Coolant levels are frustrating!

???

Not sure youre meaning. But, the techs could run techstream for trans running temp data. They could check the fluid as well. I dont think OP mentioned the cooler being the leak source, only mention of rad. replacement. Not even sure if the OP has an AT.

 

I am AT

 

Strawberry milk is from coolant and trans mixing. There's tranny lines that go into the bottom of the radiator, they have a potential to mix if theres an issue.

 

I’m
About to call back and ask if it was internal or external. Should I ask any other questions?

 

If it's internal make sure they check trans too. With that size of leak though, your trans would be acting funny, one would think haha.

 

Pic of OEM style trans cooler.

 

Oh, ok. Yes, only issue is Toyota coolant is also pink, AT fluid is red, forgot about those mixing though. The trans body would have to have an internal seal/channel failure though for coolant to enter the trans housing.

You would experience slipping if you accel'd hard enough or were uphill or under load. Temps would quickly goto shit and cause a fault.

 

Hard to tell it def drived like shit, standard ECU non updated. But maybe because the radiator was fucked. Lol

 

Also trans housing pressure would rise quickly with the leak rate he was seeing. Cant imagine it would last more than a week.

 

ATF flows from radiator to transmission to help warm it up. An internal radiator leak would allow coolant to flow into transmission. That's why I asked if this was a recent thing. If this shit's being going on since 2017...probably not leaking into the transmission then.

 

I bought it in November of 19, didn’t drive it wife drove it time to time while I was away. So no clue, to be honest. Never threw a light

 

Yeah that's where that term comes from. I don't think it's trans either. The amount of leak he had you'd notice.

 

Got it. Yeah AFAIK there is an actuated valve that only opens at a certain temp, so even if it was recent it wouldnt present a consistent leak unless it was constantly bypassing to the trans. At which point it wouldnt last long at all, really days maybe. The volume loss doesnt scream leak to trans to me, but I've seen crazier things.

 

Yeah I brain farted. Co-worker just dealt with the notorious Xtera/Frontier pink milkshake.

 

Was advised “external” leak.

 

with this amount of loss you'd figure the leak would be very obvious

 

But it wasn’t at all! Could it somehow just burn off from the radiator? I have no idea. Are they just bullshitting and doing a quick fix? Makes no sense, it wasn’t anywhere I spent awhile looking lol.

 

Coolant can evaporate before it hits the ground. I had a water pump leak on my 04 Silverado, and the only reason I caught it was I noticed the reservoir was down. I didn’t even smell anything.

 

no it would be a pink puddle under the truck or pink splatter inside the engine bay

 

Nothing under the truck and nothing anywhere I saw. That’s why this makes zero sense. With as much as I put in there, it would be extremely noticeable