SpencerT

95 ls400
I recently did a coolant flush and replaced the green fluid with toyota red.
Today, a week or two later, I look and see dried red coolant residue at almost every coolant seal.

Would the coolant flush or change hurt the seals causing them to fail?

This is the worst of it. Im not sure what this part is but its right by the air filter housing. Anyone know its name?





Anyways there is coolant around most of the lines on that piece(picture 1), metal tubes from the radiator, and in front of the power steering fluid reservior (picture 2) The airbox/radiator cover has dried residue sprayed on the underside. It looks like the coolant is coming out under pressure, but isnt enough to drip down anywhere. Its hard to see but the bolts are stained red.

Can I just loosen these bolts and use sealant to stop the leaks? Or will this require more serious repairs?

cobalt91

Was the block drained of the green coolant also? Not sure what would happen if they mix.

SpencerT

I could only get 2 of 3 drain ***** to open, so I just flushed with water untill it came out as clear as it went in.

From what I could tell, mixing red and green makes a nasty solution liken to mud.
But I really dont think this happened. I got more than 95% of the green out and my coolant is dank red and just slightly more viscous than water.

hotdawwg

I wonder if the red has caused a reaction to the seals. Its posible. Is it at the seals or just the rubber connects?

johnnyg66

That pic looks like A/C refrig lines. Other than that are you losing fluid??

SpencerT

It is at the seals. It looks like they are just metal on metal connections.

Yes I belive I am losing fluid.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

The second pic looks like the brake master cylinder assembly.

Clean the engine off (No power wash) wipe select portions using a damp rag so you can gauge what is happening around the fittings. Has the coolant level dropped since the change?

SpencerT

Its pretty obvious which fittings are failing as they are stained red.

The coolant level has dropped about 0.2 gallons in roughly 800 miles.
Most of which is from the fittings in the first picture.

johnnyg66

Doubt those lines are leaking. get the engine nice and hot park leave it running open hood and see if you can see where you are leaking. Might be just a fine mist going and coating those other parts. Maybe a bad hose or loose. Since you are not losing very much coolant.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

^ Most likely. The fan is blowing the mist around the engine bay.

SpencerT

I am now hemorhaging fluid.
0.2+ gallons in the last 70 miles. no es bueno.

second picture is dry so thats good.
First picture is soaked now.

ill clean everything and watch it run to check for leaks.

What the heck is in toyota red? Im beginning to think I should have stuck with good ol' green

SpencerT

Long story short, you guys are smart and I am not.

Good news and bad news.

I belive zero coolant is leaking from the areas that I pictured.

Bad news: Coolant is deffinatly leaking from the rubber/metal hose that leads from the top of the radiator back to the reservoir tank.

When I was first looking to buy the car, 2 years ago, it had a leak from the same spot after the initial test drive. I told the owner to fix it and I would buy the car.
They took it to the terrible backyard mechanic, that I have since realized that they went to for everything, and got him to slather the leak in sealant. Knowing nothing about cars, all I could tell was that it no longer leaked so I bought the car. 2 years with green coolant and the seal held just fine.


After some doing some research I found that toyota red is an organic acid based coolant and green is usually silicate based.
Organic acids have the lovely ability to disolve plastic, gaskets, and sealants.
Silicates do not.

Awesome. Time to grind all the old sealant away, try to properly fix the leak, and then probably go back to a silicate based coolant just to be safe.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Glad you got this sorted out.
On your top pic, I was wondering what the stuff was on the rad line but it isn't sharp to accurately discern.

SpencerT

Can anyone get me a picture of their normal radiator line?
or describe how the rubber line attaches to the radiator?

I want to bore out the radiator outlet and install a barb fitting so that the hose can be securely attached without all the sealant.

I had good results with this technique on a vacuum hose on the intake pipe and want to know if I can do the same here. The outlet would need to be plastic for this to work and I can see nothing under all the sealant.

SpencerT

1/4 inch barb to 5/16 inch barb inserted into the radiator. Then sealed/ held in place with jb water weld.
finally a piece of hose from the 5/16 barb to the original metal hose that leads to the coolant reservoir.

jb water weld is supposed to be resistant to organic acids once it dries. Ill check an see how everything looks tomorrow when I get to work and after I come home.

If this fails, fleabay cheapo $60 radiator is my next choice.