slow leak radiator

Laura,

If it is not an obvious leak there are also a number of less obvious spots that could be a problem.

Things like faulty water pumps, welch plugs, radiators, heater hoses etc all can cause a coolant loss. The list goes on from here.

Maybe someone here can give some more technical advice but I could only suggest that if you can't find it and it is still losing coolant then it may be a workshop job to get it sorted. Don't want to run the risk of cooking soemthing due to lack of the wet stuff.

Hope it all works out.

Laura, is your car on gas?
I have an 80 series on gas and it leack sloly from the gas pump .... check the hoseg goin in and out from tha GAS pump ..... if the engine (and the pump) is hot the water is evaporating so you can not see nothing ..... but still leaking!
Luca

When you say you can smell it do you mean inside or out, if out then is a matter of looking for the drops of water directly after pulling up and turning off motor this will cause the system to build up pressure and instead of going out cap and into overflow bottle will leak out where ever the point is, eg radiator tanks top or bottom, around where hoses are clamped on raditor, eg as said above heater hoses etc pretty much which ever hose the water runs through, worst case senario would be head gasket, if the smell is inside the only thing would be heater core, check carpet for dampness, or if viynl floor lift and check under the viynl, coolant smell is like a musty type smell, really a smell of its own, other than that take to a mechanic and get it pressure tested that should lead you to the leak. Hope this is of some help, other people might have some other forms of checking, thats just my usual way. Regards Steve M

Happened to us once and it was a cracked head - took ages to diagnose as it gradually got worse; another Cruiser it was the side wall (cheaper to fix than the head). Present Landcruiser is now losing water spasmodically. Radiator pressure tests OK, still can't find the fault, so it's sure to be major when it becomes evident. Got a fright last week when we got back from a few hours driving, and thought it was boiling as a hissing noise got louder and louder. Turned out it was the radio (dog must have turned it on), and the hissing was because we were out of range of the radio station we started the day with. Still can't understand why it got louder and louder (dog playing tricks on us?).

I hope yours is nothing too serious Laura.

Laura,

If you have a new radiator, check that the radiator hose clamps don't need tightening. The rubber compresses enough to cause small weeps, hard to see, but causes the smell you describe.

Hooroo...

Typical sorce of leaks on tojo's is the rearmost radiator tubes on the drivers side up high. As they are behind the cowl you can't see it and the air and heat passing through dry it before it becomes obvious.
As has been said a pressure test at the mechanics is the best start.