Tank Resivior

[ThaDyce17]

My girl has a 95 Camry V6 and was complaining about her car smoking. So today I got to it and let it run everything seemed to be working fine fans and all. Then I looked at her coolant resivoir and it had began to boil on the inside. Then about 7 minutes later I noticed water squirting out of it where it seemed to have melted 2 holes in thre resivoir. Would that make the water boil over like that? The car was running hot eventhough the fans were blasting... Can holes in the resivoir do that much to a car?

[96RS Alex]

Re: Tank Resivior

Seems that you have a major air pocket within the very low coolant fluid amount that probably exists in your radiator... hope you have the weekend to perform some basic maintenance!

Flush your old coolant out entirely from the block and drain the radiator.

Camry Thermostat Test http://www.ehow.com/how_5656307_repl...hermostat.html

Inspect your hoses.

Refill radiator with ordinary garden hose water.

Next, you turn your heater controls on HIGH fan speed.

Start your engine and watch the water level slowly disappear in your radiator but add some water to it to a point where it does not overflow, then replace the radiator cap.

You want to have the radiator swallow all the water and then watch your temperature gauge ( if you have an analog one with a needle ) reach midway and not overheat.

At the point of not overheating, shut off the motor and wait til the motor cools down. When cool, carefully remove the radiator cap and check your water level, add if neccessary, replace cap and let the motor recirculate the additional water throughout the cooling system. Repeat this procedure until you are satisified that the temperature gauge shows the motor is finally cool after idling for an extended period of time. Also check and feel if you have decent heat. When all is done and no leaks are found, drain the water entirely and refill with 50/50 Prestone coolant. After that, add the final amount of coolant to your coolant reservoir tank. I'd remove your coolant tank and clean the insides with Lestoil so any crud or sediment won't be sucked back in your radiator. Don't cheap out on your GF's car parts or you'll be posting again.

I gave you the basics of how to cool a motor but no matter how many cylinders it has, you could have a faulty item ( waterpump, thermostat, radiator, electrical fans or switches being inoperative etc ) that is causing the boilover therefore I'd recommend you get yourself a book that details in depth on how to fix them imports or just join a Camry Forum > http://www.camryforums.com/forum/

Good luck !

[shakeychevy]

Re: Tank Resivior

dont forget to check your cap !!

[ThaDyce17]

Re: Tank Resivior

Well I ended up pouring water inn the radiator and it took a gallon and a half of water.what would make the water level low it doesn't have any leaking hoses.after I filed it up everything seems to be fine......what's going on

[landj]

Re: Tank Resivior

Is the resivior under pressure? Perhaps it squirted out through it? Could be pinhole leak someplace (gasket, hose?) or could be internal to the engine (out the exhaust or worse, into the oil!). You say boiling, so I assume that means its hot (and not just air exhausting into the coolant resivoir) so I'd guess a that your girlfreind didn't check the coolant regularly, it had a small leak, the small leak drained the coolant to the point to where the engine parts were red hot and on the verge of fusing into a boat anchor (I'm dramatizing a little) and boiled the coolant.

If you like her, but don't really love her, just put a bottle of Barr's radiator leak stop in and check it for her from time to time. She is just a girlfriend, and it is just a Toyota.

Unfortunately I think a foreign forum or a Geo forum will be of more help perhaps guiding you to the common failure modes particular to that vehicle than this forum.

[landj]

Re: Tank Resivior

Refill radiator with ordinary garden hose water.

I'll agree to everything except that (and the eHow site recommendation, I absolutely hate that site, every time I get some idiot who parots something he read or spews out useless or dangerous info because he thinks he can make extra income by writing for that site). Always use distilled water after completely draining the radiator or topping it off. It's cheap enough to even use to flush. Tap is okay for flush, but the minerals and oxidizers will degrade the coolant's anti-corrosive abilities. I've heard figures of halving the ability for antifreeze to prevent corosion by using tap instead of distilled, but I imagine it varies from community to community.

[96RS Alex]

Re: Tank Resivior

Garden hose water is the quickest and easiest way to flush the sediments out of that neglected Camry.

If it was ANY of my Camaros, of course I'd use distilled water but I was simply describing the basic how to DIY since it is his gf's car.

Landj, I commend you for your helpful additional insight as we have other forum members who also might possess other foreign brands.

My father owns a Chevy Cobalt, it runs superb but he won't let me even peek under the radiator cap to see if any Dex-Cool exists, he fears I'll hot rod his Cobalt as with the other cars he owned in the past lol. :burn:

However, my mom has a decent running Toyota Corrolla station wagon and I have to do her maintenance because she knows how I am with tune up intervals. That little 4 banger runs like a top and is such a gas sipper.

The Barr's Stop Leak comment made my day, kudos 2 u. :D

[landj]

Re: Tank Resivior

Garden hose water is the quickest and easiest way to flush the sediments out of that neglected Camry. ...

Definitly quickest, and it easier to just leave it on and let it flow for a while after collecting the first flush for recycling. But even if it's just some foreign job, still think distilled would be a nice last flush and fill.

... Landj, I commend you for your helpful additional insight as we have other forum members who also might possess other foreign brands. ...

Just don't ask me how much I like foreign cars with little american flag stickers on the trunk. I read it as, "I love america, but think that american workers are overpaid, the engineers are stupid and the executives are clueless, but I still believe in the flag." But I'm sincere in thinking that a Toyota forum or Geo forum could help him better (aren't Geo Prism's and Toyota Camry's the same or am I thinking of Corolas?).

... The Barr's Stop Leak comment made my day, kudos 2 u. :D

My favorite gooey bandaid for the coolant system. I've used it as a substitute for the factory recommended sealant from time to time too.