Hilux808

How often do you find yourself topping off your overflow tank? I have a 22RE, live in Phoenix and I'm thinking that I might have an internal coolant leak. It seems like I'm losing a small amount of coolant with no visible external leaks.

Handy Andy

My 91 xtracab 22RE has been loosing a little coolant, and I can smell it sometimes coming out of the heater. My mechanic friend looked at it last winter, and could not find any leak in the core, so I'm still running it. He told me to get some silver sealer at the local JD dealer, it is a tiny container of powder sealer. Anyway, I drained a little coolant and added it a few days ago, and then my heat gauge started going up to 2/3 instead of the usual 1/3, so picked up a thermostat and replaced it. Friend said draining some coolant can cause your stat to go bad, he replaces the stat in every vehicle he drains coolant from. Saves burning up an engine. Seems kindof crazy, but a new stat has stopped my problem. And the silver sealer has gotten rid of my coolant smell.

Hilux808

Thanks,

I'm usually against cooling system sealers because it's just a band-aid. I would prefer to fix the problem at the source. I haven't verified that there is a coolant leak yet but I have my suspicions with the evidence I see.

toyota4x4907

Dude, I drove my '93 22re with a slight coolant leak for almost 4 years. It was a pin sized hole at the top of the radiator that gradually got larger, eventually leading to the complete annihilation of my radiator late October. Changing a radiator at -25 is fun, for sure!!

Oh, and I couldn't find any visible external leaks myself. I took it to a shop early '08 and he found the pinhole in my radiator. I tried patching it with JB Weld. It helped...

Also..DO NOT use that fix-a-crap crap. I did. I think its what lead to the destruction of my radiator. If only I had taken some pictures when I was changing my radiator....

What does your oil look like?

Also, also, I found myself topping my radiator/reservoir off every 3-4 weeks. By the end of last summer it was every 1-2 weeks...then before it pissed itself, it was every 6 hours, regardless of sitting or driving

Hilux808

My oil looks fine on the dipstick, no sign of water mixing in. The coolant looks pretty good too.