Greetings,

Engine was leaking coolant, mechanic couldn't find it, it was located behind the air intake manifold. In addition, the coolant was bubbling out of the reservoir. Used stop leak product and the leak was plugged, but the reservoir problem persists. The engine is not overheating but after a long drive (30+ mins) all or most of the coolant bubbles out of the reservoir. Any advice?


Thanks

 

i've heard that the baffle that's incorporated into the plastic (still dont know the exact material of this) air intake manifold finally gives into the heat changes and cracks the intake manifold. (other toyota vehicles that have the 2az-fe engine, like the camry have this issue, google it, lots of them out there) It's either the intake manifold is cracked or the insulator/baffle, check those two things. most likely the fix is a new air intake manifold. how many miles do you have on your tC? what year is it?

the bubbles most likely is because the leak is sucking in air into the coolant system, you don't want that, since now air bubbles aren't carrying the heat away from the engine, and you could overheat the engine.

 

honestly it sounds like you blew your head gasket or cracked the head or something. Your resivor is bubbling up because compression from the cylinders is getting into your cooling system. First step is to pressurize the cooling system and see if it holds pressure. If not then theirs your problem.

Oh yea. If your mechanic couldnt find it then get a new one cause obviously he doesnt know what hes doing. You look for the problem and fix it instead of using products like stop leak. Stop leak is for POS cars that bearly run and arnt worth a dime to fix.

 

yep cracked head gasket, check under the engine oil cap to see if you have any milkshake goo under there.....then head on straight over to the mechanic or get your tools out and a rental!

 

Hello everyone, first off thank you for the replies and info. I was dreading this day, cracked head gasket or intake manifold replacement are issues I didn't want to deal with at 83k. First estimate for a cracked head gasket was about $1500 at a local shop. They're saying they won't know until they rip the engine apart, I'll update on the damage.

 

where are you located? if cracked or warped head (bad head gasket) I can fix it for less. I can even replace the head for much much less. stripped head bolts I could even do for less.

 

Damn!! If you lived close by to me i would do it for you way cheaper than that.

 

I live in Houston.

 

^^ Well then maybe you should hit up Chris aka Crush to take a look at it for you. He's in Houston as well.

 

yeah definitely isn't cool but hey let us know what you find with this.

 

What's my fellow Scion owners? So as the gentleman stated above about the coolant pouring out of the reserve and all I too have experienced this for the first time last night on my way to a family function. Can anyone tell me could this have happened for not replacing the exhaust manifold gasket on time? I've had the issue several months now.With the noise and knowing I was losing some power I didn't make the time to address the situation. Also is there anyone that can help in NYC for a fair price in case my Mechanic try's to pull a $1500 stunt on Monday when he looks over the car ?

 

Exhaust manifold gasket would have no effect on this. The car may have overheated and/or the threads for the head bolts may have pulled free from the engine block. This is a somewhat common issue with these engines. It's a fairly time consuming job, so don't expect it to be much less than $1500.

 

Thank you for your timely response. It turns out my serpentine belt had come loose. That Explains the battery light and over heating. Thank God is not the heads