Coolant leak from upper radiator hose, 5sfe Options

[ILoveMySilly97]

So I've been having issues with my cooling system for a long while now. It just never bothered me til now. I took a look at it after my bro drove it back from school. Which was about 20 min away most of it was on the highway. I popped open the hood just to look around and check my fluid levels since the engine is warm. I noticed it started leaking AGAIN at the upper radiator hose. It's leaking through the inner threads of the radiator hose. Now the side that connects to the engine. The color of the coolant that was leaking was brownish? I'm thinking it might be rust. The last cooling system flush I did was almost a year ago. At that time I had replaced thermostat, thermostat housing, top and bottom radiator hose, both ECT sensors, radiator cap, radiator and the fan temp sensor. My thermostat is designed to open at 175 degrees Fahrenheit. I know it opens because when I touched my bottom radiator hose it was warm but my top radiator hose was hot. I'm just wandering why it'll leak in the inner thread? Only possible answer is possible over pressure? Blockage in the engine somewhere? Any suggestions besides doing another cooling system flush?

[delusionz]

i just had that happen to me, my silicone hose cracked. i blame the T-bar clamps and TRD high pressure cap that i was using. i returned everything to stock, see how it goes.

anyways suggestion to you is to use stock clamps, a stock new upper hose, and a stock new rad cap. see that the rubber seal on the bottom of the rad cap hasnt warped, getting stuck and causing a blockage. make sure overflow works

[ILoveMySilly97]

The stock clamps would be the metal one where you can twist with a flat head or I think it was 6mm socket right? The rad cap sas bought from O'Reilly and so was the top hose.....is there a site where I can order the stock parts or am I going to have to go order it from a Toyota dealership?

[Galcobar]

Toyota parts do have to come from Toyota, but there are a few Toyota dealerships which run online part stores at excellent prices. Lithia Toyota's been the most active in the Celica community (they have a sub-forum on celicatech.com by which you can contact Tracey for part numbers). I've also used Titus-Will's 1sttoyotaparts.com

[ILoveMySilly97]

I guess I'll have to wait til next week to go to TOYOTA.

[delusionz]

those clamps are ok too aslong as you dont over tighten, im just really over the Tbar ones you have to overtighten them or they dont seal.


at the very least, i recommend a genuine toyota cap. years ago I had a generic autoparts radiator cap and i could never figure out why my hoses kept ballooning and then getting sucked in

it was because my sh*tty radiator cap wasnt working, and the system wasn't able to breathe as normal


how are you flushing it btw? I blast it with water through the upper hose (reverse flush) and loosely throttle the lower hose (other end) with my hand so it builds up a little pressure and forces out gunk, after i do the same process to the heater core and turbo water lines separately

[Tigawoods]

Be sure to use distilled water

[ILoveMySilly97]

those clamps are ok too aslong as you dont over tighten, im just really over the Tbar ones you have to overtighten them or they dont seal.


at the very least, i recommend a genuine toyota cap. years ago I had a generic autoparts radiator cap and i could never figure out why my hoses kept ballooning and then getting sucked in

it was because my sh*tty radiator cap wasnt working, and the system wasn't able to breathe as normal


how are you flushing it btw? I blast it with water through the upper hose (reverse flush) and loosely throttle the lower hose (other end) with my hand so it builds up a little pressure and forces out gunk, after i do the same process to the heater core and turbo water lines separately

The way I flushed it was flushed the radiator first then I shove water hide through the upper then the lower afterwards. I never flushed my heater core before. I don't know how you're suppose to do that. Another method I've tried before was let the car run with the radiator plug open and the water hose is jn where the radiator cap with the heater on all the way hot and all the way on. My heater works fine btw.

[ILoveMySilly97]

I just called my local Toyota dealership and the rad cap was $26 and the upper rad hose was $25. Seems too pricey but is that normal for the genuine parts?

[Galcobar]

Dealerships are always pricey. That's why I suggest going through the online parts stores which are run by dealerships. Between higher volume and lower operational costs, their prices are usually well below the parts counter at a dealership, but you still get Toyota parts.

For instance, Lithia has the upper hose for $21 and the and $17 for the cap.

[ILoveMySilly97]

Cheapest I found online was 46 dollars that's with shipping. -_-"

[ILoveMySilly97]

Who makes oem parts for our cars? I found motorad for the rad cap and there's gates for the rad hose?

NVM. I found the part numbers.

upper- #16571-74340 TOYOTA
cap- #16401-20353 TOYOTA

This post has been edited by ILoveMySilly97: Mar 1, 2013 - 6:21 PM

[ILoveMySilly97]

Ok. Back to the drawing board. My car took a **** and it is now leaking coolant. Worse than before. I'm guessing it's overpressure since it's the upper rad hose, by pass hose, and the heater hose that's leaking. They're all connected to the engine coolant inlet housing so my best guess would be it's overpressure somewhere from the thermostat to the rad cap. Thing is the rad cap is still in good condition and it's rated at 0.9. The thermostat opens and closes because there's water flow when the fan kicks on. Also I did a engine coolant flush and the reverse flow flush last summer. So......what else is there to test? My guess is to test for any exhaust fumes in my coolant? For a possible bad head gasket?

[bnr32celica]

Replace the radiator cap when you do the hoses. I run a slightly higher pressure unit (1.3), and that cut down on issues. You've gotta keep up on this stuff, the 5S hates oil, but can't live without coolant.

[delusionz]

is this since you bought a genuine radiator cap? what did you end up doing last time? did you buy a new hose? is it crunchy again?

[ILoveMySilly97]

I'm running OEM upper rad hose and OEM rad cap. I'm thinking their's a blockage somewhere in the engine but last time I flushed it out. Only thing that came out was the green coolant then straight clean clear water.

Also noticed when I removed the upper hose. The end that connects to the rad outlet. There were brownish things around it AGAIN. I don't know what it is? Could it be something that's from inside the hose itself? Or is it actually from the engine? I drained the radiator a bit from the drain plug and the coolant is clear green. Not oily/milky or any debris.

This post has been edited by ILoveMySilly97: Aug 24, 2013 - 2:28 PM

[bnr32celica]

Possible BHG. That's what mine was doing in the weeks before it REALLY took a big one on my wallet.

[ILoveMySilly97]

Possible BHG. That's what mine was doing in the weeks before it REALLY took a big one on my wallet.

Yea. That I have planned on swapping or rebuilding the engine sometime in the next 5 years so if it is a broken head gasket. Then I'll just drive until the engine dies then take it out.

I warmed up the car and the heater outlet hose was actually dripping a bit also. The only hoses I didn't replace were the heater inlet and outlet so I'm going to order those and replace my old ones.

[ILoveMySilly97]

I'm tired of dealing with this cooling problem bs I have. Going to drop it off at a local auto shop.

[delusionz]

to flush the system you need to build up pressure,

so if you jam the garden hose in one pipe, put your hand over the other end its gonna come out of

just lightly cover it though as mains water pressure is 10x greater than what your cooling system should ever experience

i wedge the garden hose into the top radiator hose, and put my hand over the end of the lower hose, buildup and release, buildup and release, should get the **** loose.

i also do the same to my heater core, garden hose through the heater outlet, throttle the inlet

this is called reverse flushing and knocks loose the crap thats accustomed to flowing and blocking against the direction it flows