1st Problem! Are these the T's on the Coolant System?

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Oct 29, 2014
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Just went to a car wash, and on my way home I noticed the check engine light, VSC and one other light. I heard a strange knocking when at one RPM. I was a block from home so I rushed there and as I pulled up the car died (or I turned it off by instinct- still in shock). Smoke started coming out of the engine bay. I opened it up and saw the attached picture.

Tell me what to do!
IMG_1167.webp
 
Those are the T's. Not sure of next steps. I would replace Ts, fill with coolant and pray there is no permanent damage. Did the temp gauge go up?
 
You lost a significant amount of coolant. Replace the T's and refill, use the Toyota red coolant if that's what is in there now. Hopefully you didn't do any permanent damage to the engine from running it without coolant.
 
Yea, replace both of the Ts, refill with Toyota red coolant. Hopefully no damage has been done. Let us know how it turns out.
 
Were the hoses damaged also? Some folks in another thread replaced their hose t's with brass t's. This is the item name on amazon for the brass t's: MettleAir 123-10-1 PK 5/8" ID Hose Barb Tee T Union Fitting Intersection/Split Brass

Here's the full oem part list for the hose t's plus all hoses:
87248-60460 x2
87245-6A180 x1
87245-6A210 x1
87245-6A190 x1
87245-6A220 x1
87245-6A201 x1
99556-20200 x1
 
Just went to a car wash, and on my way home I noticed the check engine light, VSC and one other light. I heard a strange knocking when at one RPM. I was a block from home so I rushed there and as I pulled up the car died (or I turned it off by instinct- still in shock). Smoke started coming out of the engine bay. I opened it up and saw the attached picture.

Tell me what to do!


Technically speaking that's not a "T".......that's an "r" :)

Hope there is no serious damage, sounds like you caught it pretty fast. The guys around here know this stuff really well, so I am confident you'll get the part numbers, and advice you need to get back on the road.


-G
 
I have replaced the parts and filled with coolant (SLL pink from Toyota).

Now I have a check engine, VSC TRAC, and VSC OFF light on. How to I clear the code to ensure everything is working normally.

Luckily the engine sounds good to my non mechanic ears.
 
Crap. Shipped my scan gauge to my dad.

You can buy a cheap OBD-II wifi adapter from eBay or Amazon.com

Get an app like DashCommand or Torque to read and clear the codes yourself. Not too expensive....and you can do realtime datalogging with it as well (if that's your thing)


-G
 
Dad is shipping the scan guage back.

Now it is over heating. Guessing there is air in the system. Going to research how to bleed it.

Edit: Added 2nd gallon of coolant and it consumed the whole thing. Drove around the block again and things are looking good.

The lights went off! I read that a lot of times it means O2 or CAT so I figured tons of coolant poured down there and I sprayed it off. Next time I turned the key the lights were gone!

Very happy that this appears to be working out. Thanks for all the hep.

Off to the dealer for a 3rd gallon of coolant to top it off again. Hopefully she'll be as good as new.

BTW, the old T's were crumbling and stuck inside the coolant hoses. This needs to be addressed on every Land Cruiser ASAP (as everyone knows, including me). I was making a list of parts to buy online including the T's late last week.
 
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Those tees deteriorate after a while and need to be watched and replaced occasionally. Replace them when you want to not when you are miles into no here. I wonder if there are any available in copper that will last forever?
 
Sorry for your loss. You are hosed, and the LC is a goner. I will buy it from you for salvage, just to do you a favor... ;)


Seriously, sounds like you are back on track. I am impressed that you procured AND swapped the Ts within 3 hours of posting this problem. That is fast work. Hope it all continues to work out.
 
What year and how many miles are on your hundy? Just wondering if I need to do my '06 @ 90k miles yet. Def can't hurt to do it now, especially with the lifetime brass T's, but just wondering how long these T's last before they break down.
 
What year and how many miles are on your hundy? Just wondering if I need to do my '06 @ 90k miles yet. Def can't hurt to do it now, especially with the lifetime brass T's, but just wondering how long these T's last before they break down.

My Cruiser has 210k on it. Meticulously maintained by the dealer it's whole life. I think it may have to do with age just as much as mileage. I'd say do them now.

I went with the plastic OEM ones because I figured they already lasted 200k miles and 10 years. That's good enough for me. Next time I'll be replacing all the hoses as well.

Seriously, sounds like you are back on track. I am impressed that you procured AND swapped the Ts within 3 hours of posting this problem. That is fast work. Hope it all continues to work out.

Thank you. The dealer that had them was about 40 min away as well each way. Seems to be running great now. Drove around for a couple hours tonight and it worked perfectly.

One question. Is the proper way to top off the coolant to fill the radiator, and then fill the overflow tank to the line? Or is that too much coolant for the system. I read somewhere the radiator likes to be about 3/4 full.
 
Rushing to the dealer for T's in the very near future.
 
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