Coolant level

[ToyotaToday]

1. How often do you need to top off your coolant?
2. Is it normal to have some coolant loss? If yes, how often? after how many miles/months?



Thanks

[MR2Jedi]

Never, as long as there's no leaks or overheating.

[jetwhine]

ToyotaToday,

On an older rig it is not uncommon for you to use some coolant. Because of wear in the engine such as head gaskets etc. I would say a cup per oil change is not too terribly bad as long as it is watched and you don't run it dry. I had a camry once that had 270,000 miles on it and it used about that amount of water between oil changes. It ran great but you had to keep an eye on the water. But as MR2Jedi has stated a tight water system should not use any water. Hope this helps.

[ToyotaToday]

Thanks Guys.

Theres a whitish coating on the radiator hose. What is that? That can't be coolant permeating through?




On the second picture, i took the cap of the reservoir. There's a small ring of crust. Can this be a leak? Or is this just from the condensation on the cap and when someone opened the cap and replaced it back, a small amount of coolant seeped out.




I've only had the car for about a month so I don't have all the history.

[jetwhine]

ToyotaToday,

The whitish color is just from the heat of the water in the hose. Its not a problem you just need to use some armor-all or some rubber cleaner to clean it if you don't like the looks. The hose looks to be in good shape. As far as the cap is concerned it should not drip there, the fluid that moves from the radiator to the overflow bottle should just leak into the bottle. That fluid leak you mention must be from someone removing the cap. There should be a check valve inside the cap to keep it from leaking under normal fluid transfer. Also there should be a rubber tube that hooks to the under side of the cap that extends into the tank to the bottom to allow the fluid transfer maybe that is missing????

[ToyotaToday]

Thanks again Jetwhine.

Found out the problem. I took it to the dealer, where I bought the car, and they said it's the water pump. Ouch. It's going to cost me a few bucks. It's going to get done on tuesday. I took off the engine cover and noticed there's a pinkish calky substance underneath one of the hoses.

OK, here's a stupid question, where exactly is the water pump. I know it's must be where the coolant hose enters the engine.

From this picture, is it the pulley (wheel) in the center of this pic?





Here's a picture taken from under the car. You'll notice some pinkish substance on the small U shaped hose.