Getting to know all the coolant hoses of your Vanwagon!

[llamavan]

See THIS Library Article for an illustrated tour of Toyota Vanwagon coolant hoses including part numbers!

Gwen

[User1]

Thanks for posting such a well done article on a subject sorely needed. I have an '87 that I'm dying to get started on and one of the first things I want to do is flush the cooling system. All I have is the Chilton manual to work with and a few kind members on ToyotaVanPeople helping me out. One of the first post was directed to this thread. I had some trouble getting registered and on. If it wasn't for them, I'd still be struggling with that!

Anyways, the first thing I need to do is install the T fitting that is depicted on your fourth pic above. I'm a bit lost as to where that pic is at. I haven't gotten underneath the van yet. I'll be doing that tomorrow. Is there another pic that might show better where these hoses are?

Thanks again for all your help.

[vietnamvanman]

Thank you for an excellent write-up !!! As i know the water valve in front only shut-off water to the front heater core. Is it correct ? if it's means coolant flows through the rear heater core no matter what the water valve position ? That means when rear vents are set for low vents and AC on then cold air will pass by a hot heater core ? This doesn't sound like an effective Toyota's design. What do you think ?

[Spindrift]

Thank you so much for this!

[mahleek87]

Extremely useful. Thank you for this!

[iMickey503]

I think Space shuttles may have less complexity then the coolant/hose systems of these van's.

[s30v]

Wowzers... What a system.... And a very nice write up!

As anyone taken the time to write up a step by step flushing and filling procedure? I am experiencing (in my new van) cabin heat for 5 or ten mins, then no cabin heat for 20 or so mins, then back to heat... I was planning to start with replacing the thermostat and flushing the system but I want to make sure to fill it correctly and get as much trapped air out as possible.
Thank you!

[spacecruisers]

^^^I'd like to know this as well since my heater doesn't really work. PS - excellent write up!

[rootbeerrain]

A tour of the cooling hoses in the van, with part numbers!

Note: I'm posting this now, by popular demand, but will be adding more later — ... and also the bulk hose lengths for 2WD after I've verified them ... stay tuned! -- Gwen

Pssst, does anybody know this? Did Gwen every verify those bulk hose lengths?

Thanks,
-Spencer

[llamavan]

Pssst, does anybody know this? Did Gwen every verify those bulk hose lengths?

Thanks,
-Spencer

Sorry, not yet. I've only completely replaced hoses on one 2WD van so far, and that was under a major time crunch, so verifying and/or recording lengths was out of the question.

Gwen

[rootbeerrain]

Don't be sorry! if you keep saying that people might come to take your awesome write-ups for granted Thank you so much for the time you did spend on this. For what it's worth, my 89 2wd cargo van came without a rear heater and there was no tee as in pic 2, it was just an elbow going to the front heater. Perhaps the 2wd vans with capped tees you've spoken of had rear heaters at one point that were removed? Just a thought. I'm getting into this because my van runs fine for 45 minutes of rigorous driving and then slowly overheats. I'll pull over and find some wet spots on the undercarriage, but when I go to fill it back up after it cools down it doesn't take very much coolant to top it off. An interesting note is once when I thought to check when it was overheating I tried venting heat with the heater and it didn't blow hot air. Anyway, now I'm using your write-up to check all the possible hoses that might need replacing before I decide to pull the radiator.

Thanks for being awesome!
-Spencer

[llamavan]

I recall you said in a post elsewhere that the heater did work before the overheating. If that that's correct, what's happening is that the coolant level is dropping too much to circulate to the heater ... which re-defines how much coolant your van is actually losing (a critical amount, rather than "not very much").

Are you refilling at the overflow tank, or the rad cap (which is not on the radiator)? And how old is the rad cap? Is the coolant in the overflow changing (really full or empty)?

Finding where the coolant is going is important. That's hard to do if you've been driving (airflow, and the fan, blow it all over the place), but with a leak that significant, pressure testing should reveal the source. Cleaning things up in advance will help, natch.

Gwen

[rootbeerrain]

I recall you said in a post elsewhere that the heater did work before the overheating. If that that's correct, what's happening is that the coolant level is dropping too much to circulate to the heater ... which re-defines how much coolant your van is actually losing (a critical amount, rather than "not very much").

