Loosing coolant!

I've been driving my new '87 LE 4X4 around for a few weeks now, and its been very nice.

I topped off the overflow res. for the radiator right after I got the van because it was a little under half. Yesterday the radiator light came on and went off, I thought nothing of it. Today the light went on and stayed on, and what do you know, the overflow was almost empty.

Which means I'm loosing coolant somewhere.

The head gasket doesn't seem to be an issue here, my oil is fine and there's no smoke in the exhaust.
The van has never overheated, not even close. So I haven't boiled any coolant out.

So I must suspect a leak. I think the "hose of death" is original, but man, I hate to get into that although I guess I will if I have to.

How does one find a leak? Its crazy here in Portland because the ground is always wet and full of rain puddles, its not like I can notice if anything leaks!

My hunch is I just need to bite the bullet and replace ALL the cooling hoses (2 have been replaced).

Gonna take this baby across the country at the end of March, she's gotta be in tip top shape. Other than this issue there's no reason to believe she won't make it!

mark in Portland

Assuming they are original, replacing all the hoses is probably a good idea. When it comes to the super small coolant leaks, often times all you can do is keep topping it off and wait until it gets bad enough to drip on the ground or (God forbid) show up in your oil or show up as a vapor out your exhaust. Once it's bad enough to do one of those things it should be easy to find. If you replace all the hoses you could very likely inadvertently find and repair. Just because it uses a little coolant I wouldn't consider the van to be unreliable, but you will need to be vigilant and make sure it never runs low. Until you get a chance to look at it closer and/or replace the other hoses I'd keep using it (just make sure to keep adding coolant as required).

I just recently located a leak on my work van that's been there for over a year. Every time I took panels off and inspected everything was dry (no obvious leaks), but coolant was going somewhere because I needed to add about a cup or two every month. Finally I started noticing a little spot on my garage floor in the mornings and that's when I was able to find it. In my case it ended up being the head gasket (an external leak in the #4 cylinder area under the exhaust manifold). No coolant got into my cylinders or into my oil pan (thank God). It just seeps a tiny bit out between the block and the head, runs down the side of my block and then onto the floor. It still leaks and I still add a little coolant every couple of weeks. I plan on doing the head gasket some time before summer, but since it's just an external leak it's not urgent.

Like you, I would suspect hoses 1st. Check around the bell-housing area too as this is where the "hose of death" leaks will 1st appear. Even with small intermittent leaks you can sometimes locate them by looking for deposits. For what it's worth this sort of problem is not unusual on older vehicles. Until you can pinpoint and repair just keep an eye on it and keep adding coolant as required. One way to fix is to put a stop leak product in, but I very much dislike doing that and wouldn't do it to anything I cared about or wanted to keep long-term. Tim

I'm getting way ahead of myself here......but, assuming I find a leaky hose somewhere, do I HAVE to drain all the fluid out? Not that I'm afraid to but the less I have to do at this point the better (time is precious these days!!).

mark

Just make sure there's no pressure in the system and change the hose. The amount of coolant you lose will depend on how high (or low) the hose is compared to the rest of the system. If you can, put a pan or something under the area so you don't leak too much on the ground. If you're on concrete you can mop up after you're done. Tim

And don't forget that coolant is deadly to dogs and cats. Clean-up that stuff good!

I got a little worried when I couldn't find a leak anywhere, even putting a big piece of cardboard under the van to catch anything and letting the van sit. Nothing.

Then I got the bug in my head, what if, what if its the head gasket?

Due to lack of time I took the van to a reputable Toyota shop where they checked the coolant for hydrocarbons. None to be found. They saw some coolant on the outside of one of the big return hose, it wasn't actively leaking but they said the clamp was loose. They tightened it up and pressure tested for a few hours, no leaks.

If thats all it was, thank the lord! I can sleep better now!

mark

Was that one of the new hoses?

They said "upper radiator hose"......not sure if it was one of the new ones or not but maybe?

mark

The reason I mentioned it is because it's not uncommon for new hoses to leak within a few hundred miles of installation, at least when using the stainless clamps. When the rubber gets hot it gets softer and the clamps can loosen up a bit. Personally I like the stainless clamps (these are the ones I use), but I've had this same thing happen before. These should be retorqued after a week or so after initial installation. Perhaps the guy that put them on there forgot to do that :hmr: :wnk:.

I guess it's a good argument for the original Toyota clamps (made from spring steel). I never really liked those, but at least they are self tightening. Tim

Ah! That makes me think I should double check the other new clamps too, before I'm in South Dakota and losing more coolant!

mark

So whatever happened? I'm having the exact same issue, did you change out the hose of death? Tighten the clamps?

I was driving to work this morning and I saw a yellow flash in the instrument panel but didn't know what it was so I started I pay attention to it and then I saw the radiation light come on. I turned around and went home and parked the van and transferred everything over to my other van and headed out.... Man... I spent the whole day just thinking about and reading... Rereading... Searching to see what it could be??

I calked the shop and told them I've only driven the van bout 200 miles and now the light has flashed on. They told me to add water and bring her in. Looks like it'll be Saturday when she goes back in.

Im in hoping it's just the clamps!! But if it's the float sensor then I'm guessing I read somewhere it's NLA so they'll need to rig something up.

Float sensor is still available, but it's over $100.

Hmmmmm.... How bout sending me that part number Boss?? Ummm please send me the part number:wnk:

I'm gonna wait for the diagnosis just to be sure... I wanna get all the neglected areas worked out so I can have a piece of mind when driving this beast!!

Thanks Tim

http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...Reservoir-Leak

I couldn't wait I hear the diagnosis so I ordered the sensor and they installed it last night and called me to say it was ready to go. No more radiator light, but to keep an eye on the coolant level. I'm gonna pick it up tonight and drive it for the rest if the week to see if she behaves herself!

Thank you Tim for your diagnosis on that sensor!!