Sinsemilla

So i own a 94 V6, i have had it for a 2 years now. Had to have the MAF replaced last year when i just sputtered out on me. Last summer i was having to put coolant in for a 3 weeks, it was getting hot and losing coolant. All of the sudden it stop as the weather changed and i forgot about it. Now that its getting alot warmer my friend is getting hot again and dripping coolant.

I am unable to determine where the leak is coming from, a buddy of mine said it looks like from the water pump. There is alot of coolant on all corner seems from dripp / running and hard to tell.

When i take off the Radiator cap there is a few pieces that looks like a piece of rotted rubber seal or hose floating in coolant. When i check under engine oil cap its black and not milky so i dont think coolant is in the oil.

Assuming i will have to replace the head gaskets, i read somewhere if you get in the red it will warp them and they will fail?
Replace the radiator or the water pump and hoses? is all this needed

I am looking for a more information and trying pinpoint the problem or figure it out before i start taking my friend apart. Dont know alot about my truck but i am learning and not giving up,
I love my Yota!

ramtime

Sounds to me like you need to replace the water pump. When a water pump fails it can leak from the seal on the bearing. Water will run through the bearing and come out a weep hole on the front. It's really not that hard and Autozone has them for $56.00. I just did mine a week ago and it only took a couple of hours. It's easy. Pull the radiator, remove the fan, pull belts loose, remove timing belt cover, IMPORTANT TRICK to know is to take some cheap hand clamps and clamp your timing belt to the cam pulleys to prevent anything from moving. I also put the cams TDC just in case before I loosened the tensioner. Once the belt is loosened, unbolt the water pump and slide it out around the timing belt. This assumes that you don't need a new timing belt, but if it's been a while, I would recommend replacing it. I didn't replace mine because it was fairly new. Then reverse the steps and put it back together.

Cooling systems are really basic, there's the radiator which is really hard to have fail, there is the t-stat which can go bad, and then there is the water pump. One way to tell if your water pump may be failing you is squeze the upper radiator hose when it's running and release the hose. You should be able to feel water surge when you release it.

farmall

Gotta go with ramtime replace waterpump first. usually head gasketts gone bad you have coolant in the oil and alot of leakage. yes you are correct you dont want to run it in the red. keep us posted and good luck!!!!

Blurr

DON'T PULL PARTS UNTIL YOU HAVE FOUND THE LEAK! there are a ton of coolant hoses on the rear of the intake manifold as well. clean up the coolant really well then take it for a drive around the block then park it in your driveway and find out EXACTLY where the leak is coming from. it would be a pity to spend an afternoon replacing a water pump when it could be the $6 throttle body coolant hose.

Jay351

X2.

Clean the engine really well, then look for leaks.

Replace any hoses that appaer to be cracked or brittle
replace coolant with toyota red coolant
water pump too, only go toyota. Trust me, you don't wanna do this twice, whats good with a lifetime replacement warrenty when you need to spend a weekend tearing it apart and replacing it..

If the rad appears to be in bad shape, get a new one. They are easy as pie to install.