Still Using a bit of water

[silvercruiser]

Hello Just thought id share this to get a general opinion.

My land cruiser is still using some water/antifreeze, i changed the water pump a while ago as this was weeping so i thought this was the sole cause of it but I'm still losing about half a litre every 3 to 4 weeks.

It starts fine and runs fine no missing, no smoking. no puddles underneath, rear heater pipes are fine and re painted when i checked them, new radiator. so I'm now dreading that its the head but has anybody else had this with no symptoms?

Red Toyota coolant always used.

Joe

 

[silvercruiser]

Oh and its coming up to 140k now.

Joe

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

did the new radiator come with a new cap?

 

[silvercruiser]

It did but im sure it didnt fit so its got the old one on but it seem to seal ok.

Joe

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

the spring can go soft in the cap and let water into the expansion bottle at too low a pressure which overflows (which you don't tend to notice driving along) and then when it cools there's not enough water in the bottle to suck back in. Don't know how likely it is in your case but it does happen ...

 

[Gav Peter]

Can this happen on an 80 Jon? (Sorry for Hijack Joe - I'll try to be breif with it...)

 

[silvercruiser]

Ok thanks il get a new genuine cap and see how it goes fingers crossed.


Joe

 

[silvercruiser]

Can this happen on an 80 Jon? (Sorry for Hijack Joe - I'll try to be breif with it...)

Joe

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Can this happen on an 80 Jon? (Sorry for Hijack Joe - I'll try to be breif with it...)

Oh yes

 

[BobMurphy]

Has anybody else had this with no symptoms?
Joe

It sounds familiar.

I changed the head, water pump, thermostat, radiator (and cap) and, although the car runs fine normally, I am still losing red coolant when I have to tow heavy loads (double horse trailer).

Sometimes the overflow bottle is half full after a run and it then gets sucked back in when it cools. Othertimes it has obviously been overflowing and then only about half gets sucked back in, othertimes it all looks normal but the fluid level is down in the radiator.

I am not getting any obvious exhaust emissions (which I was before I changed the head).

I'm going to take the head off again and have a close look at it. I have a theory about why its happening (due to air locks) and I'll experiment with the new head gasket to see if I can improve things. I've nothing much to lose by trying.

Its made me a bit disillusioned with the vehicle I'm afraid.

Bob.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I've known new none OEM caps open too soon where replacing with OEM has fixed the problem. Of course if you are already OEM that's no help.

 

[BobMurphy]

I've known new none OEM caps open too soon where replacing with OEM has fixed the problem. Of course if you are already OEM that's no help.

I'm on my second radiator from Milners (the first one supplied had a hole in it). The Milner Radiators need a shorter-reach cap than the standard rad (I am on my second, just to be sure) so an OEM cap wouldn't help those of us with these rads I'm afraid.

Bob.

 

[silvercruiser]

Well Ive ordered a new cap it should be in tomorrow so fingers crossed.

Bob I'm on rad No. 2 from milner's as the first had a weep from a brazed joint. my current rad (no.2) is identical to the original that i took out but like you say it needs a shorter cap but the original was the same for me. the first miliner rad had copper ends and a deeper hole so i guess it depends on what they stock at the time.

If all else fails i might stick my original rad back in to see if its a prob with the milner rad as it was fine and i only changed it for piece of mind

Joe

 

[silvercruiser]

Well new cap is on now so as Gav says flingers crossed.


Joe

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

How's this going then Joe?

 

[silvercruiser]

Hello John ive just checked it and it seems ok so hopefully its cured thanks for the help.


Joe

 

[Gav Peter]

You see, all that flinger clossing paid off in the end!!!

 

[silvercruiser]

You see, all that flinger clossing paid off in the end!!!

Yes and im still crossing my flingers that all is ok now

Joe

 

[silvercruiser]

Well just checked again and it had lost more water so Ive run it up on the drive and it seems to be weeping very slowly on the bottom corners of the rad .

This rad was bought from milner's over a year ago but i cant point any fingers because in April this year the wife had a minor accident with the back end of a jag and it needed a new bumper and head light so maybe this knock has weakened the rad. So IL get the original rad out of the shed and do a pressure test on the water side and the atf cooler pipe and if all good IL put this back in.

Joe

 

[silvercruiser]

Just another update it was still losing water so on new years day i got the original rad back out of the shed and pressure tested both the rad and cooler pipe and all checked out good so i flushed it through,

I took out the milners rad and replaced with the original that is definitely a Toyota one and a week later all is good the water level does not budge, when i get a chance I'm going to pressure test the milner rad to see what went wrong.

so after three rad changes Ive got the original back in

Joe