327steam

Hi guys and gals, New to the thread. Thanks with any feedback. Have a big issue. Have read about water pump replacement but decided to let local garage do it for what I thought was a reasonable price. Picked car up and everything seemed ok. Second day the heat stops working.(Limited driving) Took it back and he says there is a air pocket. I'm ok so far. Third day it stops working again. Go back and he says he will burp it one more time. Starts to work again but he says let me check something. He then says there must be air coming into the system from a head gasket. He checked this with something he inserted into fill hole. I'm blown away as the car has not overheated and was working the way it was suppose to before the new water pump installation. Nothing out the exhaust but I have smelled anti freeze since new pump was installed and figured it was just some residue after empting the system in engine compartment. Now if it were a head gasket leak-why not show up before the water pump was replaced. Another question is the water pump bolts were not installed with silicone as I asked him. Some videos I have seen say you need to do this to insure no leaks-however he says that would not account for the vapors in anti freeze. After burping a second time the heat stopped working within a 2 mile drive. Car has 145K and runs great. But now no heat with new water pump. Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mrfix

I would guess you still have air in the cooling system. It can be difficult to bleed a system on some vehicles. What I would do is let the car cool and take off the Metal Radiator cap on the manifold. Then start the car and turn your heat to high. Stand over the fill hole and add coolant as the level goes down. This could take 20-30 minutes. You can also carefully massage the upper hose to try and get some air out while doing this. At the same time look to see if you have a coolant leak somewhere. Put a piece of clean cardboard under the car after you finish bleeding the system and see if there are any drips anywhere.

Now if this isn't the issue and it turns out to be something more serious than air in the system, it could be that after changing the water pump the system was not bled properly leaving air pockets behind. When you drove it and it got hot it could have caused a head gasket failure. But you would notice white smoke out the tail pipe and a milky residue on the inside of the oil cap.

Bleed the system properly first. See if that works. Remember turn your heater on to full while doing this. Find a new garage too.

edit: this type of funnel really helps.

https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-24680-S...3A3E2RB8KD2JKM

heyseeoh

What was the condition of the coolant that was taken out when they replaced the water pump? Did they flush the system when they changed the water pump? If it had never been flushed or long overdue for new coolant then the heater core might have gotten gummed up once the new water pump was installed from having a good impeller that was able to move coolant better. It's a long shot but it could happen.

Also, definitely do what Mrfix suggested and you might benefit by raising the front of the car a little bit on jack stands.

327steam

Thanks Mrfix, A follow up question. Is there suppose to be silicon put on water pump bolts. Could air enter the system this way if not properly sealed. I was thinking that I may have to re install the water pump myself for correct installation. And there are no tail tail signs of head gasket failure. Smelled the exhaust, no smoke and nothing in oil. He said there was just a minor air leak into coolant system of hydrocarbon gas. Car never over heated but that is only with the dummy gauge. Even on trip to garage before installation was checking water temp by gauge and there was no over heating and nothing after new pump was installed. But I know those gauges are not the best. But it is showing where it has always run. My biggest concern is installation of water pump bolts with no sealant.

327steam

Hadn't thought of that heyseeoh. But car has always been serviced at dealership, so bad/old coolant should not be a problem. And heat works great for a few minutes after burping. And sometimes at higher RPM's. Until it totally quits. So wouild a stopped up heater core start and stop like that.

Mrfix

I am under the impression that there are a few bolts that require thread locker (which does seal and lock). I'm not sure if Air can enter there. I would think that it is more for making sure the coolant doesn't leak out.

Can you get a pressure test done where they hook a pump up to your radiator cap inleet and pump the sytem up to whatever PSI is required and watch for a drop in pressure. That would certainly be one way to indicate you have a leak.

But lets get back to the air pocket. make sure your system is bled well. I have ran difficult vehicles for close to 30-40 minutes to get all the air out. It can be a process depending on how much air was introduced when the system was apart. Try that first before you start tearing into it.

Here is a guide on from CL.

https://www.clublexus.com/how-tos/a/...er-pump-362363

Here is a video for an IS250 and it is not that different from an IS350.


I also wanted to add that if you go to Toyota's site

https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/appmanager/t3/ti?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ti_home_page&contextType=external&username=string&password=sercure_string&challenge_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechinfo.toyota.com%2FtechInfoPortal%2Flogin%2Ftechinfo&request_id=5985624611034171878&authn_try_count=0&locale=en_US&resource_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.techinfo.toyota.com%252F


You can pay $15 to download the water pump procedure. It will certainly detail whether you needed silicone and on which bolts.

But again, bleed your system thoroughly for air to see if that solves your issue. Once you are 100 % positive there is no air then we can try and figure out the next step.

327steam

Mrfix, Thanks again for the info. I will bleed tom. Hopefully that will work.

327steam

A follow up. Think I have found the issue. Got the type of funnel and kept getting air in system. Found a rather major leak from the O-ring or lower hose on thermostat housing. There lies the problem I believe. Air entering the system form hose or O-ring. Not a Head gasket as mechanic had diagnosed. I could fix myself and probably should, however I am going to take it back to have the garage to remedy the issue since it was a problem they created. I will follow up when work is complete. But thanks to all who responded and offered help and advise. I really do appreciate it.

Viktimize

You don't have a vaccum in the system at the thermostat housing though. So you shouldn't be sucking in air from there, you're leaking coolant instead. You would have to be losing a lot of coolant before you start pulling air, and it sounds like you are getting this no heat issue almost immediately after bleeding, before you have a had a chance to loose much coolant.

If your mechanic did a pressure test and found that it is bleeding pressure into the cooling system, then his diagnosis of head gasket failure is certainly possible. I would want a second opinion before just tearing into it to change head gasket. But you don't just immediately fill your system with air enough to kill your heat from a regular leak. Sounds like you either have an issue getting the system fully bled correctly, or you're getting combustion gas forced into the cooling system,

Your dummy gauge is a localized temperature reading. You could've easily had an air pocket after the water pump install that created a hot spot that would've never registered on your temperature gauge, but was bad enough in that spot to compromise the integrity of one of the head gaskets. This would be the fault of your mechanic from not doing a thorough enough bleed of the cooling system. However it's pretty much impossible to prove and get him to cover the repair.

327steam

Hey Guys, Just a follow up. The garage found out that the O-ring was leaking at thermostat housing. They corrected the leak and ran the car for about 5 hours on and off. Making sure all the air was out. They then checked for hydro carbons in the fluid and it came back negative. He says he has seen it come back negative with a blown head gasket. I drove the car some on Thursday and Friday with no heat problems. However today was a turn in the plan. The locat Toyo dealer had a 2014 that was same a Matador Red color with the interior color I love. So I traded in my 06 today for a 14. As far as I know the issue has been fixed as I had no problems for 3 straight days. Before I would have the problem within 25 miles. Hated to let the car go as it had 145K on it, but ended up with one with 24K. Not sure that I like the new one better as it feels more like a luxury car that a sport car. But wanted to give a follow up and thank everyone for the advise and support. Now any known issues on the 14 I need to know about. Purchased extended warranty so Im good to 100K. Thanks to all.