3rd gen cooling query?

[toplad]

Hi guys, need to pick ya brains again. Now i know this question will have been asked before and i have done my best to trawl through previous posts but i still cant come to a conclusion so here goes...
I bought my 3rd gen ssrg a few wks ago, when i got it home the radiator was dry, as was the expansion bottle. So i stuck maybe 5ltrs in with coolant and the level was above the fins. Happy with that. Went to work monday, came back friday, checked level and again it needed a couple of litres and i topped expansion bottle. Lookin again this week and expansion bottle empty and level just at top of radiator fins i think. No obvious leaks on rad or hoses so where is all this water goin? Is this a bad sign of head probs? theres no oil in radiator and temp seems fine (gauge does work) so im at a loss. As you can tell im not massively technical when it comes to the surf but i wont see her suffering, haha. When i get some money together im havin all fluids changed, radiator flushed etc.. but if im gonna need a new head then thats the least of my worries. Any comments/advice welcome surfers, cheers.

[will.b]

Water Loss

If the vehicle is losing that much coolant with no obvious leaks from the radiator or hoses, I would top up with coolant and let the car idle until it warms up, keeping an eye on the exhaust. I think that is where the water could be going. If you get someone else to blip the throttle and you see white smoke, thats the water. Next step would be check head gasket. Hope this helps.

[jeffo]

Have you had any sign of coolant chucked out of the overflow bottle. I'm thinking along the lines of the thermostat sticking and it overheating to the point where it boils and gas pushes the water through the rad cap and out the bottle so depleting the coolant. I've just bought a surf at 95000 and will soon replace my13year old Items with new ones. Have you dipped the transmission does it look a bit overfull?

[si tate]

Stab in the dark but you say you've only had it a few weeks, may be the previous owner did a coolant change just before you bought it but did'nt get rid of the air out of the system properly hence you having to top up all the time.

If its showing signs of looking fuller every time you've topped up then once rad & expantion bottle stay full all the time your problem should be solved, if not & it keeps going down then it could be costly.

Oh & make sure you top up with whatever colour coolant is in already "should be red" so i'd use the toyota pre mixed from your local dealer.

Hope this helps.

[toplad]

Ok cheers guys, gonna keep toppin up for the moment, hopefully it'll reach a point where it stays full. If not then it's time to sell a kidney i guess.

[Smego2]

Ok cheers guys, gonna keep toppin up for the moment, hopefully it'll reach a point where it stays full. If not then it's time to sell a kidney i guess.

I have a rad if you need one, came out mine when I thought I had an issue turned out to be just full of MUD

[InfraRed]

Hi TOPLAD

If yours has the rear passenger heater check the feed pipes to the rear matrix. They exit the engine bay just behind the offside front wheel as a result get rusty and eventually leak.

Cheers
Ian