What's Leaking in cylinder 6 ?

The coolant i have in there looks fine, but it is probably 5 years old. I might change it, just to make sure and see what it looks like.

Lower pressure radiator cap? Can you elaborate on options or part numbers?

 

We will see in the next couple miles, if it miss fires again. I'm pretty sure it was coolant from a head gasket leak and the sodium silicate stopped the leak.

 

The radiator cap is designed to relieve to the overflow tank above a certain pressure. According to Stant, it is 16psi on your truck. You can go a few psi lower and release some of that pressure to the overflow tank. It may make the sealer hold longer. A good parts guy may have one that will fit at around 14psi. Just a thought. We used to do that years ago with a weak radiator that kept developing leaks .The pressurized system raises the boiling point of the coolant to something above 212 degrees for every psi so there is a trade off. My truck doesn't seem to run above mid point on the temp gauge even in the summer heat.

 

I will probably "get nailed" for this, but here goes anywho.

Steel Seal gasket sealer is not compatible to the type of anti-freeze used in the Tacoma. If you flush the anti-freeze out completely by draining and filling with pure water a number of times to get it all out, you may want to try Steel Seal. I was told by a well known and respected mechanic in my area that he has used it with reasonable results. He said it did not clog up the cooling system. He also said to follow the instructions to the letter for best results.

If it stops the leak, you can put back the Toyota anti-freeze in a few days.

It may be worth a try. The steelership will get you for $3000 or more and if you have ever seen what it takes to do the job, you just may want to change your mind about taking it on yourself. A used engine is a pretty good alternative.

I have 122 K on my 05 and have changed the coolant often. I don't know if that will help, but it can't hurt either. Some have gone well over 200k without trouble and others, not so fortunate.

 

I agree with you Bob. What have you got to loose? If you follow the directions exactly and don't expect it to seal up the hole a thrown rod made you may get lucky. If it doesn't work, you are only out some time and a few dollars. Cooling and oil systems have been clogged by overuse of silicone gasket maker too. Good p.m. can't hurt either. I don't believe in "lifetime" fluids.

There are always the guys that think if one bottle of Barrs Leak is good , two or three must be better. Then they complain that the radiator and heater core are plugged up.

 

Thank you

 

sodium silicate is no longer a fluid after it contacts the parts at 220 deg F.

it becomes a solid glass, and isn't coming out, it takes over 1,000 deg to melt it once it is solidified. there really is not an effective way to get it out. That's why people are ruining their motors by putting it in an already hot system. It needs to go into a cold flowing system. as the header area gets hot first, the particles will solidify to the hottest parts as they warm up. the process gets rid of the chemical by causing it all to stick to the hot parts. if your whole system is hot and you add the silicate, it will immediately bond too whatever it touches. that's how people are clogging up their radiator, etc. after the engine has been up to temp for a while, there is no more liquid silicate solution, it has all become glass and bonded to a surface somewhere. If you have a lot of crud in your cooling system, and the crud is hot while the liquid glass contacts it, guess what? You just permanently put solid glass around debris... ruined motor...

I have not researched all of the different chemicals that different brands may use, I only read up on the "liquid glass". in the blue devil product i used, its just sodium silicate suspended in ethylene glycol.

This also explains why so many people have ruined their motors by not following the instructions.

 

It was on my 07 but the engine was replaced before I bought it, and there's a chance the replacement was out of an 05 or 06. I believe those were the only 2 years where the gaskets had flaws.

 

Update:

It seems to be holding just fine. Cel is back on, only because the stupid charcoal canister. Engine runs fine, oil is clean, coolant level hasn't dropped. No misfire codes at all on scanner.

Fingers crossed

 

Need to do a month long update as well. Interested to see how this goes, for you.

 

update: Its been a few weeks and a few hundred miles, wheather has been everywhere from 35deg to 90deg. Put a few hundred miles on/off road including towing a boat.

No misfires, No codes, seems good so far.

 

Hey Tacologist, just wondering if the Steel Seal head gasket repair worked for you. I have an 05 Tacoma V6 (111k mi) and starting to see the symptoms of lost coolant. If it has worked for you, I may give this a try before going down the dreaded path of replacing the head gaskets. With so many 05-06 truck owners having this issue, it's a shame Toyota hasn't stepped up to the plate and admit the original gasket design flaw and make it right.