Are you refilling at the overflow tank, or the rad cap (which is not on the radiator)? And how old is the rad cap? Is the coolant in the overflow changing (really full or empty)?

Finding where the coolant is going is important. That's hard to do if you've been driving (airflow, and the fan, blow it all over the place), but with a leak that significant, pressure testing should reveal the source. Cleaning things up in advance will help, natch.

Gwen

Sorry Gwen, I didn't mean to sound like a noob. I refill both at the overflow and at the radiator cap, which I know is not on the radiator lol, and the rubber on it looks nice, no cracks or deposits or anything. I estimate that it took around 1L to top off both the overflow and filler neck combined (that's around the amount of 3 cans of soda).

I fill the overflow close to the top, and after the overheating incidents I find it filled to around the middle.

Before these incidents I drained the coolant to preventatively replace the thermostat. When I filled it back up it took like 2 gallons of coolant, so naturally when I only have to replace a liter or so it seems like not that much. would that actually be considered a critical amount? I do intend on leak-finding, but I also think mayhaps this could be partly caused by clogging in the hoses/cores somewhere?

Also since you mentioned pressure testing, are you referring to the pump that fits onto the filler neck like a radiator cap? Do you think if I go borrow one from the local parts store and try pressurizing it that I'd be able to see where stuff sputters out? Cause that would be so convenient!

Thanks again Gwen for your time and patience.

-Spencer

[tennesseetoyota]

Do these part numbers apply to automatic transmission vans?

And where is the best place to find these parts new and OEM?

[oli larsen]

thanks for doing this! very useful guide!!!

[tennesseetoyota]

All vans, manual transmission


GREEN arrows are radiator flow (sorry, lower hose not shown but if you can't find that on your own ... well ... this is not a job for you! )
Part numbers:
lower radiator hose (2WD) — 16572-71010
lower radiator hose (4WD) — 16572-73040

Do all the part numbers here apply to automatic transmission vans as well? And do you have any suggestions on where to buy OEM parts besides the local dealer (their prices seem pretty high). I have come across https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/ and https://parts.olathetoyota.com/ but I don't know if either of these are reliable or if there's a better source out there.

Thanks!

[Kyle]

DIY Hose Molding For Anyone Interested:

In the process of engine reassembly I didn't feel like hunting down a bunch of discontinued hoses or paying 15 bucks or more for a simple bend in a hose, so I took the wingnut route and tried my hand at some DIY hose molding.

Basically, I filled some bulk hose (in this case, 5/8th heater hose and some 5/16ths vacuum) with the largest flexible material I could (with some pb blaster on there to remove it later) and baked them at 325 degrees for 11 / 10 minutes respectively. The results were pretty satisfying. Not as perfect as factory made stuff, but I used them all in reassembly and they all fit pretty well.

The tightest bend (forward side of air intake chamber to pipe) came out slightly pinched but still very open and certainly better than without the treatment. Most of these are for air, so I was more willing to take risks without fear of a catastrophic overheat like with coolant (although 2 of these are for the TB coolant (de-icer?) lines).



The hoses all relaxed a little when I took the pipe out of them post-oven, but they very easily flexed back into the bend I "molded" without kinking

[jedzeppelin]

New (proud) 1989 Toyota Van EFI LE, bought cheap with a leaky rad. I found a visible crack in the radiator outlet hose. This is this part I believe (lower hose)



This only runs to the overflow tank I believe (am I correct?). I think I can replace it as long as I can find the part, could this be it? Has anyone used this site before?

https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/...264-46010.html

The front end is difficult to access, I think access from underneath would be better, too many wires going in from above.
Thanks for the help

[llamavan]

This only runs to the overflow tank I believe (am I correct?)

No, it runs from the bottom left (driver's side) of the radiator to the thermostat housing on the front left side of the block.

Coolant overflow tank has a single (skinny!) siphon line from it to the filler neck where the "radiator cap" fits, and then another short line for any overflow to dump out.

To access the lower rad hose from above, lift off the coolant overflow tank (unplug the wire to the coolant level sensor FIRST) and ... there it is.

Gwen

[jedzeppelin]

] lift off the coolant overflow tank (unplug the wire to the coolant level sensor FIRST)

Where can I find the coolant level sensor?
Also through battling with the part section at a local automotive centre, could I just use the generic coolant flex hosing and just cut it to fit? I have ordered the closest hose we could find but i'm doubtful it the exact one I need