filling the cooling system ??

[joegri]

i,ve owned the vans for lots of years now and have never had a problem filling the cooling system,but now i,m not sure if its getting all the collant it should be getting. i havnt seen a bleeder like my lil civic hatch or anything like it. what do you guys do? i just take the cap of the goose neck and let it warm up and add collant as some bubles burp out of the neck. any and all replys will help. thanx for reading this. joe g

[djshimon]

That's what I do too. Also make sure the heat is on so it gets through the heater core. Then I check it every few days to see that it's settled in and cap it when warm and running.

[joegri]

thanx for the reply dj i was thinkin that i was missing something but it must be full then.been chasing this mystery leak and finnaly found it this afternoon.

[djshimon]

i don't know if i'm doing it proper either but it seems that's how some folks do it. where was the leak?

[joegri]

just a bad pipe from the rad to the neck i got it!!!

[joegri]

shi t was hitting the fanblade n makin it hard to tell whwere it was commin from

[djshimon]

awesome.

[joegri]

man i,m puzzled??? i keep adding cooant to the system but now i think i,m chasing my tail. when i open the cap and check where the level is(in the neck) its always a cup or so low. so i add some. then i find coolant all over the place the next day? i swapped out the resivoir and cleaned out the hoses so i think all is in proper working order. my question to you guys is..... if you opened up yer gooseneck today where is yer level at like can you see it or is it out of sight? i just dont want to cook the motor cuz of a wrong filling point. thanx for reading this and responce.

[llamavan]

The coolant should be all the way to the top of the filler neck. You've got another leak somewhere in the system.

Gwen

[joegri]

thanx for your reply gwen last nite after i got out of the van i could hear it hissing at me as i walked away so i ran n got a flash light to scope thinga out. sure enough i did find a pin hole in the upper rad hose that would shoot coolant onto the front of the block and the heat would dry it hence, thats why i couldnt find it. as a mtter a fact i had to use a small compct mirror to locate it!! this mornin i cut back maybe an inch of rad hose reaattatched and put a new clamp on. c,mon now i dare ya to leak!!!! hope i got em all. now onto timming this thing seems a lil sluggish.just ordered a new cap n rotor too

[llamavan]

It would be smart to replace that upper rad hose ASAP because that hole is a clue to the condition of the rest of the hose ...

Gwen

[joegri]

man i cant believe it i still have to add coolant to the van every morning. so today i stopped at my buddies shop n set up an appointment to have a pressure test done and a few other ways to test for a bad head gasket. ya gotta believe me i,ve checked every joint hose clamp and any place collant can leak out of. i,m thinkin the worst would be a bad head gasket and if it is true i have 2 other motors that i,ll swap out. not looking foward to doing that job but i,m prepaired to. these things dont happen when its nice out they wait for the coldest days of the year and no garage wha wha wha .

[Harbilly]

Well? Did you start changing hoses?

[timsrv]

The saga continues HERE (http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/showthread.php?578-diagnosing-a-headgasket-failure)