Coolant Disappearing

[Accurate Race Shop]

Originally Posted by BRZ_Lawyer

Ok so how do I get a hydro carbon test. And doesn't white smoke always emit from exhaust?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

A hydro carbon test kit is sold at Napa you have to follow the directions exactly or you will get a false test. Do not let the strips touch anything besides the coolant. And on a cold start and during cooler temps out side it is perfectly normal to see white smoke but once the car is warmed up you shouldn't be seeing very much white smoke from the tail pipes.... and another questioned answered is why they can leak so long before they fail. the answer to that is your cats the antifreeze leaking into them drys into a white powder and clogs them up causing them build pressure and then push exhaust into the coolant. When that happens the car is going to do all sorts of crazy things but the big indicator is the engine is warm but the heater will not work. This is from the heater core being full of exhaust gas instead of the hot coolant. This will cause the car to over heat and cool back down within minutes because the gas cools faster than the liquid. and the most obvious is bubbles on the coolant overflow tank while the car is running.

Sent from my Q10

[FR-S Matt]

I checked my coolant again today both cold and hot. Its been a few months and it is just slightly under full when warm and just under the halfway mark while cold. I think the stock hoses don't have a 100% seal. Regardless with coolant in the reservoir, everything is okay.

[whataboutbob]

I swapped the factory hoses to the Perrin set and added t-bolt hose clamps. My coolant loss has decreased significantly.

The other thing I've noticed while working on putting some upgrades onto the car is that the overflow hose fit to the overflow tank is not sealed. I do a fair amount of AutoXing and I had coolant residue all over the fan shroud and other localized areas.

I'm wondering if there is some evaporation (and obviously to me spillage) occurring at this unsealed point in the system. I've ordered some 1/2 in ID grommets and plan to fit one into the hole that the overflow hose fits into in the overflow tank. This will certainly require me to enlarge the hole in the overflow tank just a bit to fit the grommet.

[Septic]

Sorry to revisit an old thread, but coolant reservoir is back to low again (after being filled 6,000 miles ago.) Took it back to the dealer (again.) The dealer called back to tell me they can't find a reason for the coolant levels to go down. They are contacting Toyota for engineering support.

Fortunately I don't need to drive the car for a few days so I told them to do whatever it takes to get it resolved.

More to follow....

[texasbound972]

That's what happened to me. But my coolant was below the low line. They took it back and found a leak on the cam plate. Not sure if that was the issue or not. Might have to buy the raceng replacement because I looked at it today and saw a little oil at the bottom.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

[Frost]

Originally Posted by texasbound972

That's what happened to me. But my coolant was below the low line. They took it back and found a leak on the cam plate. Not sure if that was the issue or not. Might have to buy the raceng replacement because I looked at it today and saw a little oil at the bottom.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

Not to sound accusatory but what does that plate have to do with coolant? I can understand if it was oil levels but coolant?

[texasbound972]

They never gave an explaination of why the coolant was low but they pointed out the oil leak. Said they were gonna take pics and send to toyota. This was a couple of months ago.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 using Tapatalk

[smbstyle]

You guys are making sure you check you coolant overflow tank level when warm, right?

the LOW or just a hair above or below the line when COLD is normal. Mine has been at the LOW mark when cold for as long as I can remember, and stays there.

If I try to fill it to FULL when warm, it will be at about halfway between FULL and LOW when it's cold. However, after some hard, aggressive driving over a few days, it drops back to LOW, but it stays at LOW. If it was a leak, it would continue to drop, even below LOW.

This shows me that filling it up to FULL when warm is actually overfilling it. Same thing happened with my Miata race car. I kept filling the coolant to the full line when warm, couldn't trace a leak, and finally I marked the spot on the tank with a pen where the level would always drop to after my first race weekend, and sure enough, it stayed there steady since then.

[mrnurse]

Ok, I may have missed it but I have a coolant smell. The dealership has already dropped the engine twice to scope the cylinders accessed the dash to check the heater core pressure tested multiple times. The answer that they have me was " you have a Subaru engine in your scion, they use a different coolant than toyota uses. This coolant boils at a lower temperature than Toyota's coolant. This is leading to coolant vapors coming out of your overflow tank and the coolant smell you are having. There is nothing wrong with your car." I very clearly expressed that I was a ford certified mechanic and that at no point on any car I have ever worked on has ever had a coolant smell unless something was wrong. I got home and checked. I am not having coolant loss as far as I know but something is wrong. The smell was there then I popped the overflow tank and it did not have the burning coolant smell. I am going back Wednesday when I get off and going strait to the GM and discussing this with him. Also the finance manager that was there when I got the car and I have been communicating about all of this. He has owned two fr-s and they did not have this issue. He is also telling me when I go to talk with the GM, that I demand my car be lemon lawed because of the time invested with out any repair being made. We will see. I just want to know I am not buying a car that is going to cause me problems down the road because of issues going on now.

[Mikepage]

What mean GM? Garage manager?

[Turkish]

Originally Posted by Mikepage

What mean GM? Garage manager?

GM refers to the general manager.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by Turkish

GM refers to the general manager.

Game Master, bro!

[Mikepage]

Make me laugh haha, GM for GMC then he will go to the GM dealer to check what's happens with the coolant!!!!

[Tye300]

Originally Posted by whataboutbob

I swapped the factory hoses to the Perrin set and added t-bolt hose clamps. My coolant loss has decreased significantly.

The other thing I've noticed while working on putting some upgrades onto the car is that the overflow hose fit to the overflow tank is not sealed. I do a fair amount of AutoXing and I had coolant residue all over the fan shroud and other localized areas.

I'm wondering if there is some evaporation (and obviously to me spillage) occurring at this unsealed point in the system. I've ordered some 1/2 in ID grommets and plan to fit one into the hole that the overflow hose fits into in the overflow tank. This will certainly require me to enlarge the hole in the overflow tank just a bit to fit the grommet.

I'd like to try this too. If you check the overflow tank closely, it has a small hole also which could have an effect on evaporation. Could this be the culprit?