Second bad radiator

I had the radiator replaced on my 2016 3.5L in October 2020. Last week after a 3 hour drive my engine got hot about 1/2 a mile from my house. After getting home it was too late and dark to do anything so I waited until the next morning to check and the coolant reservoir was bone dry. I filled it back up and started it and drove around the neighborhood for 10 minutes, parked and checked it again only to see it about 30%full.

I took the truck to a mechanic today and he says my radiator is leaking and needs to be replaced.

As far as I can tell this doesn’t seem to be a common problem on these. How is this possible that I have a radiator break every 3 years? The current one was put in by the local Toyota dealership.

I bought this truck based on the reputation of Tacomas reliability, but I certainly haven’t experienced that.

 

I haven’t read of any failures, but they seem to fail on any vehicle.
These aluminum/composite radiators are fragile and don’t like even the slightest tap, so keep that in mind.

 

I have been here for years and read thousands of posts. You have to be the unluckiest dude ever. Do not go outside in a storm.
Seriously, nobody has had to put in two radiators. You are one in a million!

 

That’s pretty much how I feel. Unlucky.
Truck only has 80K on it.

 

This could have been a defective radiator, it sucks to have happen but replace and move on . Just to put things in perspective a radiator really isn’t a sign of good or bad reliability. The radiator is usually made by another company and Toyota buys it from them . I would look at where it failed , maybe it’s not sitting right in the support ‘and moving around as you drive? This could cause wear in an area causing an eventual leak . Radiator s eventually go bad but not that fast unless something is causing it

 

You didn’t mention where is it leaking from?

I have a 2017 and take it off-road a lot on rough mine roads and never had an issue with the radiator. I did accidentally drill a hole through my evaporator and had to fix it myself, luckily it stopped short of the radiator. Don’t ask how I put the hole in it as that was not part of the subject matter in this post!

I’m just curious if you’re getting vandalism or something else, it could be something like a bad engine mount or cracked radiator mount (a more known issue with people putting in dual batteries up front) causing excessive vibration to those parts.

 

If that’s all that’s gone wrong count your blessings. I’d much rather have two rads needing replacing than the crossover pipe.

And if that’s all that’s gone wrong on a 2016 you have a good truck.

 

I tried looking all around the radiator to see the leak, and couldn’t see anything.
Honestly I was looking at the hoses and water pump more because I thought no way the radiator is leaking again. It must be something else.

 

It’s rare but rocks can cause radiators to leak. My brothers car is on radiator #3 in 2 years because of rocks hitting just right. Shit luck in that case

 

so there was no indication of any pink material anywhere around the radiator? That’s very odd. So there’s always the plastic crossover pipe leak in the rear of the engine too… I hope it’s not that! You should get the old radiator back to find out what happened, recycling it will give you at least 20 bucks also.

 

It’s a very good point, some people put rock screens inside their radiator grill, especially those that have to drive the Alcan.

I think that’s an easy and inexpensive mod I should do also.

 

not that I saw. No coolant on the ground either. Dropped it off at the mechanic (not dealership this time) and he said leaking from radiator.

 

Oh dear! Just to be sure, you better look behind your engine with a bright light. You can only see it really from [edit: underneath on the passenger side] way in the back, there are threads about it here.

 

I mean did they even burp the system? If you had just a bunch of air in the system it’s going to look like a leak as the low coolant circulates.

 

The one I made. Has worked wonders at keeping shit out of the radiator.

 

Looks good! how was it attached?

 

You don't say whether the replacement radiator is OEM or not, but still bad luck. I would think with the leak described in your 1st post, you would see something somewhere.

 

You aren’t gonna lose that much coolant that fast with no sign of a leak

 

If thats the case then , Its the coolant bypass pipe at the back of the engine passenger side. Its been known to leak. Look for dried pinkish residue . Use a strong flashlight . Its near the firewall.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/dreaded-coolant-leak.760922/page-2

 

First thing I’d be checking into is what kind of radiator the dealer put in. Just because it’s a dealership doesn’t mean they put a factory oem part on your truck. It could have been a cheap aftermarket radiator. Was the proper pink coolant from Toyota used when the system was refilled? Are the hoses seated correctly and clamps?