Radiator Leak - 2014 TEP 27,xxx miles

[Engineer]

Just thought I would share as I don't think this is a common occurrence. Came out from running an errand today afterwork and notice she was bleeding. Did a quick look underneath (it was low single digits so it was quick....) and it didn't appear to be a loose or damaged hose. Decided to swing by the Toyota Dealer and get their opinion. Just got it back and they said the radiator is leaking, no details on if its a crack, pin hole or location but will try to get those later. New radiator expected Thursday, currently I took her back as i need a mode of transportation and they had no loaners, while the rate of leak is currently slow enough I am not concerned I was fairly surprised that they let me take it back without any kind of "hey keep an eye out for fluid leaking etc".....maybe assumed I was not a moron.

.......and what has changed around here, my photos never used to post sideways, now its a routine occurrence and I have all the same hardware as I used to.

 

[MNBighead]

Keep us informed. I too own a 2014 and live in the twin cities. I wonder if its the cold weather related?

 

[sooperedd]

Man that's a lot of rust already; I know it's from whatever they use on the roads there but it makes you wonder what it will look like with 100,000 miles on it.

 

[1engineer]

Just thought I would share as I don't think this is a common occurrence. Came out from running an errand today afterwork and notice she was bleeding. Did a quick look underneath (it was low single digits so it was quick....) and it didn't appear to be a loose or damaged hose. Decided to swing by the Toyota Dealer and get their opinion. Just got it back and they said the radiator is leaking, no details on if its a crack, pin hole or location but will try to get those later. New radiator expected Thursday, currently I took her back as i need a mode of transportation and they had no loaners, while the rate of leak is currently slow enough I am not concerned I was fairly surprised that they let me take it back without any kind of "hey keep an eye out for fluid leaking etc".....maybe assumed I was not a moron.

.......and what has changed around here, my photos never used to post sideways, now its a routine occurrence and I have all the same hardware as I used to.

Hey man! Sorry to hear of the trouble. Have you installed anything to or next to the radiator? Transmission cooler or anything? Just asking because out of the several years I have been reading posts here I think you would be maybe the first to have a radiator problem that was not self inflicted.

 

[Antman]

Man that's a lot of rust already; I know it's from whatever they use on the roads there but it makes you wonder what it will look like with 100,000 miles on it.

Uh.....better look at the pic again. There is NO rust that I can see, just dried mud and T4R blood.:fear:

 

[Engineer]

Man that's a lot of rust already; I know it's from whatever they use on the roads there but it makes you wonder what it will look like with 100,000 miles on it.

No worries its not actually rust. Its call the Iron Range, one the few places in MN to off-road and its full of you guessed it.....Iron, well maybe some derivative of but you get the idea. Its a real pain to get off, I actually inquired about dry ice blasting to see how abrasive it was but the company never got back to me, so now it helps with identifying leaks

 

[Engineer]

Hey man! Sorry to hear of the trouble. Have you installed anything to or next to the radiator? Transmission cooler or anything? Just asking because out of the several years I have been reading posts here I think you would be maybe the first to have a radiator problem that was not self inflicted.[/QUOTE

Haven't installed anything in the area other then the Pro Grill over the summer. I have asked the dealer to determine and document the location of the leak in the old radiator but no guarantees they will. Scheduled for replacement on Thursday. This is also the 1st failure I have heard of.

 

[Antman]

Haven't installed anything in the area other then the Pro Grill over the summer.......

Truck's probably PISSED that it's 1/100th PROBRO now is what I'm guessing...

 

[gm350reratliff]

I think this is the first radiator failure in a 5th gen that I've come across on here. Probably just bad from the start. I have seen bad radiators in other makes right off the bat though. At least it didn't leave you stranded.

 

[ScoMey]

No worries its not actually rust. Its call the Iron Range, one the few places in MN to off-road and its full of you guessed it.....Iron, well maybe some derivative of but you get the idea. Its a real pain to get off, I actually inquired about dry ice blasting to see how abrasive it was but the company never got back to me, so now it helps with identifying leaks

I took a trip up to Crosby / Ironton back in early October to ride the Cuyuna MTB trails... and up until about a few weeks ago, my tires still had the orange dust deep in the tread blocks.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Did they check your coolant to be sure it was protecting down as far as it should? Hard to imagine that would be the issue, but given the rarity, anything's possible. :shrug:

 

[sooperedd]

No worries its not actually rust. Its call the Iron Range, one the few places in MN to off-road and its full of you guessed it.....Iron, well maybe some derivative of but you get the idea. Its a real pain to get off, I actually inquired about dry ice blasting to see how abrasive it was but the company never got back to me, so now it helps with identifying leaks

10-4
Looks like the coolant is removing some of it.

 

[Engineer]

As we should have guessed it wasn't a OEM defect, it appears a blessed/cursed rock managed to smack it on the lower driver’s side just behind where it is protected by the AC condenser (the radiator is 4 fins exposed and the damage was on the 6th fin and no damage to the condenser so how it got there I have no idea).

Fortunately for me? It was miss diagnosed as warranty work the 1st night so when the part came in they went ahead and swapped it out, refilled with coolant etc. The dealership was willing to work with me as I did not technically authorize the job nor was I about to pay the just shy of $1000 they wanted. While I hold them responsible it was hard to blame anyone as the damage would have been impossible to spot without removing the radiator or AC condenser so I think they put it on a lift the 1st night, saw the leak, didn’t see anything that had “poked through” from the front and assumed it was warranty work. I showed them what an online aftermarket costs compared to OEM and made some assumptions on coolant cost and independent labor and settled at$550. I think I could have gotten them lower as aftermarket replacement and coolant would have been less than $200 (not including labor and parts markup) but had I refused they would have had to reinstall the old radiator which is another “2.8hrs” and doubtful they could return the OEM one as it already was installed and had coolant in it. But to me wasn’t not worth the hassle when its 15 degrees outside and you don’t have a garage (apartment living)

On the up side they replaced a missing clip I had on the radiator cover, it doesn’t match the others but it’s there and functional and I have a good ol’ OEM radiator 

Maybe worth seeing what the skid filler plate’s cover.

 

[05Rrunner]

Thanks for the update