Where the #*@! is My Coolant Going??

What symptoms did your transmission have with this?

 

I did some snooping around the engine and can't find a leak anywhere. It's dry all around the water pump. It's also probably worth mentioning that coolant shot out the radiator neck when I gave the engine a bit of gas earlier with the cap off. I wasn't sure if it was just from the water pump revving at the time, but realized it might have been exhaust getting pushed into the coolant. It bubbled for about 20 seconds afterwards too. I also heard a brief "swoosh" again after starting the truck...shorter than last time, but it definitely came from under my feet.

I just ordered a compression tester, and right now I'm looking at parts to replace the head gaskets. The cheapest quote I've been given so far is $2,800 assuming all the heads need is a simple resurface. If I do the work myself, it will have to be SOON because the snow will start any day now. Also, I might as well replace the water pump and thermostat at the same time. I shopped around and it looks like all the parts and machine work will set me back just over $700 plus however much I spend on Uber for a week ($150?). The local shop can do the heads in a day or two, but if they need a valve job, that will be another week at least, so another $150 for the Uber budget plus a couple hundred for the valve job I'm sure. If the heads are cracked, I'll be looking at a junk yard engine.

So far my parts/labor list is this:
-Complete engine overhaul gasket set from Toyota ($250)
-Fel-pro head bolt set ($50)
-Aisin water pump ($83)
-Toyota thermostat ($30)
-2 gallons Toyota Long Life coolant ($50)
-Oil and filter ($40)
-Heads cleaned, resurfaced, and valves pressure tested ($208)

Can anyone think of anything else? Any special tools or sockets required? If I don't get this taken care of before the snow starts flying I'm screwed.

Does anyone know how bad it is for my truck if I keep driving it in the meantime? I'm pretty sure it's just a "leaky" and not "blown" gasket at this point as Lester mentioned, but I don't want to score my cylinder or ruin my O2 sensors and cats. I'll do some more testing before I tear it apart, but I'm about 90% certain it's the head gasket now.

 

That was the first thing I thought of too. I replaced the cap a week ago and the engine is still chugging coolant without leaving a drop on the ground.

 

Mine's a manual. It does have an oil cooler in the radiator as part of the towing package, but the oil looks fine.

 

it was sweet. head gasket

/thread

 

Assuming the HG is leaking...continuing to drive the truck will eventually take it to the blown level. Once that happens you may be looking at trashed bearings in the lower part of the engine and other areas as excess heat will have built up.

 

Careful, playing with the tailpipe could lead to this.

 

Ok for future reference. Do not ever taste anything from your motor. For shits sake coolant is highly toxic. That said you do have a blown head gasket.

 

there is ZERO harm in tasting it enough to tell if it is sweet, and then spit it out

ZERO as long as you know how to spit

it's old school... WORKS, and you do it what, once every 20 years when you have a buggy vehicle ?

it's only used when you don't already have a way to test oil for coolant and coolant
for oil....or a compression tester....and it takes seconds, and it is a dead giveaway for head gasket

there is plenty of stuff people do on a daily basis which is 1000 times more
toxic than this backwoods test...for craps sake man no one is suggesting swallowing it or shishing it around. you'll get more coolant your body just smelling it from
all the traffic and shitty cars you go by in a week than the taste test sheesh

 

Do what you want to your body but you are wrong. Spitting doesnt mean shit. The mucus membrane of your mouth absorbs chemicals into it instantly. By the time you spit, the chemicals have already absorbed into your system. Will it kill you? no. Will it go into your liver and kidneys? Yes. But hey, I bet half the people here smoke so...

 

Lol. Every time I read your posts I hear Ricky from trailer park boys say them. I was wondering about tasting it to be honest. Doing it reminded me of the time I was pulling an engine at a junk yard and a guy with a gash on his arm smeared engine grime in it to stop the bleeding. He told me it was an oldtimers trick he had been doing for years. I just nodded and smiled.

I'll admit coolant is pretty toxic. I'm guessing I got less than a drop on my tongue and I immediately rinsed with running water. Probably not the healthiest thing but not as bad as the time a hose slipped off an engine when I was under it and gave me a coolant shower with my mouth open.

