leaking water from the cylinder block

[mailking]

the facts from Argentina:

- I have been loosing radiator water for a long time, not much.
- yesterday we climbed for 40 kilometers to 4.600 meters altitude. Mostly in second gear.
- my oil and water temperature went up in the reds a few times and we stopped frequently.
- one time we stopped, and I heard gurgling noises from the engine bay, so I opened the hood and I saw water bubbles coming from the side of the engine.

This is the 4 cylinder 3B engine of my BJ45

I looked up a picture from the engine, and I see these plugs where the water is leaking from. See the attached image [I circled in red where I saw the water bubbling].

The question is:

- what would be the proper solution?
- is there a simple solution? [I have 2 component metal glue, maybe pour in that sealing stuff for the radiator?]

I think it is just this one big hill. Daily runs on high altitude in the mountains doesn't give me this overheating problem...

 

[wfd175]

Replace all of your freeze plugs.

Sometimes they can be a little bit of a bear to get out. You can do a freeze plug mud search and come up with some tips for removal.

 

[splitshot]

Quick fix would be to replace the leaky one with an expandable rubber one or a block heater, but if one is leaking, the rest may be soon behind..

 

[mailking]

hmmm, anybody care to explain to me what a freezer plug is, what is does, and why it should leak?

We are driving it, not restoring it. in order to replace these. The whole engine needs to be taken out? How many of these plugs are there?

Would that stuff that you pour into the radiator to stop small leaks help? Or can I seal it from the outside?

What would be a temporarily solution without any disassembly?

 

[splitshot]

The concept of freeze plugs are to protect your block from cracking in the event your coolant freezes. There are several on the block and in the head. They are small round cup shaped disks that should pop out when this happens.
In your case, the leak is probably due to corrosion. They can usually be pulled with a slide hammer.

Alumaseal is a good product to pour in the radiator for a quick fix, but I wouldn't rely on it for long term.
I would (minimum) replace the plug that leaks.

 

[wfd175]

A freeze or expansion plug is a small, metal, circular plug that lives in various places on an engine block. These plugs have a valuable function and an equally interesting origin. An engine block starts life as molten metal. In order to form an engine block, this metal is poured into a mold. When the metal cools off from a liquid to a solid, the engine block is born. As the mold is no longer needed, it is knocked away from the engine block. As most modern engines are liquid cooled, part of this mold also forms the cooling passages inside the engine and must be knocked away as well. The cooling jacket mold material is removed through the holes now filled by the freeze plugs.


Along with filling holes, the freeze plugs have another function. Water expands when frozen. Metal on the other hand does not like to expand very much. If for some reason the liquid coolant inside the engine block freezes and expands, the freeze plug is designed to pop out of the engine block to allow coolant to expand out of the hole. The inexpensive freeze plug can save thousands of dollars in cracked engine blocks. While all this is fine and good, freeze plugs will sometimes leak and fail for reasons that have nothing to do with cold weather. Neglected engine coolant becomes corrosive and can eat away at freeze plugs from the inside out and cause a leak. For these two reasons, maintaining engine coolant is important—on the one hand to prevent corrosion from forming, and on the other to maintain the correct level of anti-freezing properties during sub-freezing cold spells.


Holey Moley
While replacing a freeze plug in itself is fairly simple, getting to it may be another story. In fact, this story can be a long one. As bad luck will likely have it, the leaky freeze plug will never be the one that is easier to see than the sun at noon on a summer day. The leaking freeze plug will be the one up against the back of the firewall or underneath nearly every other part connected to the engine. The additional unfortunate reality is that if one freeze plug has gone rusty with holes then the others are likely not far behind. The best time to replace freeze plugs is when the engine block is out of the car and up on a stand. If this is not an option then digging in and replacing that one leaking freeze plug may be the only answer.

 

[splitshot]

Dont' you always hate it when someone types faster that you..

Good reply

 

[malcb]

words per minute he probably has you beat.

Poser would probably just say "Replace" and point you at the FAQ sticky.

 

[splitshot]

I'd bet your right on both counts, lol.

Here's one of the rubber expandable types.

 

[mailking]

Thank you all very much... I think the worst problem for me is to find replacement plugs here in Argentina. The 3B never came here and all the Toyota's here are NEW [or imported from Japan via Chile or Paraguay]. If I find the things, than its replacement time...

Do any of you know if the 3B plugs are the same as any newer model Toyota?

