jhbhatia

I have a 94 Es300 with 148K miles and running strong. Everytime when i check the resivor and radiator, i can add close to a gallon of distilled water( WEEKLY)! I flush the radiator yearly with toyota red coolant+distilled water (30:70) i'm in texas!! I don't see leaks (in the engine bay) or under the car indicating i have a radiator leak. When the engine is warm, no coolant is bubbling out of the cap (its not a cap problem). Car is not overheating, but this thing is driving me nuts? If i drive it and then check, its gone???

COuld it be thermostat/waterpump anything else what i didn't think of already?
I searched, but couldn't find this answer..hence i posted?
Suggestion/comments WELCOME.

Pheonix

Blown head gasket<s>.


Be sure in the future you never mix Toyota red coolant with any other silicate coolant (aka the typical green stuff you see in America)

1993ES300x

if it's a blown head gasket. i think you can have it check at your local auto guy for around 30bucks.

as for the mix of the toyota red and the green stuff.. it's too late for me.. flushed almost 8 times(two with Prestone power flush and one with Prestone radiator flush) .. still coming out a little muddy.... now i have the organ prestone stuff in there.....

TLW

check under the oil cap

what does it look like ??

found this
I suspect that I have blown head gasket but I'm not sure. How can I be certain before I pull the heads??

Every standard piston/crankshaft car made today has an engine block and a cylinder head which bolts on top. Between these elements is the infamous head gasket. The function of the head gasket is to seal both the compression of the cylinders and the coolant which flows between the block and the head.

Sometimes the compression from the pistons blows a "hole" in the gasket allowing the compression to leak into the cooling system and coolant to leak back into the cylinder. There are a few symptoms of a blown head gasket. The first one is loss of coolant. Coolant can be lost from the leak in the gasket into the cylinder. From there it can go past the piston rings and into the crankcase or it can be forced out of the exhaust system by the action of the piston coming up on the exhaust stroke.

If the coolant enters the crankcase it mixes with engine oil. Of course oil and water don't mix very well but the presence of ethylene glycol (anti freeze) and the agitation caused by the crankshaft and other moving parts can whip the mixture of coolant and oil into a milkshake.

If the coolant is forced out of the exhaust system it is usually heated by the hot exhaust manifold and the rest of the exhaust system. This results in a sweet smelling steam emanating from the tailpipe. The steam is rather persistent, that is it will hover in the air and not dissipate like the normal steam that comes from the combustion process.

Testing an automobile engine for a blown head gasket is pretty straightforward. The first check is to see if there are combustion gasses getting into the cooling system. Take a sample of the coolant and go to the local radiator shop and request that they analyze the coolant for the presence of hydrocarbons. If they are present then it is most likely that you have a blown head gasket.

Another check is to look at the oil of a warmed up engine. The antifreeze in the oil will whip it up into a frothy brown mixture that looks like a milk shake. If it looks like chocolate mousse then you probably have a blown head gasket.

Another check is to fill the cooling system to the brim and remove the radiator cap. Do this when the engine is cool. Start the engine and race it. If there is a compression leak and the gasses are going into the cooling jacket then the gasses will displace the coolant. Since the cap is off the coolant will be pushed out of the radiator. You probably have a blown head gasket.

OK, so we are pretty sure there is a blown head gasket and if we have a straight cylinder engine then there is only one head to remove, but what if it is a V-8 or V-6? How can you isolate the cylinder that is leaking? Remove all the spark plugs. Get a cooling system pressure tester and pressurize the cooling system to specification, normally about 20 PSI. Leave the system pressurized for a few hours. Now lay down some clean paper towel along the cylinder heads where the spark plugs were. Crank the engine over for a few seconds. Since the spark plugs are not in place any antifreeze that leaked into the cylinder will be blown out onto the clean paper towel. Examine the paper towel for the telltale signs of antifreeze and you will be able to tell which is the guilty cylinder.

You can also look at the condition of the spark plugs. Any spark plug that looks different from the rest should be suspect. Of course if you can see antifreeze on a plug then you know that is the bad guy. If the plug looks cleaner than the rest or has a white powder on it then suspect that one.

