Radiator..

sonnydays2

New member
I dont think coolant is getting to my radiator..the coolant reservoir is empty now..but i refilled it with water temporarily..put a little bit of water in the radiator..drove it fine for a little while.then it started smoking really bad....i checked the reservoir, it was full.i think i have a leak leading to the radiator..PLEASE HELP!
 
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If the coolant reservoir magically empties itself, you definitely have a leak.

How old is your truck? How many miles?

Do you see any signs of a leak under the truck? Toyota OEM coolant is red, sort of like trans fluid but a little thinner. You may not see a leak... I've had two Toyota's that in the past had a coolant leak, but it was so smalll that the warm engine block evaporated the coolant before it got to the ground. It wasn't until the car sat for a couple of weeks that I found a small red puddle. One problem was a freeze plug, and the other was the water pump bearing. Pull off the covers underneath the truck and look for signs of leaking fluid that might be drying up.

Do you have white smoke coming out of the exhaust constantly? (Not just water vapor in cold air, but actual smoke.) If so, that could indicate a head gasket leak. That's a bigger deal, because then the coolant is mixing with the engine oil and potentially causing other problems.

You should always try to keep the reservoir full. Keep an eye on it, and if it gets below the bottom line, fill it to the top line. Now that you've been driving a lot with low coolant, you'll also find that when you fill the reservoir it will disappear a lot faster as the system makes up for the amount it has lost. Just keep filling it as needed, and eventually it will stop consuming coolant as quickly. Then you can focus on finding the leak.
 
i have a 94 v6 4x4..i had noticed green liquid underneath my car for a few days before.....which was coolant obviously..the truck has aruond 140,000 miles...i dont see any smoke coming out of the exhaust...i think i may have a leak from the reservoir to the actual radiator..ill just keep filling both up and see what happens until i repair it, whatever it may be
 
sonnydays2 said:
i have a 94 v6 4x4..i had noticed green liquid underneath my car for a few days before.....which was coolant obviously..the truck has aruond 140,000 miles...i dont see any smoke coming out of the exhaust...i think i may have a leak from the reservoir to the actual radiator..ill just keep filling both up and see what happens until i repair it, whatever it may be

Refill, drive a few miles, then get under the car and see if you can see where it's dripping from. It's often fairly obvious. Hopefully it's just a hose. Worse case scenario is that the water pump is shot and leaking or the radiator itself is leaking.
 
If your water pump leaked that much it would be froze up/ I suspect cracked hose/hole in radiator.

Don't let this go/ you need a good running coolent system/she overheats you warp the heads ruin a head gasket and your troubles have just begun....so find the leak and fix it.


BTW don't run cheap green autoparts store antifreeze get the good red stuff from Toyota.


Mike
 
Go to Autozone rent a pressure tester, pressure up the system and see what's leaking!

Do it soon or as others have stated it's going to cost you a ton!

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