Upper radiator hose leak

I've known for a while that I've got a bit of a coolant leak, but I've never been able to definitively track it down. But, this morning I caught it.

There is a leak from both ends of the upper radiator hose. I've struggled with this before and thought I had it defeated, but I was wrong. It's a new-ish hose that undoubtedly came from Autozone. Through iterations of trying things it's now got two hose clamps on each end (the stainless steel screw-to-tighten type). In the past it's had only one and it leaked. I've tried tighter and looser clamps.

What's the magic? Have I got a bad hose, or bad technique, or both?

 

Remove the hose, clean the fittings on the engine and radiator. If the fittings are gauled, replace them.

Inspect the inside of the hose and replace the hose if it's all f**ed up.

The type of clamp doesn't matter. I've used both and never had any problems.

 

Part of the series of things I've done to attempt to fix this is to clean the parts that the hose goes over on both the radiator and the engine, so I feel pretty good about them being clean. The hose, as I said, is pretty new.

Is there such a thing as "you got a bad part" with radiator hoses?

I can take it apart and clean it again, but I don't expect it to yield good results this time if it didn't last time.

 

Probably cracked the radiator tibe

 

It's leaking from the engine side, too.

 

Bad hose

 

Check the price for a Toyota hose. It's probably not much more expensive and should be a perfect fit.

 

I had almost the same issue after I did a radiator swap on my 2000 taco. New upper hose and it was leaking, I used the worm driven style clamp like you're talking about and had it tight but still leaked. I went back to the spring style clamp that is oem style and it solved my leak. The worm type puts a lot of pressure in one place where as the spring clamp style keeps pressure all the way around. If you're sure hose is good I would get new oem style spring clamps and try that.

 

I think I'm going with belt and suspenders. I'm going to put on a new hose on and the factory style clamps.

Do I have to go to the dealer for the clamps? What size do I need if I go Amazon or something?

 

Check your local auto parts stores. If you cannot find the spring clamps that fit then get them from your Toyota dealer. Tell the dealer what kind of truck you have and let them find the correct part.

I wouldn't pay shipping charges for something like that, nor would I wait for the things to arrive. I'm sure you'll find what you need at the parts stores.

 

Looks like the problem was the hose. I checked my records and the hose was replaced less than a year ago. I think it was bad from the start. I bought a new hose yesterday at NAPA and used my existing (non-oem) hose clamps and it appears that the leak stopped.

I'm kind of getting tired of buying parts at Autozone and having them be bad from the start. I wish the parts store across the street was something else.

 

my hose has this leaky syndrome for the first time ever and no clue why, I am not sure if this hose is original, I will have to find and shuffle through +12yrs of records when water pump was replaced
but the hose looks near new from the outside, the pinkish puddled up on my TB cover and dried liquid on the radiator side
I had the system totally flushed out 2 months ago and so I took it back to the dealer thinking they AGAIN something on my truck
they told me they did not remove the top hose to flush the system completely, just went through the radiator cap
the price quoted for them to change the hose was $280 and i about dropped with disbelief

how much is a top hose OEM and what is the part# if you have it handy
seems like an uncomplicated job for the rookie to tackle
approx how much coolant will I be losing taking the hose off?
I have never purchased any Toyota red coolant before, where is the best place to grab some
the Camelback in AZ won't ship fluids i think i read...

 

I don’t have the part number but you can look it up on camelback easily and order it. Might as well get the lower one too. Is your truck due for the timing belt?

You could change the top hose out in 20 minutes. Shouldn’t need more than a gallon of coolant at the very most. It’s an easy job. Just get a gallon from your local stealership

 

i just had all new coolant in the whole system put in ~7k miles ago, I am going to get the water pump and thermo possibly most likely changed with radiator hose on the lower side at 150k miles (or that was the plan!) but Now I am hearing that the stock radiator often kaputs at 150k miles too?

i have a long list for the Camelback again, new assorted clips and clamps, screws perhaps one wheels worth of new nuts since they are 1/2 what my local dealers wants

and that gallon of coolant from the stealership is probably $50 or more!

 

maybe its too much pressure that pushed the liquid out?

i will definitely need to check for leaks on the lower hose and level in the bottle on a day-to-day basis now, don't want overheating or anything

 

$28 TOYOTA 16571-62070 Radiator Coolant Hose

https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-16571-62070-Radiator-Coolant-Hose/dp/B00KTJRI4S

Inexpensive part and easy fix!

Edit- double check part #, not sure if this is for 4 or 6 cyl...

 

I have the stock oem radiator with 323k soooo no I don’t think that’s accurate. Haha
You can replace whatever you would like but if it doesn’t need fixing why replace it. I’d throw some hoses at it and dump so more coolant in and run it.

 

well I just saw a few topics over the past month on TW that mentioned radiators going bad at 150k so I don't know!
somebody also recently had a HG go in a '96 at only 180k

 

I think everything really comes down to maintenance, and how the truck has been used. My truck has been 80-90% of its life on the highway as a commuter, driven easy, and always maintained.

 

+1 for the factory style spring clamps. I just grabbed a few during my last trip to the junkyard. They practically give them to you for free.