Camry :: 2002 V6 Losing Coolant At A Rate Of About An Expansion Tank Every 3 -4 Weeks
Nov 1, 2014
Have a 2002 V6 in the family that's losing coolant at a rate of about an expansion tank every 3 -4 weeks.
I have searched all around with a flashlight, don't see any signs of coolant residue near the radiator, expansion tank or cap, water pump, or heater core connections. Heater core does not smell like coolant. Exhaust does not smell sweet or does not steam once the car is warmed up.
I pressure tested the cooling system on up to 18-20 PSI and still can't find any evidence of anything leaking out anywhere.
I'm going to change the upper and lower radiator hoses this weekend in the thought that maybe it's a pinhole leak once hot and under pressure (I pressure tested cold). Any common things I'm missing where it may leak?
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I have a 02 cavalier 2.2 it just started leAking coolant when in a drive thru. Steam started coming up from hood. When I looked under the hood the expansion tank was hissing and it looked like the antifreeze was coming out of the overflow tube at the top of the tank. What should I do? It is sitting still at the parking lot
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Changed coolant expansion tank and coolant, engine lite came on. Scanner says coolant problems. What can it be. ECU is not recognizing new tank.
Car passat 1.8, M/T, 05, coolant was changed with the pink coolant from dealership, system was flushed and bleeded. Car is NOT overheating, temperature is showing as usual.
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Last week during a hot/long day on the road, my engine temp gauge started fluctuating between 1/2 and almost 7/8 on the gauge. The weird thing was that it was fairly stable most of the time, but every 10 minutes or so, it would heat up, and spend bout 15 seconds at the high mark before dropping down again. It didn't seem to be related to rpm, A/C operation, or driving intensity. When I got home, and let it cool down, I checked the coolant level. I couldn't see any coolant in the radiator, but the expansion tank was nearly full. I guess the low coolant level can explain the symptoms above, but I can't figure out what is happening to the coolant.
I took the car to a mechanic and had a pressure test, which didn't show any leakage. I had a new thermostat and radiator cap installed. They flushed the system, and tested the hose between the expansion tank and radiator. After driving the car home, the coolant in the radiator had already dropped to the point where I couldn't see it, and the expansion tank was 3/4 full. Now, I am planning to keep track of the levels of both reservoirs (and refilling the radiator of course) to see if the fluid is leaking, or if it is just not returning from the expansion tank. Hopefully this bit of knowledge should locate the problem.
The successful pressure test leads me to believe that it isn't leaking externally. However, I'm wondering if there is a small enough leak that wouldn't be detected by the pressure test, but is significant enough that it would allow air in when the engine cools instead of pulling the fluid back from the expansion tank.
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2007, 4.0L, Explorer, 113,000 mi. Week ago noticed coolant expansion tank empty while hot and cold. Looked inside ex. tank and looked like it had not seen any action in a while. Looked inside radiator and coolant level was about 1 inch to 1.5 inches below bottom of rad. cap would be...approx. level with rad. seam, where black plastic top of rad. attaches to metal portion of rad. I filled expan. tank to "cold fill" line. Kept an eye on it while doing light, around town driving. The expan. tank level (cold-fill) didn't change.
Friday, my wife returned from work (30 mi., interstate drive). After being parked for 45 mins, went out to find fluid puddle at very front of car. Expansion tank was empty. Looked in radiator, and it was about one inch to inch and a half below bottom of rad cap...about level with rad seam, where the black plastic top is attached to metal. I topped off the rad. this time, along with filling expan. tank to cold-fill line. Turn car on, and after warming up coolant starting coming out from what appeared to be the seam at the top of the rad., where the black plastic portion meets the metal part of the rad.
