zero idea. My guess is the pressurized transmission cooler inside the rad must have leaked and caused it to over flow or the thermostat must have gotten stuck at the exact same time.

What my plan is:

I'm going install the tranny cooler i just got, again good luck(i hope)
I'm going to flush the rad and flush the tranny until the fluids are good. From that point change the thermostat do a compression test to see about the head gasket.

any other suggestions ??? or thoughts?

Replace the radiator.

Drain and add new coolant. You might be OK with not doing a flush here as your coolant looks OK.

Do the DIY trans flush. Buy 4 gallons of tranny fluid. Remove the hose going to the straight fitting on the radiator into a 5 gal bucket. Drain the pan an refill with fresh tranny fluid. Start motor and let run for bout 10-15 seconds which will pump out about 3 qts. Refill tranny with same amount of fluid. Repeat process about 4 times or until fluid comes out looking like clean fluid. Reconnect hose and run until engine is at operating temp. Check fluid level and add or remove as necessary. Take truck for a good drive. Be sure to use all the gears including overdrive. Repeat DIY flush one more time immediately then drive the truck for a week or two then do flush again.

 

[beliboy32]

Why replace the rad? I'm adding the tranny cooler isolating them from each other.

Sorry may seem obvious but I'm still learning.

 

[Toy2play]

Why replace the rad? I'm adding the tranny cooler isolating them from each other.

Sorry may seem obvious but I'm still learning.

If the coolant is leaking into the tranny cooler than it will continue to leak into the cooler. You will need to plug the inlet/outlet of the tranny cooler and left over transmission fluid may contaminate your coolant. Plus you will have tranny cooler full of coolant. It may not be much, but for 100 bucks I would just replace the radiator.

Also I recommend researching on whether to by pass the stock cooler or not. A separation of the stock cooler may or may not be efficient enough. I chose to run a cooler inline with the stock one. I replaced the radiator, and to my knowledge I have not heard of a replacement radiator causing the milkshake. There have been a few people running higher temps by eliminating the stock cooler. In certain cases a stand alone aftermarket tranny cooler is not enough.

 

[JRZEE2000TR4LTD]

Why replace the rad? I'm adding the tranny cooler isolating them from each other.

Sorry may seem obvious but I'm still learning.

Because your radiator is compromised in the cooler tranny cooler area. I guess you can just button up the inlet and outlet of the tranny cooler so you don't lose any coolant out of those ports.

Edit: What [MENTION=143467]Toy2play[/MENTION] said is perfectly stated.

 

[Scramble]

Why replace the rad? I'm adding the tranny cooler isolating them from each other.

Sorry may seem obvious but I'm still learning.

Please listen to John from JRZEE. Forget about the trans cooler for now. Replace the Rad, then you need to flush the trans, flush the trans & flush the trans. Then you flush the trans again. Get it?

 

[3bears]

Please listen to John from JRZEE. Forget about the trans cooler for now. Replace the Rad, then you need to flush the trans, flush the trans & flush the trans. Then you flush the trans again. Get it?

I agree with this. You can do a aftermarket cooler later if needed/wanted

However, I might be tempted at this time to replace the thermostat, But maybe, and this is just an idea, don't install the thermostat, disconnect from the radiator lower hose, use a garden hose and flush out the block, (not running engine) Drain your tranny , add some fluid, then install new thermostat, new radiator, just put in distilled water, turn on your heater, run truck and flush the cooling system again till clear
then add correct antifreeze, make sure you burp the system, that the jiggle valve is in the correct place, maybe even get one of those long radiator funnel systems that works great for burping the system esp if you have a arear heater
like the Lisle 24680 Spill-Free Funnel...what it does, is with the extension puts the fluid level at a higher level then any of the cooling parts ( hoses) then your car thus burping up higher, in the funnel

and like said above, flush the tranny again and again. maybe even drop the pan and clean it

watch that you don't strip the tranny drain...lots of write ups about that one..I know ...

you might be good....I bought mine a few years back , had a good service history, but then I got the official service history from the dealer ( using the vin numbers) and found out about 5 years beforeat a Toyota dealer, it had a new radiator and a tranny service at the same time....did it have pink milkshake ? like I said that was about 6 years ago now and 40k miles

 

[psraff]

That just looks like used Toyota Red to me. But yes, check your tranny's dip stick.

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[psraff]

That just looks like used Toyota Red to me. But yes, check your tranny's dip stick.

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Wow... sorry for coming late to the party. That's what I get for working so far north. When i posted I only saw 2 or 3 posts. After that I saw all the others.

Disregard my 2 cents worth of info.

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[beliboy32]

Still confused here if the transmission is now separated from the rad then how could this happen again. I have the tranny cooler with lines here at my place just never got around to putting it on. This way from my understanding if the rad is compromised it shouldn't matter. if I attach the inlet and outlet lines together with a hose, where the tranny lines used to be. the rad will run itself the transmission will have its I own cooler with its own fluid. Is there something im missing here.

Both tranny and read will be flushed as well.

 

[psraff]

Still confused here if the transmission is now separated from the rad then how could this happen again. I have the tranny cooler with lines here at my place just never got around to putting it on. This way from my understanding if the rad is compromised it shouldn't matter. if I attach the inlet and outlet lines together with a hose, where the tranny lines used to be. the rad will run itself the transmission will have its I own cooler with its own fluid. Is there something im missing here.

Both tranny and read will be flushed as well.

Sounds like you're thinking right and that's how i have mine. I bypassed the rad altogether and just have a jumper connecting those two ports at the bottom of the rad.

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[alumarine]

Still confused here if the transmission is now separated from the rad then how could this happen again. I have the tranny cooler with lines here at my place just never got around to putting it on. This way from my understanding if the rad is compromised it shouldn't matter. if I attach the inlet and outlet lines together with a hose, where the tranny lines used to be. the rad will run itself the transmission will have its I own cooler with its own fluid. Is there something im missing here.

Both tranny and read will be flushed as well.

Your rad is half broken. It already rotted part of itself out.
Do you think it might get worse?

Plus, if you install a new rad you might not have to install a transmission cooler.

 

[Toy2play]

Still confused here if the transmission is now separated from the rad then how could this happen again. I have the tranny cooler with lines here at my place just never got around to putting it on. This way from my understanding if the rad is compromised it shouldn't matter. if I attach the inlet and outlet lines together with a hose, where the tranny lines used to be. the rad will run itself the transmission will have its I own cooler with its own fluid. Is there something im missing here.

Both tranny and read will be flushed as well.

Yes technically you can do this, but why? It's rotting out and it just make things a pain. I can't imagine what would look like if it's rotting to the point of failure. Why risk it for a $100 part?

You will have to keep checking the level until the cooler is filled and in the future and any time you want to flush the system you'll have flush the cooler as well and do the same process. I'm sure you have an original radiator, they need to get replaced eventually and rotting is a clear sign of that. For me I see it as an investment for such a crucial part that will only help the situation and keeping the 4runner lasting a long time. Longer lasting equals no new monthly car payment.

 

[psraff]

Would like to clarify that mine was not leaking when I did mine. I pull the hose once a year to see if any fluid is in there. If there is then it finally cracked and I'll do as the others say and replace it. When I do, I think I would then run the two tranny coolers in series.

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