So I did a HG job a little while back, now I seem to be losing coolant (water actually). I've run water in it since the HG job, and now it seems like every few days the water level in the rad is down to the fins. There are no leaks, no drips, and doesn't seem to be any contamination in my oil, and I'm not blowing steam out my tailpipe. My temp gauge never goes above half, but I don't know if i trust it. Most of my driving is to town and back, about 10 miles going 55mph, and after 3 or 4 trips like this, I have to top of my radiator. I've got a lot of ideas of what could be wrong, but thought I would ask some wiser minds here, any input would help thanks!
Well, after everything was back together, I ran a garden hose through the system, then parked it on an incline and ran the engine with the cap off for a while, then topped it off.
Have it tested, they use a smog check probe inserted into the radiator neck, if hydrocarbons are present you have a faulted head gasket or cracked head!!
Lowtide, my oil is steady and not milky truckaction, those are my biggest fears, can't exactly afford a new head right now
Call the repair shops in your area & or a Toyota dealer! And you don't always see the water in the oil, the water can evaporate has fast as it disperses!
Again did you burp the system? If not the shit can over flow and dump out some out of the radiator. Keep adding and more than likely the same thing will keep happening. Go after it the easy way first
With your engine at operating temperature, pull the oil dip stick and let a few drops fall on the exhaust manifold. If it smokes only, there is no water in the oil. If it "sizzles", you've got some water in there.
Just have it pressure tested. Any shop like Firestone or whatever is in your area will be able to do this..... This will tell you indefinitely if you have a cooling system leak.
If their is no leak from the out side of the system it have to be a HG.... Only other place it could be leaking....
until I've found out whether or not it is a blown HG, should I continue with putting just water in the system?
If the water is going into the crankcase it will dilute the oil. You could end up with major damage to bearings.
Water in the oil is fairly obvious. He said he's checked for that. What thermostat and radiator cap are you running? Do you have an overflow tank?
My thinking was that water would be less harmful than coolant in the oil maybe? I'm running a 195* t-stat with the toggle (am thinking of getting the 2 stage), and have a 13psi cap with the stock overflow tank.
.... IMO, if your just adding straight WATER into the cooling system, it will boil/burn off. and then you will end up with no "cooling", making u think u have a leak cuz there is no WATER in the system. u need real antifreeze coolant so it wont boil away. try and remove the spark plugs, look into the cylinder. if piston tops look clean, then u prob are leaking coolant/water into the cylinder. in some cases, smoke may or may not be visible through the exhaust. if its leaking into the oil, it will definitely show up. one way to check is remove the drain plug. if water got into the oil, it should be the first thing to come out. just my $0.02 hope this helps
on a stranger note, if the evap core was leaking, and the water was draining out the drain tube..... this may be one case as well