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A few weeks ago my car over heated and stopped. I had it towed and the mechanic changed the water pump, timing belt, gasket cover and more. About two weeks ago I noticed antifreeze on my drive way. Took it back in and the mechanic changed a clamp on the radiator. it continued to leak antifreeze. I took it to Pep Boys for a pressurized test, they couldn't find a leak, but did say my radiator hoses needed changing and they suspect the radiator cap is the problem. That was a week ago. I just got back from vacation and the reservoir keeps getting low every day, but not at the minimum line since the first mechanic filled it to the top. There is not apparent leak under neath the car. No smell when I start. Oil is not milky. Called first mechanic he said sounds like a blown head gasket....
Car is Honda Accord 1999, 138K miles.
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So I have a 2005 Dodge Stratus. It must be a year old model because most of the parts and engine wise are of the 2006 model. Well earlier in Feb/March I had to get my timing belt and heads changed due to the bending. After that my car was working fine, but my coolant overflow tank kept losing coolant. Had that fixed with the repair shop as well. After that it seemed that my car was working well. Then it started to overheat, and I was informed that my lower radiator hose had a small leak. I had that fixed as well. This is when the constant overheating started.
I assumed that the air needed to be removed from the system. So I had it bleed, and then it seemed to work well, but that was not true seeing as my car continued to overheat of the cold air was on. The only thing that keeps it working is if I turn the heater on. That cools the system off. So now everyday I have to keep letting air out of the radiators, and run the heater if it gets too hot.
I just noticed today that my thermostat housing bolts have coolant on them whenever the engine gets to hot. Do you think it's not right enough, or my radiator cap may be bad?
Replacements:
Head gasket
Thermostat
Radiator hoses
I believe the cap of the radiator as well.
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I recently bought a 2003 VW jetta 1.8T with 150,000 miles on it. After the purchase I got about 20 miles down the road and it overheated. I noticed there was oil in the expansion tank. I replaced the head and head gasket on the vehicle. As i was taking everything off I noticed that there was green coolant in the car. WhenI took the head off the pistons were glazed over and a lot of things were charred.
So I cleaned everything and put the new head and gasket on. After everything i cleaned the expansion tank of the oil and put new coolant in. After I drove it around for a little bit and everything seemed fine and there was no oil mixing with coolant. So I left got another 20 miles down the road and it started steaming and the overheated light came on. I checked the engine and there was no oil in the expansion take but the coolant was just pulsing it wasn't a constant flow.
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I have a 2011 Camry 4cyl with 226k miles on it, the last couple of days I have noticed a strange rattle at 2500-3500rpm from the engine area, only when the car is in gear, no rattle in N or P. I have also noticed that the engine oil and coolant have been disappearing at an alarming rate, I drove 200 miles yesterday and it went from the FULL to LOW mark, during the same drive the coolant went from mid mark between full and low to below LOW. As well, I don't notice any leaks or pink crusts around the water pump, the belts and tensioners appear to be in good working order.
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I have a 2002 Honda Odyssey with 260,000 miles on it. It started randomly overheating this hot summer we have been having. We change the thermostat and flushed the coolant/radiator and still overheats. I do not see any leaking on the garage floor but am loosing coolant and need to put more in about every 14 days. I do a lot of highway driving. What should I look at next?
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A friend of mine has a 2002 Century with a 3100 engine, 65,000 miles. The car has been well cared for, with all regular maintenance performed on time.
The car is losing coolant, the low coolant sensor comes on every few hundred miles. The local garage has added coolant, replaced the coolant sensor , and flushed the entire system. At this point my friend asked me to have a look.
1) Slimey "milkshake" on oil cap. Cleaned & dried it 4 days ago. 100 miles later, it's all slimey again.
2) Rad cap also has slimey gunk on it.
3) Coolant recovery tank is CRUDDY. The walls are all darkened with what I'd assume is oil residue.
Now, before anyone starts saying this is normal with Dexcool, I'll mention that I have a '98 and an '02 Grand Prix with Dexcool, they have 218,000 and 158,000 miles, respectively. My oil caps are bone dry. My coolant caps have only Dexcool on them. And my coolant recovery tanks are so clean they look new.