Most blown head gaskets will require a new gasket be installed. There are very few which will be fixed by addition of a cooling system sealer - you can try it, but be prepared to spring for the big bucks and have the gasket replaced.

jhbhatia

^^ thank you guys, oil cap and dip stick seem oily and not milky/murky.
Will do other checks. THANKS

Pheonix

The bottom of the oil cap is not a good place to check on a Toyota v6.

The intermesh gears on both the VZ and MZ blocks don't line up with the oil cap<s>. The only oil that sees the bottom of the valve covers is thrown from the gears linking the intake and exhaust cams. You'd never be able to tell looking at the heads at rest anyways. If any of you have ever watched a v6 run at idle with the valve cover<s> off, there is next to nothing in terms of oil actually in the heads. (I have, take my word for it) Probably less than two cups of oil in each head at a normal speed. They don't even keep a full cup in them each when you turn the engine off. (I'd be surprized if it was 3/4 of a cup between BOTH heads!)


If it's near time for an oil change, go ahead and dump the fluid out of the pan and note the color / texture of it.


Anyways I'm positive he's blown a head gasket, if he can't find a leak. There's nowhere else for the coolant to go. Obviously an external leak is easily found, and the only place for an internal leak would be in the block - i.e. the headgasket has blown.

jhbhatia

Update: NO milky oil, or murky oil - oils clean. No oil in the radiator too...no puffy white smoke on startup/driveup. No water leaking from the exhaust when driving (none that i know of at least..can't check myself in highways tho). Could it be something else (perhaps waterpump??)
PLEASE HELP!
Edit: cars' ONLY drank toyota red since inception. So none of that green stuff for me!

baddis es

iTrader: (3)

how much better is the toyota red coolant than the green one, i was told i should replace and put the green one in??? but i was skeptical as i know toyota still uses the red one so it must be doin something better!!!

Pheonix

It depends on the application.
Toyota red should never be used in an engine containing iron parts. (all la 3vz-fe) The inhibitor package wears out fairly quickly, and what's left will eat at the iron block like crazy.

You should *never* swap from Toyota red, to an anti-freeze containing silicates, or vice-versa .(i.e. your typical american green.) They form a very thick, extremely hard gel that will clog the entire system that can't be flushed out.

If you are going to swap from, or to Toyota red, you need to flush the entire system with a cleaning solution, then just stand with the garden hose flushing it out for a long time. Then you can swap.

Woogie

maybe you've got a leak somewhere in your cooling system... that plus the fact that you add water into your system constantly. water has a lower boiling temp than regular coolant and so when it is ran through your system, the "steam" generated, escapes through the leak in your system. that's what i'm suspecting.

1993ES300x

Woogie. you might got something there , with the steams.... i recall on my Many flush(trying to get the toyota red mix prestone green out).. i put water in there everyday.. cuz it steams it up... so i guess you're have to put in some TOyota red and see how the level last..

jhbhatia

UPDATE:
Followed by bro-in-law, its puff out white smoke in highways, and water leaks from exhaust tails. (now i'm suspecting blown head gasket). Suprisingly...Oil is still clean?
Need approx price on replacing this....i don't want to do a DIY, cus' i'm not confident in myself doing it right!

Edit: What do you think of this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

1993ES300x

the price you found on the gaskets are in a pretty good price.. they usualy run for 200bucks.. if you're going to replaces a head gasket.. mind as well swap the motor....

jhbhatia

All this tention and turned out to me a mico-crack on the radiator; I'm going to get the coolant tested when i get the car back to see if its got that hydro stuff (indicating bad head)!
BTW: i was told to rebuild the engine if it was a blownhead gasket, is that necessary, was quoted $400 for labor and whatever parts will depend later! (is the labor price about right?)

1993ES300x

jhbh.. so what happend?? what was the final result?? i too have the same problem. when start the engine. it would shake and knock, and white smoke comes out and water coming from tail pipe.. my oil is also clean .. but how could a micro leak in the radiator cost smoke and water from the tail??.. ummm..