When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I'm glad that the transmission woes are behind you
Thanks! I do want to get her front windows tinted at some point this year. I've been putting it off until my car needed new tint so we can hopefully workout a package deal at a local tint shop for the two cars.
Yeah the transmission replacement was a stressful situation right after purchasing the car for sure. Thankfully it's been 100% whine-free since the replacement. Ironically we got an extended warranty notice from Toyota for the rear differential the other day that says it's essentially warrantied for life from some type of groaning noise that can develop. I have to say Toyota is very good with warrantying components they know have potential issues.
I gave Ravi a good wash and Mother's Pure Gold Brazilian Carnauba wax yesterday. 3.5 years and 45k miles of ownership and he still runs like a champ. Other than recall services he's stayed dealership-free since the transmission replacement back in '13. The body work after the deer incident has held up well. The only mods I've done (my wife has let me do) is a drop in K&N filter. The car still pulls hard from a stop and is enjoyable to drive on long trips.
After looking closer once it cooled down it does appear to be the radiator, which I suppose is the better of the two scenarios since it's a cheaper fix. How or why it burst in that one area is beyond me.
Ever since she had her transmission replaced right after she bought the car it has had a coolant smell when parking the car in the garage. I've topped the reservoir off here and there for years, but the last time I changed her oil it was bone dry. I filled it up and decided to check it today after a short drive and saw it was once again completely dry. That's when I started poking around and saw the back side of the radiator and the pink guts coming out.
Time to start researching if changing it on my own is worth the time and effort to save some money or if it's better just bringing it to a local repair shop or dealership.
It would probably set you back $400-$500 at a shop - can't imagine the Rav4 being terribly labor intensive, but figure a few hours labor to remove the radiator, replace, new coolant + refill
After looking closer once it cooled down it does appear to be the radiator, which I suppose is the better of the two scenarios since it's a cheaper fix. How or why it burst in that one area is beyond me.
Ever since she had her transmission replaced right after she bought the car it has had a coolant smell when parking the car in the garage. I've topped the reservoir off here and there for years, but the last time I changed her oil it was bone dry. I filled it up and decided to check it today after a short drive and saw it was once again completely dry. That's when I started poking around and saw the back side of the radiator and the pink guts coming out.
Time to start researching if changing it on my own is worth the time and effort to save some money or if it's better just bringing it to a local repair shop or dealership.
That is incredibly surprising for a Toyota with that little mileage. I ordered an OEM one and had my local shop install it. Good luck.
That is incredibly surprising for a Toyota with that little mileage. I ordered an OEM one and had my local shop install it. Good luck.
maybe something in the road hit it while driving along... that can cause a failure if there is a puncture... if it fails at the seam, then it might have been a manufacturer defect in the seal. won't know till you get it out of the car and visual/pressure test it...
i've always used radiatorexpress... they have an awesome warranty (lifetime) which i used and got a completely free replacement on my TL when the seam leaked after a few years... the pricing is better than OEM too..
Looks like I'll be tackling this one on my own. I'm trying to source the radiator, but apparently there's two different sizes, one with the towing package (which her's has) and without the towing package. Finding the one with the towing package in stock somewhere close has been a giant fail, so it looks like I'll have to order one off of Amazon or from a company like radiatorexpress and let the car sit until next week when I'll have the radiator and time to do it. Should be a fun little project.
Yeah I saw 1 to 2 day shipping. I'm trying to work with an eBay seller that's based out of Nashville to see if they'll allow me to pick it up from their location instead of shipping. Ultimately I'd like to get started on it tomorrow since we're busy all weekend with a music festival.
I'm definitely not driving the car at all because there's a transmission cooler that's tied into the radiator and I've read over and over there's a chance I could contaminate the transmission fluid and I don't want to take any chances with that. There's a thing called "pink death" with Toyotas that's caused by faulty radiators contaminating the transmission fluid causing them to completely fail. Not worth the chance, so Mrs. Trooper is just using the Charger in the meantime. Thankfully the timing is great because she's off work for the month of Sept and our daughter is off from pre-school this week, so the only commitments are dropping off and picking up my son from 1st grade each day.
