Coolant system seems intent on leaking

Just changed water pump, fan clutch, t-stat, belt and coolant in my 2nd gen. Preventative at 110k.

Ran 190 before on hot days...runs 190 after on hot days.

Everything worked out like a champ, until 3 days later...system seems intent on finding a hose to leak from.

Upper rad hose first...at top near the rad. Removed, replaced, reclaimed. Good to go.

Next day the little coolant hose leading to the bottom of the oil filter decided to spurt, and I mean spurt coolant all over the engine bay, removed cleaned, reclamped.

Is the system just testing me for weak spots, haha.

Or is something creating an over pressure somewhere and forcing it to leak?

Standard 16 PSI rad cap, also replaced/new.

Thoughts? Hose to coolant overflow is clean/clear also.

 

Are you using hose clamps or the standard toyota spring clamps?

 

mix of both. The upper rad hose had a new hose clamp...smaller one into oil filter housing had the toyota clip.

 

I don't want to be an alarmist BUT you may want to look very closely at the head(s) for a crack.

 

Use Toyota spring clamps,and make sure the inside of the hose and outside of the fittings are clean and dry when you attach the hoses .

 

You may have air in the system. Warm it up with the nose up (doesn’t have to be crazy) and then leave it over night at that incline

 

Go to one of the mass marketer parts places and rent a cooling system pressure tester if visual observation fails to produce the culprit. Lots of how-to's on youtube.

 

Oil is clean, truck doesnt overheat, when it's not leaking from hoses, there are no bubbles ending up in reservoir, no white smoke, nothing.

Anyone know, would that smaller hose leading into the oil filter housing have a decent amount of pressure on it? Seemed to have pushed out of there pretty good from, maybe a 1ft radius out the end...I pulled it and re-clamped, drove it till she warmed up and check, no leak. Still want to keep an eye on it though.

 

Did that when I changed everything out, twice, no bubbles left...but will check again. Anything smaller at this point should just end up in the overflow tank though, no? I burped it good the first time, pretty confident it was air free. Run it now with cap off, no bubbles like its drawing air from a cracked head as someone suggested.

Truck runs 183-190 warm. I 86 on normal days, 190 on hot days...on 37s, not exactly easy on the motor on a hot day living at 7k ft.

 

Weird! Yes, the smaller bubbles should. Yeah, definitely do it one more time, but at that point, I would definitely suspect the heads. I’m hoping third time’s the charm

 

What would make you suspect the heads?

Pressure in the system by design, no? Enough to push from that smaller hose between t-stat and oil filter if clamp not seated tight?

No milky oil, no white smoke, no overheating, no rough idle and no bubbles in coolant as it idles with cap off...

What am I missing that makes you think head gasket?

 

correct. Always pressure in the system. I’m thinking head gasket from the excess pressure. If if you are using OEM clamps they automatically get tighter, so they really shouldn’t leak.

another option would be a clogged or almost clogged radiator. Depending on your coolant change schedule, it can clog. I had it happen on my 84 mustang. It clogged enough to where the coolant would get too hot and it would leak.

I’m honestly just throwing out ideas. If the issue wasn’t there before, I doubt it would be the gasket.

 

Rog. I'll warm it up and check the hoses again when t-stat cycles...but after burping a few days ago, and cap back on, motor warm, hoses could be squeezed by hand like normal, did not feel excessive pressure.

 

Hose clamps are fine for a while. When they have been in place for a while, the hose takes a "set" so to speak and because hose clamps get tightened to a point and stay there, a leak may eventually develop.

Spring clamps keep an ongoing tension on the hose and as it shrinks or gets harder over time, the spring clamp adjusts to the change.

Spring clamps are generally just better.