losing coolant

[chrisykn850]

Hi all
I have a 90 Hilux Surf 2.4 TD with 120,000 miles and have been losing / using coolant. The temperature gauge reaches half way and never ever climbs further. I have to top the reservoir tank from empty after about 400 miles.
No obvious signs of leaks / drips etc.

Any ideas ? If not I guess it'll be a garage trip.

Thanks

Chris

[hormygollop]

Hi all
I have a 90 Hilux Surf 2.4 TD with 120,000 miles and have been losing / using coolant. The temperature gauge reaches half way and never ever climbs further. I have to top the reservoir tank from empty after about 400 miles.
No obvious signs of leaks / drips etc.

Any ideas ? If not I guess it'll be a garage trip.

Thanks

Chris

IMO It is possibly just an airlock perhaps from the coolant change just expanding and pushing some water out, I would try a good bleed with all heaters open then see what happens.
If it was a serious problem I would imagine it would need water a bit more often.

Keith

[gemini]

Hi all
I have a 90 Hilux Surf 2.4 TD with 120,000 miles and have been losing / using coolant. The temperature gauge reaches half way and never ever climbs further. I have to top the reservoir tank from empty after about 400 miles.
No obvious signs of leaks / drips etc.

Any ideas ? If not I guess it'll be a garage trip.

Thanks

Chris

possible water pump leak, its behind the timing cover so you cant see if its leaking

[brian3315]

losing water

the only way is to get the system pressure tested. Any garage can do this and it only takes 10 minutes.
Brian3315

[Koi]

the only way is to get the system pressure tested. Any garage can do this and it only takes 10 minutes.
Brian3315

You say you keep topping it up it only holds a couple of inches of coolant any way. If you can t see any visible signs probably air lock now moving or as already said water pump.

[chrisykn850]

Thanks for the info all.
had a good look at it and was alarmed to find that the tube for expanded coolant to flow along from the engine into the plastic expansion chamber is not long enough to reach the bottom of the chamber (only half way). So even though I have been filling up with fluid (to the full level on the expansion chamber), the engine as it cools could only suck in a small amount of fluid until the fluid level drops to the bottom of the hose and the hose is out of the fluid, so in theory the engine coolant level in the engine could be very low but the expansion bottle shows half full. Are other surfs this way ?

will keep my eye on it and get pressure check at garage, will look for longer hose also.

strange how the temp gauge never goes above half way, will get that checked too

Chris