Check Your 3.5l Coolant Pipe!

What's the mileage y'all are getting on the "low" side?

 

A good way to see it.

 

So we have to take the manifold off to find it?...lol, wow

 

That's about where mine is though after sitting for a day it will come up an inch or two to somewhere in the middle but there is no doubt it has used quite a bit of coolant somehow, however slow it may be. I just assumed (from reading the service manual) that you could expect it to slowly use coolant as it sort of says that so long as it isn't dropping in a short period of time nothing to be worried about. I have a jug of the toyota coolant recommended in my garage but am going to hold off topping it and wheel it to the dealership. I dread that.

To be clear, and this will be a silly question but aside from the loss of coolant, this isn't causing contamination to the engine itself it doesn't seem?

So many times when i've popped my hood I've been puzzled by the smell but have never seen anything leak in my garage...

 

Just to put minds at ease. I'm at 12k, have smelled coolant since day one. No signs of leak from this part on my truck.

 

I started seeing mine drop around the 20k mark (at 23k now and its dropped slowly since that time). It's not something that happens fast (at least not in my case). Thank the truck gods for TacomaWorld (once again).

 

Let’s hope, have smelled something for awhile now

 

I'm at 21,000; purchased 10/15...

Got in to a circular argument about low level, normal/not normal use and topping off...
Then I was accused of being a nuisance customer...whatethefuckever.

 

I wouldn't worry about smelling coolant. I used to smell it around my 2005 and I had 100,000 when I traded in. I never had an issue.......

 

I normally check the oil level after oil changes at dealerships, and I did notice the coolant level was about midway between the low and full mark.The question now is if I should take it in now, or wait until it leaks more. I have pretty low miles and am not at 15k yet.

 

Not knocking an excellent tool, but for cheapasses like me this has been freaking stellar:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013I2BZ7S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

@Ruggybuggy, how is this pipe fitted to the heads?

For those wanting to know/see if theirs is weeping it would seem that a pressure test to pressurize the system, combined with a borescope camera attached to your smartphone should do it.

 

If the fluid is a little low



Thermal expansion can cause issues in some components in a small number of cases. Most modern antifreeze formulas are made to seal microscopic leaks. However, if you smell antifreeze then blunt force warranty intervention may become necessary.

And if the warranty has expired try putting a teaspoon of ground black pepper in the radiator before dismantling the engine.

For the record, mine is 2years old and is atm 1” lower than it was when I last checked it last summer.
Edit: To further clarify, that is one inch below than when is was driven off the lot. Never have added any yet.

Hope that helps
Cheers!

 

Newer cars have radiator caps that can burp air. That air can smell of coolant and get pulled into the vent intake at the base of the windshield or just fill the engine bay at times with the smell. I haven't checked the cap design on the tacoma but that may be the case.

If you're burning coolant, you'll see white exhaust and possibly misfires on the cylinder burning the coolant (referring to the coolant level going down but no leaks found, then it must be being burnt up)

 

I understand mine was within the acceptable range; I've just never had a vehicle use that much coolant in 21,000 miles. Mine started out life 1/4" below the full mark-cold.
Note: First pic I posted was cold; second pic was hot
Oh well...I'll get around to scoping it this weekend.

 

Well, I'll probably get the same or worse service from my dealership which is why I've learned to avoid them and do everything myself unless I need warranty work - and even then depending on cost / effort I've still paid out of pocket just to avoid them.

 

Same here.
In fact in most cases more damage maybe done than it was worth. This is also the reason on why I passed the "free" 2 yr service to diy.

 

As long as you aren't iOS or anything running AOS Nougat or Oreo... I have a GN8 running Nougat. That solution wouldn't work in my case unless I bought a cheap unlocked handset running KitKat- Marshmallow... Then I'm almost back to the price of the dedicated scope. Still a good budget option for anyone with an older phone.

 

Good info.

I haven't tried this particular one with my Pixel since I still have my old Note3 from when I bought the scope.

Also, there were iOS (lighting cable) versions of this when I bought it. The rest of my Fam are on iOS but were stealing my phone to use the scope.

 

It says it doesn't work with Android 7.0 (Nougat) or above, what are you using it with? I need something like this.