Troubleshooting: Cooling system issue? Options

[saleeka]

After getting to work this morning, I noticed while shutting my car off a faint sizzling noise coming from what seemed to be the passenger side foot well. After a more through investigation, the sound was indeed coming from underneath the dash area on the passenger side of the car. It sounded like water droplets hitting a hot pan, and I'm assuming that it's coolant (once the temp gauge in the car went down, the sound dissipated). I did not notice any particular odor coming from the car, nor did I find any coolant leaking... Should I be concerned, and what price range am I looking at to fix if need be?

This post has been edited by saleeka: Apr 11, 2008 - 9:44 AM

[GriffGirl]

Sounds like a leaking hose by the firewall. Pop the hood when you hear the sizzling and trace the sound - it's likely that it's sizzling off the exhaust pipe down there.

Price wise, you're looking at a few bucks for a new hose if you DIY or IDK, maybe 25 to have a mechanic do it? Depends entirely on where you take it I guess.

Get on it quick though, before the hose bursts. It will be hellaciously sucky if you put it off and wind up with a burst hose on the side of the road or something.

[D-Man]

X2, (a good rule of thumb) if you dont know what it is, then expect the worst. In this case i'd follow that instruction provided by griff to the T and get a new hose on there.

[xs94st]

yea man..i had a bad hose near the passenger side firewall (7afe) and it looked as if it were going to explode any second. follow griff's instructions n you will probably find the culprit

[saleeka]

Thanks. I'll check it out once I'm done with work.

[GriffGirl]

Just make sure that once you find the problem, you let your car cool COMPLETELY (like overnight even!) before you delve into that hose replacement action, or else you could get burned pretty bad. And you'll probably need to drain the radiator a fair amount before you remove the bad hose.

Rule of thumb, at least as per my own experience with this stuff - check all your hoses BEFORE you go to buy new hose. If one's going, it's very likely others are close to going too. They were probably all put on at the same time. Ya might as well replace any questionable hoses while you're doing it. I failed to do this when I had this problem w/my 4Runner when I had it; within 3 months every single coolant hose had gone out and had to be replaced.

[6G96GT]

What about a heater core? Not sure where it is in a celica but I know in prev. rides, they leaked sometimes and were located around the pass. side compartment. Though wouldn't you see coolant on the pass. side floor rug?

[Hanyo]

follow your nose...

do you smell antifreeze?

sometimes it can just be water from condensation.

[Bitter]

follow your nose...

do you smell antifreeze?

sometimes it can just be water from condensation.

at the shop we use a tool called a pressure tester to pressurize the cooling system to find leaks. its just a little pump with a gauge and adapter to fit onto the radiator where the cap goes. a cheaper way is to put pressure into the system by a small line such as the one that goes to the throttle body. just unhook one of the lines and hook it to a small bicycle pump with a gauge. plug or cap the nipple it came off of and put about 15psi into the cooling system. any leaks should spring to life.

[saleeka]

I suspect the problem to be the heater core... Drove it home from work the other day, with similar issues as that morning. Even though it was raining, I thought that the interior was being unusually difficult to defog. Checked the car out the next day and did not find any leaks, hose issues, or odors. Drove to work again this morning with the heater system off completely and the temp dial set all the way left, and no burning/spattering noise. I think i'm going to have to take it in to have a professional find the problem