Thanks man. Other than the radiator incident it's been a great car. No issues whatsoever. She got new tires a few months ago, and other than oil and filter changes there's been no unexpected issues. She's at 92k miles now, so she's approaching the 100k tune up and I would have been changing out the coolant anyway, so that'll at least check that one off the list. She loves the car and says she'll keep it until it doesn't run anymore.
We had the milkshake in our 4runner several years ago. We had to replace the radiator, and flush the transmission and cooling system. It started to buck when my wife was driving it and hightailed it back to the house so i can fix it. I ended up running 20 gts of trans fluid through so i could get it to the dealer. After 6 years it still worked well.
Originally Posted by SuperTrooper169
Yeah I saw 1 to 2 day shipping. I'm trying to work with an eBay seller that's based out of Nashville to see if they'll allow me to pick it up from their location instead of shipping. Ultimately I'd like to get started on it tomorrow since we're busy all weekend with a music festival.
I'm definitely not driving the car at all because there's a transmission cooler that's tied into the radiator and I've read over and over there's a chance I could contaminate the transmission fluid and I don't want to take any chances with that. There's a thing called "pink death" with Toyotas that's caused by faulty radiators contaminating the transmission fluid causing them to completely fail. Not worth the chance, so Mrs. Trooper is just using the Charger in the meantime. Thankfully the timing is great because she's off work for the month of Sept and our daughter is off from pre-school this week, so the only commitments are dropping off and picking up my son from 1st grade each day.
I tackled the radiator replacement Friday and Saturday. All in it took a little over 5 hours. It was not hard by any means, just difficult to reach certain hose clamps and hoses. The good news is there was no evidence of contamination whatsoever in the coolant, so I think because it was such a small leak and confined to that one area it didn't cause any harm other than eating the coolant. I was lucky to find an eBay seller that worked with me so I could pick the radiator up and not have to wait for shipping. All in I spent under $200 for the radiator and coolant.
Thank you sir! No, nothing at all in the radiator, and the amount of coolant that came out was about an overflow tank less than I put in, so it was a slow leak and centralized to that one area. Since it appears it started on the backside of the radiator and there's a huge plastic cover that goes under it I can rule out debris hitting it. Even if it was in the front there's a giant condenser that sits in front of it anyway so that would've taken the impact from road debris. So with that said, without any evidence and strictly going on my observations and clues, I think the dealership damaged it by making a tiny puncture in it when they were installing the transmission years ago because like I said in an earlier post it's had a coolant smell after driving the car and parking it in the garage ever since the transmission replacement by Toyota. I can't prove it but how else would it get damaged on the back side like that?
Nice work, from the first shot I was thinking that the V6 would make it a hug pain, but pulling the front clip makes sense, so you didn't have to remove the fans & such.
Nice work, from the first shot I was thinking that the V6 would make it a hug pain, but pulling the front clip makes sense, so you didn't have to remove the fans & such.
Thank ya! I couldn't find any DIY videos or instructions, so I just winged it. I was hoping to not pull the bumper but there was no way it was coming out with the top cross brace that holds the bumper on in place. I came out with minimal scraped knuckles. Toyota does not play when it comes to the amount of push pins and screws holding bumpers and slash guards on. It was like putting a puzzle back together.
^ That's no lie, I remember similar from my prior H/A cars.
My F150 is in smaller pieces, so simpler to pull individual parts out. That, and the 2.7 leaves a ton room in the engine bay.
^ Thanks man! Yes she was very happy to have her car back. She gets nervous driving the Charger. I believe her exact words were, "You barely push the gas pedal and it just goes vrroooooom vrroooooom vrroooooom".
No bueno. Just need a new radiator?