 

Whelp, I started tearing apart the engine. I got a cheap fiber optic inspection camera at Harbor Freight to peak inside the cylinders just to make sure ($50 with a coupon), and sure enough cylinders 4 and 6 are leaking. 6 has a bigger leak (cylinder was empty, but I could see yellow discoloration along a large part of the gasket), and 4 has a small one (I could see a tiny bit of coolant dripping down but no discoloration). Interestingly enough, inspecting the spark plugs showed signs of coolant leaks in cylinders 4 and 6 as well (plugs 4 and 6 were discolored, more corroded, and smelled different), so I guess that technique does work.

I drained the oil and it was pretty dirty looking. Not milky, just dirty like I really waited too long to change my oil last time (which I did). It didn't look milky or separated at all, so I'm hoping the coolant never made its way into the oil pan but I'm seriously considering inspecting the main bearings just to be safe. My torque wrench is also from Harbor Freight though, so I'm a bit nervous about torquing the main bearing caps back down...

I'll be getting a good look at all the cam bearings regardless--apparently you have to pull all 4 camshafts just to access the head bolts. Also I have to drop the front diff just to remove the oil pan just so I can remove the timing chain cover. Looks like I have my week planned out for me.

 

Good luck. Thanks for the report!

 

Might as well ship that diff to ECGS while it's out...

 

cams have no bearings, I doubt you need valves done either. Good time to put in valve seals though since buying whole gasket set. Doubts to whether you need a cut on the heads also. I imagine the gasket just rotted.

JMO but sometimes the factory gaskets aren't the best. (not saying some aftermarkets aren't total crap) I'm sure the superseded part is fine now though.

I know it sucks but your going to be in good shape afterwards, (kinda like heart bypass) and it's better than a note. Bonne chance, mes ami.

edit: I wouldn't worry 'bout the lower bearings. More trouble than worth w/o having seen water in oil.
edit 2: if cam journals show no scoring pretty safe bet on rods/mains also.

 

Dang this sucks, sorry to hear... Just out of curiosity have you been the owner since new? or did you have maintenance records? Just curious if coolant had ever been changed or any parts of the cooling system ever serviced / replaced ? 160k seems somewhat low for a failure unless something else was going on, or had gone on before. Im at 130k miles so its interesting to read of possible failures in my near future.

 

I bought the truck with 110k miles on it. I have full maintenance records and had the radiator flushed as soon as I bought the truck. It's had a few major failures that really should not have happened though, and I think the 2005's probably just had some kinks to work out. The 6spd transmission was replaced at 59k miles under warranty, the AC compressor grenaded around 100k (one of the reasons I bought the truck, the original owner didn't want to pay to have it fixed and I figured I could do it myself), and now the head gasket is leaking.

I agree that 160k is low for a head gasket going out. I did some googling and it looks like lots of 2005 and early 2006 4.0L V6 Tacomas have had leaky/blown head gaskets with coolant leaking into cylinder 6. Toyota changed the part number for the head gasket sometime during 2006, and lots of people are saying the original gasket design was flawed and prone to leakage around that cylinder. The gasket set I bought should have the newer style head gasket, so hopefully the problem will be solved for good. Now just to see what my cylinder looks like when I pull the head :/

 

Good info, I have an 06 Ill have to look more into it.

 

YOUR HEAD GASKET IS BLOWN!

I just went through this same issue. ALL 2005 and SOME early 2006 have faulty head gaskets! ALMOST ALWAYS, if they totally fail, its at 125,000 to 140,000 miles. If it just started, you have maybe a year. Next you will start to notice a water gurgle sound from under the dash when you start it in the morning. If you ever used to monitor the amount of water vapor that used to come out of the exhaust pipe, you will notice an increase. Then you will get check engine light. Code thrown will be missfire on cylinder 6, then after 3-6 months cylinder 5 and 6. Then the gasket will get so bad, you will see bubbles in the coolant overflow jug. Next, coolant will simply be being forced out of the overflow jug. Lastly, once gasket totally fails... engine temp will redline in minutes.

If you do the work yourself you are looking at $2,000, if you have a local shop do it about $2,800, dealership about $3,800.