New to the forum - I tried a search and didn't come up with anything usefull.

My brother has an 05 XB with about 40K on it. a few days ago on an 8 hr. cross country trip the hot warning light comes on. they immediately pull over and shut it down - check the coolant in the reservoir - level is fine - fill it to the top just in case. Check the oil - OK - so they let it sit for 15 minutes - check to see if any coolant had been pulled into the radiator - no!.

So they start it up - no warning lights - the thing is running fine. 10 minutes later all of the warning lightd flicker on - and within 5 seconds the motor dies.

To make a long story short - No coolant in the radiator - (in spite of a full reservoir tank) and the heads warped - and are toast. the dealers acting kind of squirrely, we can't figure out whats going on with him.

Has anyone heard of this happening in other XB's - service advisories?

Any ideas or insights are more that welcome!

 

Looks like you are from my neck of the woods. Which dealer has he taken it to? Is he at Bingham or Michael?

Unfortunately I don't have much to offer in the way of advice.

Who has done his oil changes and regular service? Was the dealership doing them? Being THAT low on coolant is very unusual for a pretty new car with only 40k. If he had the dealership doing regularly scheduled maintenance, he might be in the clear. The dealership is going to have to determine what caused the failure, and then determine what caused that condition to occur.

Is the car modified at all? If so, how?

Sorry to hear about the whole ordeal. Hopefully the dealership will act appropriately. Keep us posted. I am interested to hear how this turns out.

 

Actually - while I'm in Fresno my brother and the car are out of Utah - he was returning home from a visit. oil has always been kept changed. service done locally not a dealer (he's 50 miles from a dealer). No mods to the car!

i'm getting ready to take my 06 corolla into Michaels - both front windows rattle. I'm hoping it is resolved easily!

 

Carl,

Haven't heard of this happening on any xb's. I did, however, have something similar happen to my truck. turns out it was the belts. Water pump AND alternator weren't turning so no coolant was circulating and eventually burned off. An added 'bonus' was the battery eventually went dead also. 40k isn't that much mi. though so they should stiil be good, maybe just need to be tightened? Ask your dealer about it

 

water pump might of went bad?

 

That's a very good possibility. The thermostat could also be bad.

I know this is too little too late for you but I would recommend to everyone who sees this to get a water temp guage of some kind. I bought a Scanguage II from www.scanguage.com primarily for that purpose. I chose it over traditional guages because I didn't have to buy anything extra and it does a lot in a small package and relatively low price considering the cost of individual guages.

 

The ScanGuage site says it has 3 functions: Scan Tool, Digital Guages and Trip Computer. It displays 4 items at a time. The 3 function tables list all the items that are displayed as:

Reads Trouble Codes
Reads conditions that set the Trouble Code
Clears Trouble Codes
Turns off "Check Engine" light
Tells you when vehicle is "Ready" to pass OBDII testing
Make and store up to 10 rewritable special codes
to send to the vehicle computer
----
Fuel Economy
Fuel Rate
Battery Voltage
Coolant Temperature
Intake Air Temperature
Engine Speed (RPM)
Vehicle speed (MPH)
Manifold Pressure (not available on some vehicles)
Engine Load
Throttle Position
Ignition Timing
Open/Closed Loop
----
Maximum Speed
Average Speed
Maximum Coolant Temperature
Maximum RPM
Driving Time
Driving Distance
Fuel Used
Trip Fuel Economy
Distance to Empty
Time to Empty
Fuel to Empty

The site says it costs $170, and shows it has just one cable with a plug like ethernet. Maybe it just plugs into the car's ECU and manupulates all the data that the ECU is picking up. Like its an interface and monitor for the ECU.

Does this thing really do all that with one connection, how do you connect it, and where did you mount it? This seems like a must-have item and a great value.

 

Yes it does. It connects to the cars OBDII port and gets all that information from the ECU(just like the mechanic's computer). Fortunately, the OBDII port in the XB is hidden behind the cover for the fuse box so you can't see the cable plugged in during normal use.

Here's where I put mine. I drilled a hole for the cable to come through in the upper part of the cubby so it will not be seen if I take the Scanguage out.

 

waterpump , thermo or rad cap.

 

Is that the fuse box under the hood? Where is that port, exactly?
I looked at the generic OBDII port photos in the ScanGuage manual, and looked at the xB's fuse box, and did not see anything that appeared to be a port for the big end plug.

What is the best place/way to get the small end plug through the firewall?

How did you drill a hole in the top of the cubby large enough for the plug? There does not seem to be enough room to drill upward from the outside. Do you have to do it from inside the dash somehow?

 

The fuse box in the car. If you pop the cover out and look just below the fuse panel you'll see the port.

I took the dash off to do mine. It's easy to cut from the top. The dash is not that difficult to remove.

 

watching

 

Hmm. Looks scary to me:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...ht=nav+install

 

It's not bad at all. I've taken my dash off 4 or 5 times for different things.

 

I wouldn't mind drilling a hole into the back of the cubby, and trimming it with a grommet. If the car was sold, the grommet could either remain, or be covered with one of those plastic insert plugs sold by the pack at auto stores.

Making the hole should be easy using a drill with an extension poked throught the steering wheel.

I can see the back of the cubby when looking up under the dash, and could maybe reach it to insert the ScanGuage plug through a hole. But the hole would have to be toward the passenger side of the back of the cubby, because the middle of the cubby is obstructed by the steering. Then the hole and the cable might be exposed to the driver's view.

 

I know it sounds like a pain but it would be safer just take off the dash. The air piping runs right behind there also. If you punch a hole in that, you just created a new AC vent.

 

Now I am thinking of running the cable up the face of the dash. It could come out under the fusebox cubby, run upward hidden in the gap along the left side and top of the steering column, and then go exposed for the last inch into the cubby where the Scanguage goes. The cable would be almost unnoticeable.