In seems to me that there is some kind of internal issue, e.g. intake manifold gasket, where the fluids are mixing. FWIW, I don't see any sign of external coolant leakage. Do the 3100s have any known issues in this area? I suggested my friend have the Buick dealer pressure test it (when it's cold), and go from there.
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I've got a 96 Toyota Camry, 4 cyl, that appears to be losing coolant. I do not see any apparent leaks. I've checked compression and all cylinders are 170lbs. Within the past year I've replaced the radiator and hoses, timing belt, water pump, etc. Within the past month I replaced the thermostat and radiator cap. I do see it bubbling in the overflow tank. Also you see vapor with the radiator cap off. I feel sure its probably a head gasket ..
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My 2002 has had a slow coolant leak for quite a while (maybe a quart a month). Now, however, I am losing over a gallon a week, but with NO visible leak!
The oil is clear, with no signs of antifreeze in it, so I am guessing the head gaskets are ok. But I am perplexed as to where my coolant is going!
After reading more threads in the forum, (which I should have done more thoroughly before posting,) it seems that I may indeed have a head gasket leak. From what I've learned, that would cause me to lose coolant through the exhaust while driving, and would explain why I don't see a visible leak anywhere. Am I on the right track? Before I replace the head gaskets, are there any other causes that may have a simpler fix??
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Van has 144k miles on it. It's been well maintained (see my other posts). I have had it since new (7 miles). The LIM was done preventively at about 75k miles (5 years ago).
Two to three years ago it started using/leaking etc coolant at a very slow rate. I would estimate somewhere in the 8-10 fl oz per 3-4 month range. As time has gone on it has been progressively using more. Now it is about 12-14 fl oz in about a month or 6 weeks. My "low coolant" indicator came on the other night. It had been a while since I added any coolant mix. 3-4 months anyway. It took about 1/2 gallon (US). There has been no "real" visible leak,up to now. I noticed yesterday when I was under it doing an oil change, that there was a "film" on the bottom of the trans pan. I followed the trail as best I could and it led me to the rear of the engine near the drivers front wheel. It was a small drop of coolant. (I tasted it). Don't try this at home... From the top of the engine looking in, I followed the upper radiator hose to the thermostat housing "pipe". It is very difficult to see in there. I took a few pix. [URL] ....
It looks like there is a little pool of coolant sitting near or under the thermostat housing that pools on top of where the transaxle bell housing meets the engine block. It's very hard to to see in the pix. Some of what looks to be damp, is actually shadow. This pool I believe runs down the back of the engine/trans, and then is blown on top the trans pan and undercarriage.
The van runs great, I want to keep it for the next 9 years. There is no coolant in the oil, or oil in the coolant. Unless the fix is fairly easy, the leak is still small enough that I am not going to bother with it until it becomes a large leak. The car runs cool even in the hot summer pulling a load. The only issue is the leak and that I have to add coolant every once in a while.
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While I was looking at my coolant level in the overflow tank yesterday I noticed pinkish coolant residue on the overflow tank cap and then looked at the radiator cap and it was covered in the same pinkish coolant residue.
2006 Cam LE 4 Cylinder, 52,000. Already done 2 coolant drain and fills--the Head bolt issue scares me.....
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I am looking at replacing my A/C compressor but in order to keep the warranty on the new compressor it states that I have to replace the expansion valve (and desiccant). My current compressor hasn't eaten itself yet so I am fairly confident that the expansion valve is still good. However, being a $30 part, I have no problem replacing it if it is fairly easy to access. According to the maintenance manual it is not as it instructs to literally rip apart the whole dash. I just wanted to know if any way to access it without doing all of that work?
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On 4/11/11 - we replace the clutch in our son's Nissan Altima. Yesterday - the clutch died as he was getting on the highway. It was towed to the same repair shop. They took a quick look and said it's likely the new clutch is gone. They weren't sure what our son did to it. We're baffled. What could he have done in 6 wks that would totally blow a brand new clutch? At this point - we don't know whether to throw good money after bad.
