3rd & 4th Generation (1992–1996 & 1997–2001)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 1992-1996 & 1997-2001
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
i heard there is supposed to be a famous problem with radiator leaks on these model camry's i just bought the car from my sister who was the only owner of the car and the car works fine except that i have to add like a few cups of water every three days to the radiator because apperantly there is a slow leak of coolant somewhere, i dont see any leaks on the ground when i leave the car parked, and i dont see or smell any white smoke coming out the muffler, if i dont add water every 3 days or so to the radiator the temp gauge will start rising slowly when im at a red light and once i start moving the car it starts going down again. my sister actually had taken the front grill off im assuming is because of this, now im taking the car into a mechanic next week to have it checked out, but should i be worried its something more serious than the radiator or a hose? could it be a messed up head gasket or something?
actualy i have looked at the engine, actualy stared at the engine while the car is on and i just dont see any leaks anywear, i even tried that stop leak liquid stuff that i used on my mr2 before and worked, but it did nothing for this leak....
That's not really a slow leak. A slow leak would be a few cups every couple weeks or months. Do you see any coolant puddles under the car after it has sat overnite? The OEM plastic radiators tend to develop a crack in the upper area side wall. It could of course also be somewhere else on the rad and hidden between the rad and the A/C condenser. If you drive the car on the highway for 25 mins, then open the hood, you should see a fine spray usually from such a crack if it exists. (make sure the coolant is fully topped up for this by adding from the cap vs the reservoir alone)
If the leak can't be located by visual inspection when the engine is hot, the next step would be a pressure test of the cooling system. If that shows nothing, I would do a block test to make sure it is not the head gasket, then I would go to using a dye in the coolant followed by a UV light inspection.
i have done this and see no visual leak anywhere, nor do i see a puddle of coolant on the ground after the car has been parked a while i dont mind if i have to get a new radiator but what scares me is that it might be the head gasket, what other things would be going on if it were the headgasket? as i never have seen or smelled white smoke from the muffler.......
Suggest not to use stop leak, it can cause more problems then it solves!
Is this a 4 cylinder?
Have you checked the carpet under heater for heater core leaks.
It is possible with a radiator leak in the fin area for the coolant to evaporate instead of leaving a puddle. Check for signs of evaporated coolant not puddles.
Have you looked straight down at the top of the plastic air shield under the car? Coolant can collect in this area.
Check the heater bypass hose that is buried in the engine and hard to see.
With a cold engine, run your hand over all the hoses, hose clamp area, etc for coolant.
Check the area under the timing belt cover, if the water pump is leaking it may show up here.
The coolant overflow tank can leak.
You can pull the plugs and check for steam cleaned electrodes.
Would be more concerned at this time about a hose leaking or a small crack in the plastic radiator top, either ready to split wide open. A hose can start with a small elusive leak then split open.
If the coolant system is totally inspected and found in good shape, then start thinking about a head gasket.
One suggestion I can make is to check the engine visually after getting it good and warm. Now shut off the engine and then wait 10 minutes before opening the hood. The engine goes through what is referred to as "heat soak", a few minutes after being shut off. The coolant actually get's a bit hotter. The coolant around the cylinders is still very hot, and with the engine off, the water pump is not circulating this coolant to the radiator to be cooled. The result is the engine and coolant actually get's hotter. This builds up some coolant pressure. Sometimes it's easier to visually determine a leak during this "heat soak" period.
i took it to a mechanic that told me the reason is slowly leaking coolant is because the reservoirs had to big holes on the side of it, this i knew about but did;t think much of it, well he says that because of this sometimes the radiator "spits" coolants into the reservoir and in turn comes out of the holes that are in the reservoir, well i did;t believe this would fix it, but i did since he says he visually did not see any leak anywhere in the engine bay, well i replaced the reservoir and to my amazement, its been a week and it hasent spilled any coolant at all, well, until now that is, torday i took the cap of the radiator as i been doing for the last week and found no water in there, so i added about 2 cups of water and it was topped off, so now i dont know what to make of this? before i replaced the messed up resevoir it needd like a cup or 2 of water almost daily and when replaced it last a full week or so with heavy daily driving without needing more water/coolant, anybody have any insight on what this could mean before i go back to the mechanics on friday??
also i still smell a faint smell of coolant burning after the car has been on a while, yet i see no smoke, sitll no white smoke on start up either, and the temp needle never really has gone into the danger zone it just sort of styats in the middle at most, when i move the car it goes back down toward the bottom....
What area of the engine did you look at for leak? Try looking at the area below the alternator after the 'hot soak' like Mike had described. Anyway, that is where the water pump is located at.
well he just looked around he did;t look that much really because he says he has seen alot of these camrys come in for the same problem and its always the reservoir being craked and once replaced problem never comes back again....
If you can take some pictures of the area below the alternator and post it, maybe we can take a look and see if there is anything there that you should check into further..
i will try that tommorow, but like i said before what im really scared of is it being a head gasket problem, im in orlando and on tuesday i plan on driving back to new york (1200 miles) and im praying that when i go to the mechanic on friday he does a presure test or something and sees that its not the gasket but some hose or something, i only got 200 bucks to spend, coult this posibly be a head gasket problem.?
Hate to said it, with so many miles on the car, and without any external sign of coolant leak, there is always that possibility that it is internal. However, don't give in or give up yet, maybe something simple will come to light that would explain the coolant lost.
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