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Coolant leak

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Has anyone else experienced coolant leaks around the right hand side of the engine? My wife's 2012 plate 86 only just came back from it's annual service at Snows Toyota a week ago when smoke started pouring out the engine bay. I left it to cool down before opening the bonnet but there appears to be coolant in various places over the right hand side of the engine and coolant "splatter" everywhere else. We took it back to Snows last Friday and they kept it over the weekend and they said that they ran it for 4 hours but couldn't find anything wrong. Drove the car again today and it really smells of burning coolant and there is still small amounts of green coolant sloshing about in the crevices, although I agree there's no sign of where it's coming from. The engine bay looks a real mess now and we're slightly worried whether it would be a bad idea to drive too far in it. Any suggestions?

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Did the servicing replace the coolant?  They might have left an airlock which would have caused overheating.

Wipe off all the spilt coolant, top up the reservoir level and keep a careful eye on the temperature gauge when you take it for a test drive.

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Check the filler cap is done up properly. Trust a main dealer to do stuff like not reinstalling the dip stick... Also look for where the pressure release is on the expansion chamber, as that is where a boil-up will tend to spray from. If the spray is in other areas where it is unlikely to have gone, then you want to look at hoses I suppose. More likely than one your heads blowing anyway.

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Thanks for your replies. The service check list doesn't show that the coolant was replaced so it shouldn't be air in the system and all the coolant that has leaked out is the other side to the  filler and expansion chamber, so I guess it's either a rogue hose or worst case scenario the cylinder head but you'd have thought that the dealership would have checked both thoroughly. I agree that the best next step is to clean it up as much as possible so that I can look for any new leaks. I'm not best pleased that the dealership didn't clean up the engine bay!

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Best thing to do is clean the engine bay up. Then start from cold and check for leaks until the radiator Cooling fans come on once the car gets hot. It should be much easier to spot then.

Upload a picture or video if you can.

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914AA36B-6910-4417-B3DD-36A2641DA23C.thumb.jpeg.df2485796056abd6e08a71ee9d5e8c29.jpegThanks. I took a photo but there’s not a lot to show. Its still loosing coolant and getting hot and smoking so I phoned Snows Toyota this afternoon and they said to drop the car off asap but that’s easier said than done as I’ll have to organise how to get home afterwards! I think I’ll have to pause further progress until the weekend and use the Avensis instead:-(.

3B9000CD-F56B-4B7D-A39E-356CD032C890.jpeg

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21 hours ago, 1000 PR said:

914AA36B-6910-4417-B3DD-36A2641DA23C.thumb.jpeg.df2485796056abd6e08a71ee9d5e8c29.jpegThanks. I took a photo but there’s not a lot to show. Its still loosing coolant and getting hot and smoking so I phoned Snows Toyota this afternoon and they said to drop the car off asap but that’s easier said than done as I’ll have to organise how to get home afterwards! I think I’ll have to pause further progress until the weekend and use the Avensis instead:-(.

3B9000CD-F56B-4B7D-A39E-356CD032C890.jpeg

Really interesting the fluid is green is that the same colour in the expansion tank? Is the engine running hot ? Very close to Aircon equipment 🤔

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That’s a really good point. It is very green! What colour should the coolant be? Toyota coolant used to be red/pink but do they use OAT in the ‘86? I can’t check as there isn’t any in the filler neck. If it stops raining over the weekend I’ll take a closer look.

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That’s a really good point. It is very green! What colour should the coolant be? Toyota coolant used to be red/pink but do they use OAT in the ‘86? I can’t check as there isn’t any in the filler neck. If it stops raining over the weekend I’ll take a closer look.
The coolant is light blue in colour and is a Subaru one.

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

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17 hours ago, 1000 PR said:

That’s a really good point. It is very green! What colour should the coolant be? Toyota coolant used to be red/pink but do they use OAT in the ‘86? I can’t check as there isn’t any in the filler neck. If it stops raining over the weekend I’ll take a closer look.

If antifreeze types are mixed it can cause a jelly type substance leading to overheating 🥵 

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On ‎10‎/‎2‎/‎2020 at 3:46 PM, nikndel said:

If antifreeze types are mixed it can cause a jelly type substance leading to overheating 🥵 

The green colour is a bit of a concern, unless that is just the colour it has turned after partly evaporating?

 

The Toyota long life coolant is light blue in colour and a pre-mixed item. I have a bottle of it at home after I had to top mine up. If it was serviced by a main dealer this is 100% what they should have put in if they topped anything up for any reason. Wonder if any other Toyota models use any other types of coolant?

Either way I would be expecting them to be helping investigate if the issue arose after a service. As Lauren said getting home shouldn't be an issue either as  a courtesy car should be given.

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1 hour ago, gavin_t said:

Wonder if any other Toyota models use any other types of coolant?

Toyota's SLLC is Pink - I use it in my Supercharger. The GT86 is blue as that is Subaru's SLLC colour of choice.

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