problem with car coolant and i need answers fast! Thank you!

[guspeed]

Hi guys!

Okay this is my problem. So I opened up the radiator cap and there was no visible coolant, so I added about a 12oz bottle of water worth in coolant. Later after driving for a few hours, my coolant resevior was overflowing.

Why is it that it's low on coolant in the radiator but overflowing coolant in the resevior? What can I do to fix this? My oil seems okay. I'm not losing any and there's no visible evidence of coolant.

Thank you so much for your help. I bought the car for $1,900 with 198,000k miles. I can't afford to spend anymore money. However I do plan on motor swaping or rebuilding the engine, whichever is the best bang for it's buck.

Thanks again!

 

[IJ.]

When it's cold fill the radiator to the top park the car on a hill so the nose is higher then run it with the rad cap off and keep topping it up (make sure the heater is on hot)

Once you've done this and no more air comes out put the rad cap back on fill the recovery tank to about half way and drive the car until it reached operating temp.

Keep any eye on it for a few days and if it still uses LOTS of coolant prepare for a head gasket job.

 

[fiyota]

yup... if burping the system (what IJ explained) doesnt help the problem, get your head gasket tested before you spend any amounts of money trying to fix your cooling system. Just go to a shop and tell them to do I think it's called a hydrocarbon test (sp?) and a compression test... the first will tell you if there is indeed exhaust gases or oil in your coolant, the second will tell you what cylinders (if any) are bad... an expert can correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[te72]

yeah, burping should help it... if it isnt a BHG... thats what happened in my case. does the coolant flow out from the overflow? i thought there was some blockage in my rad/hoses, but it turned out to be a really nasty BHG... good luck!

brad

 

[fiyota]

Yup, same deal with mine... when the car was hot the coolant resevoir was completely full and would just blow coolant out... I could hear running water through my dash and my temp guage would soar way up and then back down to about just below half... and then when I shut the car off the temp gauge would shoot way up after sitting for a few minutes. So I thought I just had air trapped in my lines and I got it flushed and refilled properly and fixed all the leaks (upper rad hose, lower rad hose, new thermostat, and new fan clutch).. but still had air in the lines, so I had my coolant tested and my head gasket turned out to be bad. All 6 cylinders had leaks in em, and it was broken at cylinder #1 and #6... fun stuff..

 

[supramacist]

same damn problem here...., burp it all you want and keep checking your fluids.

 

[fiyota]

I must have burped my car a good 8 times and went through many jugs of coolant (mixed 50/50 of course).... ya.. should have checked my head from the beginning.

 

[te72]

ya.. should have checked my head from the beginning.

yeah, that would have saved me a lot of money in coolant, haha... :nono:

brad

 

[fiyota]

haha yup same here... damn waste of some good toyota red coolant too... and the cost of two full coolant flushes and pressure tests.... :3d_frown:

Oh... and I could have saved about $300 in labour if I had the head tested first... I decided to have my valve cover gaskets done... I should have got them to take the head off while everything was off the top end anyway to have a look at the head gasket... or wait till now since they have it apart right now. ah well live and learn eh?

 

[IJ.]

Bit of a clue for ANYONE asking questions.....

None of us here are paid to do this we do it from a desire to help out and share knowledge.

A simple "thanks" goes a long way and if you get good helpful info in a timely manner you could even go so far as giving Rep.

None of this is mandatory it's just good manners..:nono:

 

[lagged]

wow im glad i do most of the work to my car my self. 300 bucks just to find out that you have a BHG...

thats worse than having the BHG it self!

 

[jdub]

Bit of a clue for ANYONE asking questions.....

None of us here are paid to do this we do it from a desire to help out and share knowledge.

A simple "thanks" goes a long way and if you get good helpful info in a timely manner you could even go so far as giving Rep.

None of this is mandatory it's just good manners..:nono:

I've noticed what you saying too IJ...I kinda slammed a guy for not saying "thanks" and it didn't even have an effect. Makes me wonder sometimes if the expectation is an "on-line Mk III tech hotline"

As far as rep goes...really doesn't matter here, just like to help and return all the lurking I did when I was doing the build. Seeing all the newbies lately, I think they just don't know what rep is or how go give it

 

[IJ.]

JDub: Yep manners seem to be lacking these days
(In MY Day.... yada yada yada)

The Rep thing is good as often I don't return to a thread so may miss a thanks.

I can only speak for myself here but if I don't get a thankyou I'm very hesitant to offer advice to that person again.

 

[guspeed]

Hey! I always say thank you.

Okay so I poured more coolant in and I drove to work. After work as I drive away I see coolant on the ground. I'm assuming it's from the overflow.

Now I parked the car and I can see it overflowing out the coolant resevior. the temperature doesn't go up, its at half way point. The engine runs hella good, no oil burn, and it drives hella smooth and fast. The only problem is the coolant.

SO should I try jacking the front end up and then open the radiator cap and top that off with the heater on and car running? I really appreciate the help. I can't afford to get the head fix really, unless someone could offer another approach.

Can I just buy another 7MGE from Japan with 35,000 to 50,000K miles? It's only like $500.00 for the engine??

Thank you so much for your time and help!!

 

[fiyota]

Can you hear the rushing water sound? But ya, jack the front end up or park on a really steep hill. Start the car from cold (keep the rad cap off, and put the heater on full) add coolant to an inch below the rad filler neck.. run the car untill it gets to operating temperature. Keep adding coolant to the rad to make sure it stays full as air leaves the system. Then once the car gets warm you should see the coolant level in the rad drop as the thermostat opens, keep adding coolant to the rad. Keep running the car untill you no longer see air bubbling out of the rad (sometimes it may be a huge spurt so dont get too close to it), and always keep an eye on the temperature gauge. Run the car for a good 20-25 minutes and keep topping up the rad as it needs it... after you see a steady stream of coolant going through the radiator put the rad cap on and take it for a test drive... hopefully the gurgling sound goes away (if it was there originally), and see how it goes... when you get back check the resevoir, it shouldn't be completely full, but at the full line.

I had to do this many times... still had air in my lines... was a blown head gasket, but no other signs of one... no milky oil, no oil in my coolant, no white smoke...

 

[guspeed]

oh i didn't know you keep the car running that long with the heater on.

I had it on for like 5 minutes, the car wasn't even on normal running temperature. I topped it off then wait for a few minutes, revved the engine, and then put the cap back on.

Could there still be air in the system? By the way I had the heater core replaced, and was told they drained the radiator and put new coolant.

What do you think? Thank you!

 

[Allan_MA70]

Hey! I always say thank you.

Okay so I poured more coolant in and I drove to work. After work as I drive away I see coolant on the ground. I'm assuming it's from the overflow.

Now I parked the car and I can see it overflowing out the coolant resevior. the temperature doesn't go up, its at half way point. The engine runs hella good, no oil burn, and it drives hella smooth and fast. The only problem is the coolant.

SO should I try jacking the front end up and then open the radiator cap and top that off with the heater on and car running? I really appreciate the help. I can't afford to get the head fix really, unless someone could offer another approach.

Can I just buy another 7MGE from Japan with 35,000 to 50,000K miles? It's only like $500.00 for the engine??

Thank you so much for your time and help!!

a got a total 8km off a 29,000km old 7m-gte with no boosting... the devil you know is better then the devil you dont!