Hi everyone,

I am loosing coolant from my 93 Pickup (22RE) and I can't find any leaks. There is'nt a drop under the truck. There is also no foaming substance in the crank case nor do I have the white smoke sydrome. Now here is the worst part: The coolant is rust colored. I have flushed it twice in the last month and it keeps turning rust colored. The truck runs warm as soon as the level of coolant drops in the radiator (after it sucks the overfill tank dry).

Anyone have this same problem? I would like to have a few ideas on what might be wrong before I take it in to be looked at by a mechanic.

Should I still be driving it? Any advice, help, wisdom, or warning would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Robert

 

My 3.0v6 did the same thing. I topped it off and put some Alumaseal in there, and it's holding now. I figure it is the head gasket, but it's so slow as to not spew steam out the exhaust.

Keep an eye on all your fluids, oil, antifreeze especially. You can change the head gasket if ya want, it's alot cheaper than on my v6!

 

Torque the head bolts in sequence. I've seen loose head bolts on high mileage engines, although not Toys.

Can't hurt, and it might fix it.

 

if u put that radiator sealant crap in there, it eventually turns that rust color. only reason i can come up wit the losing coolant syndrome is that blown head gasket, but then, you would have white smoke out of ur exhaust too, which u dont. so i dono.

 

Sound like a blown headgasket to me... the no white smoke part is odd...but the coolant has to be going somewhere. Check your oil for milkshake-y goodness.

 

You may have a pin hole in a heater or radiator hose

 

Had the same problem with my 92 22re.I ended up with a crack in the head.water was leaking into the cylinder and getting burned off-no water in oil,no white smoke out exhaust.Take out spark plugs & look to see if any are really clean looking. If one looks really clean that's where your problem is.(mine was #3 cylinder)you can also do a pressure check on radiator with spark plugs out and if this is your problem you should see water coming out of spark plug hole.I drove mine for a month like this just kept adding water.(it was using about a quart every 25 miles.):pat:

 

Thanks everyone,

I will check the spark plugs and see if any come up clean. My oil looks good, there is no milk shake action going on. I fear though, it will be the head gasket.

I will also tighten the valve cover bolts. The other day I tightened one by hand, so that might be part of the problem.

Maybe I wil be lucky and it is just a pinhole somewhere!!

Thanks,
Robert