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I have a problem with the starting system on my 2002 Camry LE 4-cylinder. My problem started a few weeks ago. I drove it to the store, about five miles away, did my shopping, got back in the car, started it up and drove back toward home but stopped again to get gasoline. After filling the tank, the car wouldn't start. I turned the key but nothing happened. No noise, nothing. The starter motor wasn't turning over the engine. Thinking back, when I started my trip, the starting seemed a little weak but the car was sitting for a few days and it was cold out so I didn't make too much of that symptom.
So over the next half an hour, I tried starting it a few more times but got nothing but silence. So I called for a tow and $150 later I had my car back home. I put a load tester on the battery and it checked out fine. So I eliminated that part of the starting system being a problem. The next day, just out of curiosity, I tried starting it again and it fired up right away. The motor ran fine and I let it warm up for a while but I didn't go anywhere. I repeated this same procedure a few times over the past couple of weeks and each time the motor started up but again, I didn't chance going anywhere. However since I had some other maintenance projects I needed to get done on it and my wife has a 2014 Camry, having the 2002 out of service was inconvenient, but not an emergency.
So yesterday, with my maintenance projects done, I took the 2002 for a little test ride. Once again, it started up without a problem and I took my ride around the block. When I got home, I shut the motor off and went inside to grab a few tools. I came back outside, tried starting up the motor and got nothing. No start and no sound but the slight hum of the electric fuel pump. I tried a few more times with no success and then gave up for the evening. This morning, right before taking the other car to work, I tried starting it again just out of curiosity and once again, the motor fired right away. So this sequence of events tells me that something in the starting system is being impacted by heat when the motor is warm and when things cool down, they're fine.....at least for now.
I'm thinking the solenoid-starter may be going because I've had starters on other vehicles affected by heat before.
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Background: My 02 camry (155k) ran great but I noticed grease/oil on the front of the engine so I had a local mechanic take a look. He replaced the front valve cover gasket, timing belt, and while he was in there, the water pump. He made me take it to the dealer to reset/recalibrate the stability control sensor because after disconnecting the battery to perform the work my "VSC", "trac off" and check engine lights were on. I got it back along with a list of work they thought I needed (replace the rear valve cover gasket, dog bone engine mount, and a bunch of bs I don't need).
Problem: Quickly my check engine light is back on. I fill up gas and I can't get it to turn over. The owner of the shop gets it to turn over by gassing it a bunch while turning the key. My mechanic later tells me the check engine light is due to a bum gas cap. He replaces that and the dog bone mount. Next day check engine is back on AND the next time I get gas the same thing happens - it won't turn over until I gas it, then it turns over and stalls a few times until I really gas it and it turns over and takes. Every other time I try to start the car it turns over first try. Both times I filled up I wasn't close to running out of gas or anything. I don't think the gas cap or the fuel injectors went bad coincidentally the same day the dude had his hands in the engine.
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So i recently bought this 2002 honda civic, and seeing as the owner said it only needed a new windshield, rear strut, rear brakes, and new front tires, it wasn't a bad deal. I never got time to fix anything before I went on vacation for 2 weeks. It's been parked in the garage the entire time I was away, but when i went to start it up and pull it out it wouldn't move. It started perfectly fine, i took the E-brake off, but it wouldn't move unless I revved it to around 4-5k rpm, and even then it wouldn't go more than an inch.
So I put it in neutral to see if i could push it. it only moved when i got it rocking pretty good, but that's when i noticed the right rear tire had skidded the whole way. When i first got it i did notice a slight grinding type sound coming from the rear every time the car moved, but I didn't pay too much attention to it seeing as the car wasn't leaving the driveway for awhile anyway. Well now its permanently stuck until i find a solution.
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I have a 2002 Toyota Camry XLE 4 cylinder. I made a mess today, filled 13 galleons of Diesel in my gasoline Camry. It ran fine for 5 mins and then stopped.
I am planning to drain the fuel tank. I see one i hope fuel line in the hood which I plan to open using a wrench and drain the Fuel tank. Is that right?
Also do I need to do any other things immediately? I was thinking may be I will change fuel filter also.
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