Well, I thought that I had been noticing a slight antifreeze smell lately...

the first thing that popped into my mind was "OH, MY HEAD GASKER FINALLY WENT! TIME FOR A NEW MOTOR! YAY!"

but after I got another good whiff, and thought more about the smell, it's FRESH antifreeze, not burning antifreeze...

so then I though "well damnit, it's just a leak..."

THEN, this morning on my way to work, the smell comes on STRONG! and then I notice a mist coming from my air vents INSIDE THE CAB! Oh and guess what, the mist is... you guessed it... antifreeze vapors...

you don't even want to know what I thought when I realised this


So anyhow, winter's done for a good long while here in Florida, and it's getting good and hot again, so I picked up a 5/8" union and some hose clamps, as well as some more coolant, on my way home from work today, and I'm just gunna block it off for now, till I can get in there to replace it.

Who's replaces the core in their 3rd gen PU or 2nd gen 4Runner? How tough is the job?

I know that most are a MAJOR PITA... I did one on a 97 S10... that was horrible...


Also, anyone think breathing in antifreeze vapors for 20 minutes or more has any long-term health risks? it made my chest hurt a little, and the mucus you cough up taste like $#!@, lol

 

I think you're the first dude that actually WANTS his engine to blow up



sorry, no tech info

oh man! You have 294K? Why not let it last another 6K miles so you can say yours reached 300K and get cool Toyota Nation stuff?!

 

trav, your gonna have to rip the whole dash out... dashpad and all...
should take you about 2 days to do...

might wanna double check the stock wiring harness and all the welds (clutch bracket to firewall comes to mind) while your there...

and take pics...

 

I have a 2nd Gen 4runner. I think I'm getting a coolant leak from my heater core too. I had to keep filling my rad, but it just started overheating and one of the bypasses starts hissing when it overheats. it also has that smell you where talking about it. I changed the t-stat, and I had my rad cleaned and fixed a couple months ago. I'm not an expert on my truck, I've had it for about 5 months so any ideas will help.

 

lmao, well, it'll give me a good reason to start the new motor work early

beside, I already have the 200k miles Toyota Nation stuff

haha, naw I think I'll make it to 300k, I only have 2 more oil changes to go

and it's really closer to 295k now, I just rolled over 294840

damnit... that's was I feared...

even though I kinda expected that responce, it still sucks

oh and when it happens, you can bet there will be lots of pics; comon, you know me man




Well it finally stopped raining so I went out and made a loop by cutting up and re-using the old heater hoses, along with the union I bought. Both hoses have some brittle spots in them, so I was going to replace them with the new core later on, but the curved portions I re-used are in good enough condition; good enough to use for the loop I made anyway

Ran it to operating temp, made sure the system was buped, drove it around, and popped the hood for a final inspection, and we have no leaks!

Oh, and no more antifreeze misting from my vents now, so that's a plus

it's odd though that I never did see, nor can I find even now, a wet spot on the floor where it was dripping... it must have been such a small pin-hole, it just sprayed out into a mist and was carried away by the air flow and up out of the vents...

 

x2
Lots of pics.