what the hell can it be

[firefly]

ok ive been losing water, and can use as much as 2ltr a week, thought it was the head, but changed the thermosts and rad cap no difference, had my mechanich pressure test again today, he said he had it up to about 3 bar and not a jot came out, he took off timing belt cover and underneath trays to check for staining etc, it did lose a bit of pressue he said but certainly nothing to be alarmed about, i then took it to a garage that uses a dye thay changes colour if combustion/exhaust gasses are present in the water, no sign of anything and they daid it looked spot on, so what the hell could it be!

[Tallyman]

I know this may sound silly, but is the tube in the expansion bottle low enough to be under the water in there? Also, don't suppose you have a leak on the tube from the radiator to the expansion bottle or even a hole/crack in the expansion bottle itself? Either of those would likely cause a water loss but without any sign of a pressure leak or cracked head.

[firefly]

Tallyman the tube is quite long in the expansion bottle, do i need to shorten it??? and also there is never hardly any water in the tank after i have filled it to its full line it just dissapears like the water in the rad, as for the pipes honestly iv had it running for ages looking all over the engine bay at every pipe i can see and underneath everywhere im having another look tomorrow but i havent found anything theres never any water on the floor even after a run be it long or short, there is no staining of rust or antifreeze anywhere i really am at me witts end with it i think id have rather said it is kapput so at least i can get it sorted, but its unbelievable how much water its using and not being able to find a single leak

[coolsv650]

daft question.

Has the heater matrix been checked? (and the rear heater if you have one)

I remember my days as a mechanic. We once had a lada which lost water but could never find a leak. Turned out to be the thermostat housing had a crack in it that only leaked when cold.

so it might be worth a pressure & leak test both cold & hot.

also (& tonyN might know better than me) are the 3.0Ltr turbo's water cooled, if they are could water be finding it's way into the exhaust?

sorry cant help further

[firefly]

cool thats the next plan my mechanic is going to isolate the rear matrix and see if its that and then will isolate the front, the pressure test has been done hot and cold, but even when flat cold, ie first thing in a morn ive looked to see if theres any water seeping out and it just looks bone dry. the quest continues, and yes the trubo is water cooled so that will be another plan if the elimination prossess dont find a weak spot somewhere.

[toyotav84x4]

That is a lot of coolant to disappear. Lets hope it's not steam! ie out exhaust.
Wouldn't a leaky heater cause the cabin to get wet? At least into the footwell just under the carpet? Also the windows would be real misty on a old morning.

The radiator can burn a lot of steam off without showing up that much.
Maybe it will not leak on idle. I noticed that the temp only gets hotter when driven under load on mine. At idle its really cool running.

Sadly I believe it is possible to have a crack on the exhaust port in the head that sucks coolant rather than burns it? Is that right anyone..... on this head?

good luck

[firefly]

well it just gets better, had a guy ask if i had a bolckage somewhere but i did have the whole system drained and purged last year to clean it out, anyway the damn thing is playing up starting can turn key and all lights on but just a slight turn and then a click and then after another couple of trys it lights up like theres nothing a matter does this soond like the starter is on its way out and would a refurb kit be the ticket or would peeps reccommend a new starter motor aint life grand sometimes..

[coolsv650]

well it just gets better, had a guy ask if i had a bolckage somewhere but i did have the whole system drained and purged last year to clean it out, anyway the damn thing is playing up starting can turn key and all lights on but just a slight turn and then a click and then after another couple of trys it lights up like theres nothing a matter does this soond like the starter is on its way out and would a refurb kit be the ticket or would peeps reccommend a new starter motor aint life grand sometimes..

I'd put my wife's wage on the starter contacts. Normally these starters are rock solid & it's the contacts in the starter that fail. Parts cost about £40 from roughtrax

[The Lovely Boyo]

The genuine parts for the starter kit from Toyota cost about £35.

Ref water loss - could be your rad is leaking. Mine had a tiny leak giving all the probs your are experiencing.

Also, I have had to replace all the smaller cooling system hoses in the last 6 months - they were all corroding/cracking and generally letting water out when under heavy load.

Roughtrax do a complete kit of the hoses for about £100 - properly shaped. I've made mine up out of standard 5/8'' engine hose.

[Diezel Weazel]

[QUOTE=The Lovely Boyo]
Ref water loss - could be your rad is leaking. Mine had a tiny leak giving all the probs your are experiencing.

I gotta agree with Andy, my water had been dissapearing since last years RTTS) (I was constantly checking / filling) I eventually found my Rad did have a pin hole, soldered it .... Job done !!!
Good Luck


There's always a Payback .... Just when ya don't need it !!!!

[firefly]

i have read on here about the rad being weak but did you notice any water honestly ive had the car cold and looked everywhere for a leak had it running temp and couldnt find a thing no rust spots no staining nothing this is waht is doing me head in, and yup i will sort the roughtrax starter kit out aong with a new set of heater plugs god its turning into a money pit this year but i suppose its been solid for 4 years....

[davemaxx]

could be a small crack in the rad and when the temperature goes up the pressure goes up and pushes the coolant out and then it dries on the rad so you dont see any water leaking out. i don't think you can propally inspect the rad while its fitted, you could take it out and preassure test it, if the hole or crack still cant be seen.

or coge it up with a big bottle of rad weld cag mag, if it don't leak any more you know the rad needs replacing, and you can hose pipe the old coolant out the engin.

[dirty fingernails]

water leak

right i have replaced everything with genuine toyota parts the head, water pump, t stat, head gasket, crank pulley, rad cap, air pipes i can rev the nackers of the engine and no water comes out but if i drive it 100 yards water $$$$es out of somewhere near the passenger side wheel arch ive seen it when im driving i drive up to the next street no more than 50 yards away pull in reverse back there is loads of water all over but when i pull up nothing is leaking it is doing my head in plus where the hell is the water tap for the block it says rear left of block but im buggered if i can find it have flushed out engine best i can but if i could put my finger on this it may help and the t stat cap do i screw it as far as i can or do i just turn it to the first recesses
cheers
dirty fingernails

[davemaxx]

Think you should have started a new thread,

[I]t stat cap do i screw it as far as i can or do i just turn it to the first recesses ? /I]

if your on about the rad cap it sounds like you've got the wrong one on and it won't function,
it sounds like the guts of yours are to long,
the rad cap fitment is usually a bayonet type fitment.
if you cany get it to easily fit properly, it means the inner seel washer on the end of the spring is tight against the inner rad and the spring won't give back any further and won't lift to let expanded heated coolant into the expansion tank. so the excess pressure is blowing coolant out somewhere.
the only coolant hoses on passenger side apart from the return to rad at top front are the heater matrix hoses fastened at the bulk head below the windscreen.

[dirty fingernails]

water leak cont

yeah i realised that (the new thread) sorry!! i did start a new one when i realised.
i ve hopefully sorted it i think the leak was from 2 places the bottom rad pipe was not pushed on properly so i pushed it fully home and changed the spring clip for a jubilee clip in fact i have changed almost all the spring clips for jubilee clips.
also when i was filling up the water system i filled up the expansion tank to the max mark so when the water in the engine expanded it overfilled the tank.
the rad cap is a bayonet type but there are 2 possibilities of where it sits either almost a full turn or about quarter of an inch to a recess that the bayonet lugs seem to fit in still cant find the block drain though ive made it my mission to find it but even if i do i doubt ill fit my pork sausage hands anywhere near it