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Hi Eric and everyone – my daughter has been driving this car for about 7 yrs and aside from normal wear and tear has had no issues until recently. A week ago she lost the heater and had to drive the car in freezing temperatures with no head. I suggested the thermostat might be stuck closed and since it would be inexpensive to replace, recommended that for starters. Nothing was done right away but a day or so later the car overheated when she saw the temperature needle bumping up on her way to work in the morning and it went all the way to the top but she made it to work. She noticed a small puddle that she described as “clear” under right passenger front of car (front wheel drive and motor sits sideways with right front passenger about exactly under the water pump)
Her boyfriend replaced the thermostat and immediately she had heat and the car didn’t overheat anymore but it only lasted a couple days before it started to overheat intermittently. I visited the car once in between all this, trying to find a cracked hose or leak that would explain the puddles she was finding under the car. Apparently her antifreeze is so lightly tinted with the bright green color that it might appear clear on the blacktop under her car. I could not find a leaking hose anywhere.
I told my daughter the water pump could still be malfunctioning but my only experience going back 20 yrs and more was when water pumps failed completely and gushed water out the bottom – this has not happened with her car.
Can anyone suggest possible diagnosis for this problem? Is it still more likely to be the water pump? I presumed if the water pump impeller was frozen she wouldn’t get any heat in the cab of the car? But when heat was restored, it confounded me. I dont know what could be wrong. Also can anyone suggest tips how to get the water pump on this car replaced without incurring major labor fees? I’ve been told with the front wheel drive that the serpentine belt and other pulley wheels have to come off to get to the water pump. Doesn’t sound easy and I do not have the right tools I’m sure. I appreciate any help.
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Find a place where you don’t already have puddles under the car. Get the cooling system completely filled up and then put a pressure tester on it. Once you pressurize the cooling system, you should be able to force a leak to happen. Then it’s a matter of getting under the car and looking for the leak point(s).
Thank you. I never used a pressure tester before – is it something expensive or can I pick one up at Walmart? My daughter has been using the car each day this week with no incidence of over heating and the heater inside the car has worked perfectly. She has been topping off the radiator before leaving for work and before coming home from work. She says the amount of liquid needed to refil is between a quart and half gallon. Here is something interesting – she says when she opened the radiator cap this morning before work, after the car had sat all night, there was a psssss sound of pressure relief from inside the radiator. The same thing happened tonight after work after the car sat all day – never had this happen on any of my vehicles – is this common or another clue about what could be wrong? Thanks again – appreciate and need the help!
I don’t know what to say for the noise, but you might be able to get a pressure tester on loan from a local auto parts store. Give them a call. If they’ve got a pressure tester to loan out, make sure they’ve got the smaller radiator cap adapter to fit the car.
1. pass side water puddle is caused by condensate dripping off ac part, always forget its name. Large silver can.
2. Toyota coolant should be red, or pink, not green.
3. She should stop messing with rad cap “right after work”, YOU know that.
4. allegedly, cooling system is pressurized all the way to the rad cap. That explains hiss. On hot engine. On cold engine, as coolant cools down, it reduces in volume and creates suction. That is supposed to suck in coolant out of expansion canister. That explains cold engine hiss and tells me cap is actually tight.
5. to me it sounds like she has internal – head gasket – leak, or one of the leaks on the rear of engine, dripping down and blown away by oncoming air stream driving. This lowered overall coolant volume in the system, sucked in all coolant out of expansion canister, and caused air lock in the system. This explains SUDDEN loss of heat. Stuck open t-stat will NOT overheat engine. Dancing temp gauge explains air lock too, as then system is poorly functioning – cooling/not cooling, depending on where air is.
This needs UV dye in the system and thorough investigation on where the outside leak is. If none found, it’s internal leak and pressure testing is way to at least confirm it. Then it’s either head gasket or air intake gasket job, or both.
Tell them to rent a car lift and get her up and look from underneath. Glancing from the top does not help much.thank you – everything you suggested seems logical. i was thinking originally that the thermostat could be stuck “closed” and that would cause no heat inside car and overheating engine? since that is already replaced and is apparently working correctly, its on to the leak as you suggest. thx very much – i will push for the investigation as described and come back when I have a new development. thx again.
A stuck closed thermostat will allow you to do about two miles and then it is Old Faithfull – I’m talking Yellowstone. I’d suggest a block test kit rather than a pressure tester.
Update – thank you all for input. The car continues to operate properly with radiator fluid top off each morning b4 work. A mechanic friend took a look at the car and decided to schedule a better look at his shop after Christmas where he can use the pressure tester and do other analysis. We are still waiting for that appointment.
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