 

[joeyg1973]

Freeze Plugs are pretty universal actually. You just need to find out the diameter of the hole and get a freeze plug to match.

 

[wfd175]

Dont' you always hate it when someone types faster that you..

Good reply

I just copied and pasted. I can't tipe fer shizzle.

 

[malcb]

I'd bet your right on both counts, lol.

Here's one of the rubber expandable types.

Never seen one of those, your other suggestion was a block heater, which I have seen . The ones I have use have always been been fitted into threaded holes in the block, are they avaliable in a similar expandable type?

Not sure though I would trust that as a long term solution.

 

[F-junker]

JB-weld it until you can find a replacement

 

[mailking]

Well it appears that we have a leaking head. Maybe the gasket, maybe worse? But as there are no gaskets for the 3b engine in Argentina, we will bring one with us when we come back from our small Europe tour in May. The head will be removed shortly before we step on the plane, in order to see what else might be the problem and so get those parts as well.

What is the worse case senario, you guys think?

- loosing water, aprox 1 liter in 100 kms
- white smoke when starting in the morning for 2 seconds

 

[amaurer]

Well it appears that we have a leaking head. Maybe the gasket, maybe worse? But as there are no gaskets for the 3b engine in Argentina, we will bring one with us when we come back from our small Europe tour in May. The head will be removed shortly before we step on the plane, in order to see what else might be the problem and so get those parts as well.

What is the worse case senario, you guys think?

- loosing water, aprox 1 liter in 100 kms
- white smoke when starting in the morning for 2 seconds

If you're sure its a head problem: Best case - blown head gasket. Worst case - cracked head.

Cracked heads on a 3B are EXTREMELY common - I don't know of anyone whos taken their head off and not found cracks. Often they're benign, but sometimes they're not. Have the head pressure tested or magnafluxed once its off. Head over to the Diesel Tech board on this site for some more specific advice - my own thread on HG replacement is there too.

Try to be SURE that its the head. Your symptoms (consumption, white smoke) don't automatically mean a head issue (but they might). I replaced my 3B's head gasket once because a heater line was pissing coolant onto the lower edge of the head making it look like steam was shooting out of the gasket. DOH!

 

[snotank]

it's a simple problem! you need to replace the freeze plug. relatively inexpensive... they just wear out. might as well replace them all!

 

[mailking]

I am loosing quite a lot of water, and it was visual that one of the freeze plugs was leaking. So I replaced the three on the drivers side. I took the injection pump out and did it. Now, I still loose quite a lot of water, and there is no visual water, coming from any place!

I wanted to find a shop here in Argentina that can pressure test the whole system. But even at the biggest Toyota dealer in Latin America [Cordoba city] they don't have this system. But after putting it on the bridge and have a real close inspection, there are still no visible signs of a leak somewhere that corresponds with the 1 liter on 100 kms.

The mechanic asked me about recent high temperatures and white smoke in the morning.

And yes we did some high altitude climbing and had very high temperatures, and as of recently I started to see 2 seconds of white smoke when starting the first time.

How to exclude the other things?

 

[amaurer]

I am loosing quite a lot of water, and it was visual that one of the freeze plugs was leaking. So I replaced the three on the drivers side. I took the injection pump out and did it. Now, I still loose quite a lot of water, and there is no visual water, coming from any place!

I wanted to find a shop here in Argentina that can pressure test the whole system. But even at the biggest Toyota dealer in Latin America [Cordoba city] they don't have this system. But after putting it on the bridge and have a real close inspection, there are still no visible signs of a leak somewhere that corresponds with the 1 liter on 100 kms.

The mechanic asked me about recent high temperatures and white smoke in the morning.

And yes we did some high altitude climbing and had very high temperatures, and as of recently I started to see 2 seconds of white smoke when starting the first time.

How to exclude the other things?

You can pressure test the system yourself if you can get a rubber stopper from a hardware store and a bike pump - stick it in the radiator neck and pump it up to 15-20 psi and see if the pressure falls slowly. If yes, then you have a leak somewhere (but you probably already knew that, given the way fluid is disappearing).

Check the radiator overflow tank for bubbling from the overflow tube when the engine is hot and running - if you've got bubbling then you have a head crack or HG failure.

Or, park the truck on a steep downhill while hot and running - if fluid starts to pour out of the overflow, you have a head crack or HG failure.

 

[mailking]

hmmm. I will an park it at a slant, lots of hills here, so that shouldn't be the problem. I will report back to this thread.

Coen