No growling noise or anything. Just a leak from time to time when it's super cold. I'm just thinking a bad water pump seal, but with 245,000 easy highway miles on her, I'm going to have everything replaced: water pump, seal, timing belt and other stuff. I'm just trying to find that Carlison Toyota discount for my parts.

Thanks,
MemphisDave

 

I would say water pump seal/water pump. Just make sure it is not leaking from the coolant reservoir hose above the idler pulley on top. It looked dry from the picture so I am pretty sure it is a water pump. If your doing the water pump and timing belt you might as well replace the idler pulleys due to the mileage you have and i wouldn't want to open that all back up again.

 

Thanks Stevechumo for the pic of coolant lines on the back side of the 1UZ. My son's '92 SC400 just started leaking (more like draining) coolant someplace back there, so this pic helps me know where to start looking. No white smoke, & no water in oil, so I don't expect it's head gasket. Heater has bypass hose since core leaked onto passenger floor. Hopefully the bypass hose is the culprit, since the other stuff looks harder to access while installed.

 

No problem. If the head gaskets leak, it'll more likely throw a check light and the engine will idle roughs.

 

Steve, if you're still a member, I was wondering if you would give me your opinion on my 92 SC400. I posted the following earlier, and I have not seen any activity, but this is the best thread I could hijack and bump to the top (surely someone will disapprove, but for now, I'm desperate):

"I think I killed my car. I have a 92 Lexus SC400. Was running like a champ with 102k miles. Tremendous power and compression leading up to when white smoke started coming from the exhaust, so I think/thought it is/was a head gasket leak. I want/wanted to use the leak stopper you mentioned, but here's my question: Now, it appears I have lost total and complete compression on many of cylinders (I think I'm running on 3 or 4)... so, do you think the leak stopper would seal the leak (even now, after driving maybe 100 miles after the white smoke first appeared)? I have brand new spark plugs, wires, rotors, distributor caps, water pump, radiator, temp sensor on radiator, motor mounts, transmission mount, timing belt, serpentine belt, tensioner pully (though it was moving up and down quite a bit when I did have lots of power but not now), no leaks in radiator whatsoever, strong fan from radiator, never had a problem with the check-engine light. I do have continuous white smoke, now, all the time (not just intermittent). The catalytic converter may now be clogged since I now have a smelly white smoke (not just vapor)... AND the upper hose on the radiator just keeps "getting skinny" (from its normal fat-self to tightening its belt) once I run the car a while. The color and consistency of my engine coolant is goopy pink (Toyota Type Transmission Fluid, per the manufacturer). Oh, my temp gauge goes through the roof after about 1 minute after turning the car on. BTW, I just bought a thermostat and thermostat housing, too, ready to put these on AND 2 coils. What do you think? Did I kill the car? Time for a new engine? Thank you for your time."

I'm also wondering why your leak in the pictures was the green fluid and not the pink fluid. Is there a difference between watery fluid (like the green one there) or the pink, gooey, goopy fluid that may not be going through my system very well but is what the manufacturer called for. Help!

 

Does your engine oil cap/dipstick have that white film or any sign of coolant mixed with oil? I also have a good amount of white smoke that comes out my exhaust doing start up. But it goes away after a while. Maybe it's normal? Lol but also is your car overheating?