No Coolant in Overflow (1 Viewer)

[brockdeck]

?

 

[Tools R Us]

Green coolant is fine, radiator should be full, the recovery tank level to the full line.

 

[brockdeck]

Green coolant is fine, radiator should be full, the recovery tank level to the full line.

Forgive me if this is obvious but then should I then add more coolant to the radiator?

 

[george_tlc]

Remove radiator cap (when cold) and fill to the brim. Put cap back on. Fill overflow to full mark.

Check again in a few days, check each week. Check for leaks at the various hoses - eg at the heater valve, the PHH and the other PHH (throttle body bypass hose) on the USDS block. Search will find you the details.

If the coolant is a few years old, then it makes sense to drain & refill with new. Coolant loses it's corrosion protection properties over time.

I presume you are new to vehicles? Consider the coolant in your vehicle as the equivalent of keeping your body hydrated...

cheers,
george.

 

[brockdeck]

Remove radiator cap (when cold) and fill to the brim. Put cap back on. Fill overflow to full mark.

Check again in a few days, check each week. Check for leaks at the various hoses - eg at the heater valve, the PHH and the other PHH (throttle body bypass hose) on the USDS block. Search will find you the details.

If the coolant is a few years old, then it makes sense to drain & refill with new. Coolant loses it's corrosion protection properties over time.

I presume you are new to vehicles? Consider the coolant in your vehicle as the equivalent of keeping your body hydrated...

cheers,
george.

Thanks for the help.

My main concern knowing the importance of coolant is not knowing what was put in there before, probably prestone green and not knowing when it was actually changed. So was worried adding more coolant could lead to sludge or issues, and when I've had no cooling issues theres never been anything in that overflow tank.

 

[george_tlc]

Most likely it'll be generic green coolant. Since you don't know the vintage, I'd plan to drain & refill at an opportune time. You could just top with distilled water for now...

cheers,
george.

 

[greentruck]

Popping the cap on a cold radiator will tell you how far down it got before your intervention. If it's still full, probably no issue.

Then the question is what caused loss of fluid in the reservoir. Neglect over a long time leads to some limited evaporation from the tank, but usually there are more obvious problem that causes the radiator to draw some in from it as makeup water.

 

[Rifleman]

As other members have said this is a great time to do a flush and refill. But first thing first, you need to make sure you don't have any leaks, so you'll need to find out where that coolant went, because coolant doesn't just evaporate on it's own. Just in case you don't know this, when you do a radiator flush, and refill you need to use distilled water, NEVER USE WATER FROM YOUR GARDEN HOSE! Buy about 6 to 8 gallons of distilled water to use for your flush, plus 2 gallons of 100% Preston green. An even better idea, since you don't know when your radiator was last serviced, would be to replace it with a new one, or have it cleaned at a radiator shop. While your at it, replace the thermostat, get a new radiator cap, plus a new water pump.

 

[Dave 2000]

Just to clarify, some vehicles have an expansion tank, some have a recovery tank. To all intents and purposes they do the same thing.

They allow coolant to expand and contract without loss, they also allow air to be separated from the coolant mixture.

Some systems are sealed, the expansion being held under pressure, others (your 80), allows exess fluid to expand into the recovery tank, this ensures the radiator is absolutely full of coolant, air will have been expelled into the tank as well.

As the engine cools the radiator cap has a second valve that allows coolant to be drawn back into the system, if the tank is at the right level only fluid wil be drawn back, thus keeping air out of circulation.

This recovery system will not work for example if you have a soft hose, a loose clip somwhere, in fact it is important everything is in order for it to work properly.

Most common problem I find on these systems is the wrong radiator cap, either wrong pressure, or no valve that allows coolant to flow back into the radiator.

Regards

Dave

 

[brockdeck]

As other members have said this is a great time to do a flush and refill. But first thing first, you need to make sure you don't have any leaks, so you'll need to find out where that coolant went, because coolant doesn't just evaporate on it's own. Just in case you don't know this, when you do a radiator flush, and refill you need to use distilled water, NEVER USE WATER FROM YOUR GARDEN HOSE! Buy about 6 to 8 gallons of distilled water to use for your flush, plus 2 gallons of 100% Preston green. An even better idea, since you don't know when your radiator was last serviced, would be to replace it with a new one, or have it cleaned at a radiator shop. While your at it, replace the thermostat, get a new radiator cap, plus a new water pump.

My radiator was replaced in 2012 by the Toyota dealership by the original owner with an OEM radiator. PO before me took care and serviced the rig.

