2.7L coolant loss maybe

I just bought an 06 tacoma with a 2.7L and 80,700 miles. It was in mint condition and the original owner took it in for regular scheduled maintenance. He had just had the 80K mile service performed. I was under the hood this weekend looking everything over and noticed the radiator overflow completely empty. I added coolant to the radiator to top it off and then filled the overflow. I have driven it about 100 miles since and it is down 1/4 inch below the line I topped off. Although there is no coolant flush listed for 80K service, I am hoping the mechanic flushed the coolant anyway and just didn't top it off, but just in case I will keep a close check on it. If it continues to go down, (with no sign of leaking anywhere) are there any common problems with the 2.7L that would lead to this? I hope it is not a head gasket issue. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

I was in the exact same situation as you only a few months ago (and had the same concerns). I was losing coolant at about the same rate, but there was no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. It turned out to be a leak from the water pump shaft seal. Couldn't see it because it was not leaking fast enough to drip anywhere, and you can't see the actual leak point from the top of the engine.

If you haven't done this yet, pull the front skidplate off and crawl under there with a flashlight. Shine the light up under the fan/water pump pulley. If it's leaking there will be a, dry, whitish/pink crust built up somewhere between the pulley and the lower portion of the engine block. On mine, the crusty stuff was splattered a few inches below the pulley, and it was so thin that it looked like water spots.

My water pump was replaced under the 60,000 mile powertrain warranty, and I haven't had any coolant loss since. If you find that yours is leaking, it would be a good time to do a coolant flush since >half of the coolant will need to be drained anyway.

 

Run the heater to make sure the heater core got filled back up in case tech did do flush and not run heater. Check oil to make sure not milky which would indicate head gasket issue if no leaks found outside the motor.

 

I had the same problem when I bought my 2006 at I think it was around 40k. Toyota replaced the water pump under warranty. I was losing it about as fast as you, couldn't find the leak, and was losing my mind. After the new water pump I haven't lost a drop. Good Luck

 

Thanks for the replies. I will look at the heater core and waterpump and report my findings back .

 

Well it looks like it was a case of the mechanic not putting enough coolant in when he did the flush. It has not gone down anymore and I see no sign of leakage from the WP. Hopefully all is good now.

 

UPDATE: Well it started slowly leaking again so I went ahead a purchased a new water pump. It only took about 1.5 hrs. Probably the easiest WP I have ever changed. Thanks Toyota. Once I got the old one off, I could see signs of crystalization around the weep hole underneath. Well, at least I know it is fixed now.