broken cooling reservoir?[PICS]

[andrewrocks]

hi all! i've lurked from time to time... but this is my 1st post...

here goes:

i think i may have broken my cooling reservoir. I hit a patch of mud/dirt that was deeper than i thought and my front end bottomed out. I caught a whiff of coolant and i was worried that maybe my radiator was punctured. Temps seem to be fine... but i thought the the needle was acting strange... going from right above the C to about halfway on the gauge quite often...

Maybe it's me, but I never remembered my temperature changing so much, so quickly. Ambient temperture was around 64f. I had driven for around 15minutes or so when it had happened.

I make it to the closest gas station to discover this:








is this something i should be very worried about? In the middle picture you can see how the hose just goes out to nothing... isn't this just overfill reservoir?

What is normal behavior for the temperature gauge?

I am a complete novice when it comes to cars... I downloaded the partlist pdf found in the stickies, would be it be as simple as calling a number up and ordering a new $12 part?

oh and btw, it's a 1995 v6 165k mile 4door camry le


edit: also, the coolant level says low in the reservoir... but it's been that awhile for months/years maybe

thanks

[uibalnme]

You shouldn't be too worried about it, but the coolant level should be at the full mark or at least close to that. If you want to replace it, try a salvage/junk yard. It shouldn't be more than a few dollars. You could also try to patch the hole. Go to any auto parts store and pick up some silicone sealant ($5 - $6). Remove the reservoir and wash it out, there may be some small bits of plastic in there. Remove any loose bits around the hole. Lay down a bead of sealant around the hole, cut out a patch about the size of the hole from a water bottle or similar plastic, apply the patch over the hole on the sealant, and your done. Either way it should be a cheap and easy fix. Good Luck!

[Venom_5]

that happened to mine, but worse - and i drive like a madman so it would spill once in a while

but if you drive normally, it wont come out of that area - if you want to replace it, its cheap ... mine was replaced by Toyota and barely hurt my wallet

[Unco]

it is a very common thing to happen to gen3's. just go to a junkyard... you'll have a tough time trying to find one that isn't cracked!

oh, and it's just an overflow and recovery tank, so it's not so critical as uibalnme mentioned, but you should try to replace it soon.

[RedPhoenix]

it starts to evaporate.

i bought this one.


http://cgi.ebay.com/RADIATOR-OVERFLO...QQcmdZViewItem

served me well til i sold the car

[Curry]

Yea very common. mine is already starting to crack. The other camry I had, they taped it up where the cracks were, before it broke.

[PtBaller]

Two of mine have broken already in the same spot

[RichieRichJP]

Originally Posted by Venom_5

if you want to replace it, its cheap ... mine was replaced by Toyota and barely hurt my wallet

That's surprising. When I went to Toyota almost a year ago and asked about getting a replacement tank, they quoted me $85 for the part. I ended up going on ebay and getting one for $10 or so

[andrewrocks]

awesome, thanks for the updates guys

is there a filter in there? I'm still somewhat concerned about the plastic bits that fell inside,

[Blackhawk3D]

Mine was chewed off by a rat that lived in the engine bay for a while before I got the car. There were tirds in the airbox I cleaned it out and it's all fine. I wonder if the rat died when he got through the plastic to the coolant?

[toyomoho]

This damage is very typical. No filter inside just a hose.

Does the Ebay tank fit a 1995?

If you patch the tank try fiberglass.

[RichieRichJP]

Originally Posted by toyomoho

Does the Ebay tank fit a 1995?

Yes.

And on a sidenote, the tank seems to be more durable than the OEM one.

[WhiteRabbit]

i replaced mine with an ebay one

now its cracked again on top, prob get another one soon

[Venom_5]

maybe i had it done at my local shop then, not at the dealer

cuz mine was like $20

[EvoFire]

those tanks always break.... both mine and my friend's are all cracked like no tomorrow. We just leave it alone as long as it still holds coolant.