I have full service history from dealership up to when the PO lived far away from the mechanic so he serviced himself with knowledge and shop manual.

My PHH is also done with silicon hoses and I run M1.

 

[brockdeck]

Thanks a lot for the help everyone. I have never serviced the radiator but I filled it up with the same green 50/50 that was in there and everything seems to be good. I will run a flush soon and watch the levels.

At work so not sure if anything is in overflow and will check tonight.

I don't see any leaks and have never had any cooling issues, but I was able to fill a little less than half my jug?

 

[greentruck]

Thanks a lot for the help everyone. I have never serviced the radiator but I filled it up with the same green 50/50 that was in there and everything seems to be good. I will run a flush soon and watch the levels.

At work so not sure if anything is in overflow and will check tonight.

I don't see any leaks and have never had any cooling issues, but I was able to fill a little less than half my jug?

Just in case, although I may be reading you wrong here, but to clarify, when you filled the radiator, you should also fill the overflow tank to the MIN level, it should not be dry. You need enough coolant so that it will siphon back and forth between the radiator and the tank. Do NOT count on the radiator to fill the overflow. If it does that, you'll be short in the radiator. The idea is to keep the system full of coolant and avoid and purge any air from it.

 

[brockdeck]

Just in case, although I may be reading you wrong here, but to clarify, when you filled the radiator, you should also fill the overflow tank to the MIN level, it should not be dry. You need enough coolant so that it will siphon back and forth between the radiator and the tank. Do NOT count on the radiator to fill the overflow. If it does that, you'll be short in the radiator. The idea is to keep the system full of coolant and avoid and purge any air from it.

Was not aware of that, was thinking it was more of an overflow. I will definitely fill it up. Maybe it just wasn't filled up? That's why I lost coolant and had to fill it up?

 

[george_tlc]

I had mentioned at the top of the thread, FILL the radiator and FILL the overflow/coolant bottle to the FULL mark (there is a mark - do NOT fill the bottle to the brim)

Must read instructions better

cheers,
george.

 

[brockdeck]

I had mentioned at the top of the thread, FILL the radiator and FILL the overflow/coolant bottle to the FULL mark (there is a mark - do NOT fill the bottle to the brim)

Must read instructions better

cheers,
george.

My bad, I appreciate the help. I've been working all day so just now able to thoroughly read haha.

 

[george_tlc]

No worries, I'll let you off this time

cheers,
george.

 

[Rifleman]

Brockdeck, A word of warning since you may be new to the Land Cruiser. The factory temp gauge on these trucks can move from the middle of the gauge (normal 185 degrees) to the red mark (HOT 240 degrees) really, really FAST. Over heating the engine on these trucks is not a good idea for the long term health of it's head gasket. So one of the best things you could do since your truck is OBD2, is buy a scan gauge for it, that way you'll no longer have to rely on the factory gauge.

 

[brockdeck]

Brockdeck, A word of warning since you may be new to the Land Cruiser. The factory temp gauge on these trucks can move from the middle of the gauge (normal 185 degrees) to the red mark (HOT 240 degrees) really, really FAST. Over heating the engine on these trucks is not a good idea for the long term health of it's head gasket. So one of the best things you could do since your truck is OBD2, is buy a scan gauge for it, that way you'll no longer have to rely on the factory gauge.

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I've noticed. The first scare I realized was the unreliable oil pressure gauge - I have been reading MUD for a few months and obviously a lot of learning comes from actually owning the thing but I've looked up a lot of quirks straight on MUD to figure things out.

Scan gauge as in a mechanical or digital temperature gauge? Where would this connect? The OBD2 port above the fuses? And where could a guy get one. Friend at Toyota recommended I replace my thermostat as well as some good PM when acquiring an 80.

Luckily for me I've never seen that thing move from the middle of the gauge if not the smallest amount higher than that. I've spent a few too many hours researching head gasket info on MUD so I can sleep at night.

 

[Rifleman]

It hooks to your OBD2 plug in the dash.
https://www.scangauge.com/

You wrote "Luckily for me I've never seen that thing move from the middle of the gauge if not the smallest amount higher than that"
But when it does move from the middle to the red because of over heating it does it in a blink of an eye!

 

[brockdeck]

It hooks to your OBD2 plug in the dash.
https://www.scangauge.com/

You wrote "Luckily for me I've never seen that thing move from the middle of the gauge if not the smallest amount higher than that"
But when it does move from the middle to the red because of over heating it does it in a blink of an eye!

Your going to give me nightmares,

And you just sold me a gauge.