PDA

View Full Version : Check your coolant bottle

UTVitz
12-15-2009, 01:02 PM
Any one else notice a sudden loss of coolant for no obvious reason-the bottle is just empty. No leaks and the level was fine a couple weeks ago. This happened after a sudden drop in outside temps into the single digits.

Sure made me nervous yesterday having recently read a thread where a smart car owner fried his engine because of low coolant and the light never went off because the sensor was in air-not actual coolant since the level was so low.

The toyota mechanic I use advised there may have been a pocket in the system that finally filled in-I'm thinking after a year and a half of driving? He did say he's noticed new cars are evaporating off more coolant than say cars from 10 years ago. He gave me a gallon of the toyota long life coolant that's in the car from the factory and I've topped up the system-it used about 1/3 of the gallon to refill it and will drive and observe if there are any other drops in it's level.
YAR1S
12-15-2009, 01:08 PM
My coolant is half of what it used to be..... I wondered where the hell it went :D
bronsin
12-15-2009, 02:44 PM
My (water cooled) Honda ST1100 motorcycle did the disappearing coolant trick for several years. I figured the head gasket must be leaking a little into the combustion chamber. Or maybe a tiny tiny leak from the hoses. I couldnt find any other reason. Then I added a manual switch to the cooling fan. On hot days in traffic the temp needle, while not going into the red, would move a lot higher on the scale. Turning the fan on manually at the first sign of traffic kept the needle in its place. That summer the coolant stopped disappearing!
Im betting youve got a very small leak someplace. Difficult to find/fix that!
Lewis
12-15-2009, 04:20 PM
can you say "pressure test?"
UTVitz
12-15-2009, 04:54 PM
Since it's under warranty it will get a pressure test, I was just wondering if this a common occurance with this car/engine. Looks more like this is an "odd" occurance.
YarisPR
12-15-2009, 05:31 PM
That happened to me once, the hoses where bone dry. I filled the bottle again and it has been fine for 2 months.

I've always said it "My Yaris is a Biatch" LOL:bellyroll:
DerFlosser
12-16-2009, 11:05 AM
My wife's Scion is like this....
devinlamothe
12-16-2009, 11:34 AM
This happened to me about 2 years after owning the car. One day it went down to almost empty, so I just topped it up with coolant. I did get a coolant flush, they didn't notice any leaks, so who knows WTF is going on! I keep a bottle of coolant handy, though.
TheSilkySmooth
12-16-2009, 06:22 PM
Mine is fine after 1.5 years and 27K miles.
bronsin
12-16-2009, 08:13 PM
Water cooled motorcycles have a multitude of hoses and hence connections that commonly leak especially when first put in service. Its common to have to tighten at least one of these. Also, the leaks tend to be small and hard to pin point.
YarisSedan
12-16-2009, 08:28 PM
Well coolant in the overflow bottle does go up and down as you drive. If your radiator cap is working correctly. It sucks in coolant and as it expands goes back into the overlow bottle. Thats why there is a low and a high point. As long as your somewhere inbetween you are okay. Beause you are not exactly the the full life dosnt mean your cooling system is low. I would consider this normal. If your coolant is below the lowest line then you may have a issue.

I would however look around the water pump. All toyotas with external water pumps are notorius for leaking. Usually around 60k miles. Easy way is to check the hood and bumper areas around the belts area you will see a pink residue splatter.
auxmike
12-16-2009, 08:51 PM
My brother's '08 Xd is now on the "low" line of the bottle, mine's about 1.5 inch low too. :iono: Any idea how much $ a gallon from the dealers runs?

RE: waterpump; my Mom's went after 16k on her '06 Corolla. I noticed hints of pink on the underhood padding.
It was out of warr, BUT Dad sprang for the extended warr at the time of purchase (as did I) and that took care of it! :wub:
bronsin
12-16-2009, 09:52 PM
Like $25. Mixed 50/50 with water.
YarisSedan
12-16-2009, 10:13 PM
My brother's '08 Xd is now on the "low" line of the bottle, mine's about 1.5 inch low too. :iono: Any idea how much $ a gallon from the dealers runs?

RE: waterpump; my Mom's went after 16k on her '06 Corolla. I noticed hints of pink on the underhood padding.
It was out of warr, BUT Dad sprang for the extended warr at the time of purchase (as did I) and that took care of it! :wub:

My waterpump actually went out twice once at 15k and again at about 17k