Coolant leak

OK, so after opening the hood, there are droplets of coolant (an ugly brownish color) all over the place.

From on top of air filter box to as far back as the master cylinder, the engine, etc.

I am thinking I should just fill with distilled, run and see where the leaks are from.

The radiator looks recent, none of the lines look cracked, etc.

 

Brown. I am trying to convince myself its just rust...

It took about a half gallon of distilled water.

I did think I saw a sheen on the top surface of the overflow tank.

 

To me, it just looks like you drove thru some muddy water that came in contact with the spinning fan.

 

absolutely sure it's coolant? if so shouldn't be brown unless it's picking up under hood dirt

 

Could be rust, check the radiator for hairline cracks.

 

You could always dip just the tip of your finger into the fluid and give it a taste... If it's kinda sweet, it coolant.

 

Well, there was definitely brown in the overflow tank, at the bottom.
I will know more tomorrow. Today I didnt have the time needed for this.

 

Clean the engine bay then recheck after a couple days... If you still can't find a leak have the system pressure tested.

 

Yep clean them look at the tanks. Top them bottom. It's actually kinda common for them to get a hairline crack in the plastic tank. Mine did and I had a hard time seeing it. It was on my top tank, on the side, towards engine, driver side. Some water weld or in weld will work temporarily until youbsource a new one. If this is the case at all. Mine didn't spray everywhere that bad tho. But it did spray.

 

There is definitely rust in the radiator, I can see it starting from the filler neck.

I went to the dealer. Talked to the GSM (General Service Manager). Next step is drive in after work Monday, so he can have one of his shop guys look at it.

 

They agreed to order a radiator from Toyota, I will take care of the install. Otherwise he was going to cut me a break of half off the labor (which he had ludicrously priced at 600 or so dollars), this is from a Dodge dealer.

 

Is there instructions on replacing the radiator around here?
Is it that brutal? I bailed on doing it on my RAV-4 because of the clearance and had a friend do it?
Extra lines for transmission cooling?

OK, I found the 2003 manual here
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2001-2004-tacoma-factory-service-manual.5696/page-4

 

Radiator is pretty easy. Drain. 4 bolts through the grille with a long extension (no need to take grille off. However makes it much easier to access those 4 bolts) 2 lines on the bottom (which you can use something to plug them when removing such as a sharpie to stop leaking). Radiator hoses. And the shroud. Lift it up and out. Drop new one in. Reconnect everything and fill. That simple.

 

Is the lowest point in the system the coolant drain on the radiator? No separate engine drain to get to?

 

Just pull off the lower hose and drain, It's also a good time to just replace the thermostat. How old are those hoses?

 

Yeah I believe there is an engine drain plug. Not sure where though.. I've seen pics and description on it here somewhere. Otherwise you can diy flush. I usually just flush it out real good with hose water after taking the thermostat out. Hold the themostat in place while it fills the block them let it gush out, a few times. Then fill and flush with distilled water a few times. Drain radiator one Last time. Then fill with coolant. Keep in mind you gotta figure out the capacity and your mix. As there'll only be distilled in block, then filling with concentrated coolant. But it might be easier if you can find the engine drain plug, and mix beforehand and fill. I still think you need to fill and flush though. Quite a few times especially if you have rust. The idea with that method being that you're completely filling and flushing any and all possible remaining particles/debris/rust buildup. Versus only draining once (and not even getting it all like in the heater core) and mixing clean coolant with the remaining buildup. You wanna try and get allllllll that crap out.

 

And there is a particular method to doing it that way. Take that with a grain of salt as a general idea on how to do it. I think there's a write-up on it somewhere. But it's pretty simple. Just a pita and very time consuming.

 

Naw, he said he's got rust. That means the whole system is contaminated and he NEEDS to do a flush. If it wasn't dirty then yeah. Simple drain and refill would be just fine. I haven't had to do this on my truck. But I did on my girlfriends passat and it was pretty nasty. After the drqin, I flushed with hose water and a TON more nasty crap came out. Then when I filled and flushed with straight distilled, like idk, 6 or 7 gallons something like tgat, it still kept coming out dirty every drain. I finally said hell with it on the 7th gallon and did one last drain, and filled with coolant. But hers was so nasty it had rusty flakes in the hoses that crunched when you squeezed them.

And while we're on the same topic of rust, OP you should inspect these things when you Take out the radiator. Shine a flashlight inside the lower port. As well as the hoses and inspect the thermostat housing. Hopefully yours hasn't got to that point. You can do the hose squeezing to before anything and listen for crunchy sounds. That'll give you a sign right off the bat.

 

To answer a bunch.

The hoses look great and are flexible when squeezed and show no cracks. I would say they have definitely been replaced.

I did get a bottle of flush solution.

The radiator hasnt come in yet, so I could still do some draining/flushing, then run it for a couple hundred miles with the cleaner.
At the same time I will remove the overflow tank and get the crap out of it.

 

Form left to right, "mud" coolant from 1st drain, 2nd, and some later. 4 drains done, filled with cleaner for now.