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Coolant Lost

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Was doing some pre-winter maintenance over the weekend; checked fluid levels, got oil changed, drained my coolant and replaced with pre-mixed toyota red which cost me nearly =A340. Nice day today again so I move the 80 onto the grass on the garden nose uphill where I'll get the Sun and get underneath and clean, lubricate and grease where necessary, I then spot 2 pipes that sit above the cats and heatshield, are looking pretty rusty. I cant figure what they are? they cant be fuel... maybe there brake pipes? . I trace their route to where the disappear up into the floor and convince myself -without taking proper bearings of where I am under the car - that they enter just under the back(middle) seats?? Well what ever they are they are not looking good, so I'll clean off the flaky bits and to a very temp repair until I work out what they are and how best to fix. So I give gentle rub to remove the worst bits and instantly fluid spews out, oops. I scramble out of way and realise that it is definitely not fuel, so it must be brake fluid. Anyway run to find something to catch it in and cant eventually find mop bucket and get it underneath but it's spraying everywhere and there are now worms pouring out of the ground where it is landing. That liquid looks like Toyota red so I pull of radiator cap and yep! there is a nice shiny radiator core and no coolant. But how can that be is there a heater under the middle seats? Start cursing myself while I wait for the fluid to drain and realise that because the nose is uphill that practically all of the coolant is going to drain out, and it does. Look underneath and the last remaining drops come out the new hole, and take a proper bearing of where the pipes enter the floor- and it is of course under the drivers seat where the heater blower is. Check the bucket and there is maybe 4 litres saved of my virgin Toyota red, then realise that it's contaminated with bleach and crap so will go with my oil to the facility at the dump. I decide that I wont watch Scotland play New Zealand on the Telly as I'm pissed-off as it is. I've now realised I think I should be pretty pleased that it happened at home and and when the engine was cold.
Has anybody repaired these pipes before or can anybody Help and tell me what size the of hose I'll need to to do a repair. I'm thinking I could just cut out the bad parts of the pipes and replace with hose instead. Also, one nut on the heatsheild will not come of and the nut is now rounded from all my efforts with various tools to free it. What can I do to solve this as it is in the way?
any help appreciated
Mark
 
Hi Mark,
Sorry, can't help, however if you let me have your VIN I might be able
to look on the EPC to see - sometimes it give diameters.
A good cheap option although bear in mind that rubber hose with the
same internal diameter will be thicker so may not go through the same
holes etc.
If you go down to your local motor factors they should sell nut
removers - these are like sockets but have a reverse thread in them -
if the bolt head isn't too knackered it should be able to remove it.
Failing that, knock the head off with a cold chisel and then drill the
bolt out and re-tap (been gettiing a lot of practice on this recently).
Start off with a small drill (about 2mm) to ensure you get a pilot hole
in the middle of the remains of the bolt, then drill it out with a
larger one, that is about the same diameter and the inner part of the
bolt (if the bolt is a 10mm bolt and the thread is around 1mm deep, use
an 8mm drill bit.
More often than not scraping the insides of the hole will remove the
remaining bits of the bolt. Either way, use an appropriate sized tap
(you should be able to tell from the other fixing bolts) to tap out the
remains of the bolt and clear the threads.
Whilst you are at it tap out the other bolt holes and then liberally
apply Coppereaze to the bolts when you put the plate back on - that
should make life easier next time you have to pull them apart.
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
07971 540 362
Skype: julianvoelcker
Cirencester, United Kingdom
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift
 
Hi Mark,
Sorry, can't help, however if you let me have your VIN I might be able
to look on the EPC to see - sometimes it give diameters.
A good cheap option although bear in mind that rubber hose with the
same internal diameter will be thicker so may not go through the same
holes etc.
If you go down to your local motor factors they should sell nut
removers - these are like sockets but have a reverse thread in them -
if the bolt head isn't too knackered it should be able to remove it.
Failing that, knock the head off with a cold chisel and then drill the
bolt out and re-tap (been gettiing a lot of practice on this recently).
Start off with a small drill (about 2mm) to ensure you get a pilot hole
in the middle of the remains of the bolt, then drill it out with a
larger one, that is about the same diameter and the inner part of the
bolt (if the bolt is a 10mm bolt and the thread is around 1mm deep, use
an 8mm drill bit.
More often than not scraping the insides of the hole will remove the
remaining bits of the bolt. Either way, use an appropriate sized tap
(you should be able to tell from the other fixing bolts) to tap out the
remains of the bolt and clear the threads.
Whilst you are at it tap out the other bolt holes and then liberally
apply Coppereaze to the bolts when you put the plate back on - that
should make life easier next time you have to pull them apart.
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
07971 540 362
Skype: julianvoelcker
Cirencester, United Kingdom
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift
 
Hi Julian, thanks for replying.
Chassis is JT111UJ8007001284.
That wont be a problem as there are no holes to go through and it would be
pretty straight forward if that damn nut would come off the heat shield.
The metal twin pipes that come from the engine bay are pre-formed, but above
heatshield have a break with a small section of rubber hose then back to
metal before heading back and up to heater under the seat. I imagine that it
is prone to rust at that point and that's why the rubber hose section is
there. Unfortunately it needed to be a bit longer as the rotten parts are
immediately where the metal pipes start again.
thanks
Mark
 
Hi Mark,
OK, checked the EPC - unfortunately not enough info to go by - your
only option is to remove the rubber pipe and work from there.
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
07971 540 362
Skype: julianvoelcker
Cirencester, United Kingdom
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift
 
Hi Mark,
OK, checked the EPC - unfortunately not enough info to go by - your
only option is to remove the rubber pipe and work from there.
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
07971 540 362
Skype: julianvoelcker
Cirencester, United Kingdom
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift
 
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