Weird green leak... help please!

bradentyrer

bradentyrer

New member
Hey there! Ever since I drove the 6 hours home from college and parked my 4Runner for 8 days while on vacation, I've noticed a bizarre green tinted leak forming under my car. It wasn't too big but after driving it yesterday and parking it, it got much bigger overnight. I thought it could be coolant but the reservoir is right on the "F" mark as it should be. I do have a sporadic power steering leak that I just keep topping off with the Ford ATF as I should, but I wanted to see if anyone could help me identify this leak and get it solved. Seems to be coming from the left half of the engine bay as the picture shows. Thanks

Braden


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What does it smell like?

Coolant could come from a variety of places. Jack up the truck. Crawl underneath with a flashlight.

Let us know what you find.
 
bradentyrer said:
Hey there! Ever since I drove the 6 hours home from college and parked my 4Runner for 8 days while on vacation, I've noticed a bizarre green tinted leak forming under my car. It wasn't too big but after driving it yesterday and parking it, it got much bigger overnight. I thought it could be coolant but the reservoir is right on the "F" mark as it should be. I do have a sporadic power steering leak that I just keep topping off with the Ford ATF as I should, but I wanted to see if anyone could help me identify this leak and get it solved. Seems to be coming from the left half of the engine bay as the picture shows. Thanks

Braden


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It could be aftermarket coolant (Toyota coolant is RED). Or, if you have had your A/C serviced recently, it could be the dye that they run through the lines to look for a leak, draining from your evaporator runoff hose. Or, possibly, you killed Kermit the Frog.
 
preacher35 said:
It could be aftermarket coolant (Toyota coolant is RED). Or, if you have had your A/C serviced recently, it could be the dye that they run through the lines to look for a leak, draining from your evaporator runoff hose. Or, possibly, you killed Kermit the Frog.
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Toyota LLC (Long Life Coolant) is Red, Toyota SLLC (Super Long Life), which is what the 4th Gens require is Pink.

If you're running green coolant then it might be a coolant leak, otherwise what color is your power steering fluid currently?

I would say jack up the truck and see if you can find the source real quick, its an odd looking color for fluid as it also looks foamed.
 
It looks like the coolant I use for machining, minus the foam. It's a strange color. No way to tell unless you look under.
 
My coolant appears to be red, and it is full. I'm using power steering fluid that looks dark red in color. My air conditioning was overhauled the summer before last, so it's been a while, although I do not remember a dye ever draining before that. This is all a mystery to me.
 
you likely ran over a lil green man!.

you had any work done on your ac recently?, or is your ac performing ok now?, could be dye mixed with compressor oil
 
you likely ran over a lil green man!.

you had any work done on your ac recently?, or is your ac performing ok now?, could be dye mixed with compressor oil
 
My air conditioner does something weird that I had posted about on here before with no answers. Every few seconds, it makes a weird hissing/breathing sound that lasts about one second before resting a few seconds and then it does it again. I just used the air conditioner the other day for the first time in a few months, if that could have done it.
 
bradentyrer said:
My air conditioner does something weird that I had posted about on here before with no answers. Every few seconds, it makes a weird hissing/breathing sound that lasts about one second before resting a few seconds and then it does it again. I just used the air conditioner the other day for the first time in a few months, if that could have done it.
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Not sure where the compressor is on the V8 but that's about where it's located on the V6. Have you bothered to crawl underneath the truck and look at things for yourself yet? If not, how about you do that and report back what you saw or better yet, take pics.
 
bradentyrer said:
Hey there! Ever since I drove the 6 hours home from college and parked my 4Runner for 8 days while on vacation, I've noticed a bizarre green tinted leak forming under my car. It wasn't too big but after driving it yesterday and parking it, it got much bigger overnight. I thought it could be coolant but the reservoir is right on the "F" mark as it should be. I do have a sporadic power steering leak that I just keep topping off with the Ford ATF as I should, but I wanted to see if anyone could help me identify this leak and get it solved. Seems to be coming from the left half of the engine bay as the picture shows. Thanks

Braden


photo-6_zps4578980e.jpg~original


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:barf:
 
At first glance, my first thought was that nasty pink milkshake crap that you get when the trans fluid mixes with radiator coolant. But than I remembered when I disconnected the A/C one time on an old Volvo and that same foamy mess came squirting out. That was in the R-12 days and if I recall the color was more yellowish. It was also very oily also so I suspect tracing the cause of the leak would be fairly simple once you can get underneath for a looksey.

Chris
 
I was thinking it looks kinda like what green coolant mixes with oil looks like when it gets foamed up by the engine. Like a bad head gasket or some other seal that is allowing coolant to mix with oil.

Then again, it could be ac system gas. It has oil in it for lubrication of the ac system. Your system could be shutting down due to not enough pressure. Not sure.
 
Chick up here at work that has a Nissan Maxima has a power steering hose leak. Parks in the same spot, that leak look exactly like hers on the ground. Its foamy with a green and white tint. Know for a fact its power steering, I look under the hood and told her what the leak was and the fact she adds fluid just about everyday.
 
put a clean piece of cardboard down and park on that after you drive it. that's a good way to see how aggressive your leak is. nothing beats actually getting under and looking though. pretty sure thats what the dude at the shop is going to do first but he's gonna charge you $25 bucks for it. keep your eyes out for a pot of gold though :roadkill:
 
Excuse me for being the kinda new guy, I'm going to lay this out straight for you.

Stop being lazy, you have a 4R, which means you need nothing but a flashlight and to put down the Xbox controller for five minutes. Get off your butt and go take a look.
 
I agree with some of the posts here. Determining what is leaking isn't that hard if you bend your knees a bit and take a look.

Daren
 
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