Low engine coolant light on???
 

I've notice for the past two weeks everytime i make a turn the low engine coolant light comes on buh i check the radiator and its full and the container that full too. took it to my friends dads machanic shop and they said prolly a bad sensor so dont worry. but ive been smelling somewhat of burnt rubber or something
Thanks for the help

Where is the smell coming from? Your vents? Is there white smoke coming from the exhaust?

The low coolant or "birdcage" light is coming on because you have an air pocket in your coolant system. Are you hearing a water fall??

None the less..., get a pair of ramps or park on a steep incline.
Pop the hood and let the engine cool a bit. Take off the radiator cap.
Start the car. Top it off. With distilled water and or coolant depending upon your mix.

Check it every few minutes. keep topping it off. If you stand there and watch you will probably see small bubbles every little bit.

Just keep topping it off, keep the nose elevated. This could take 15 minutes or two hours depends on you and your coolant system.

This method is referred to as " burping " .

Hope this helps.

thanx...i get white smoke wen startin the car in the morning buh i let it warm up for about 10 mins

thanx supramacist ima try that with the help of my uncle maybe i can get the damn thing to stop it never did it before though

as for hearing a water fall im not sure ima have to check and get back to that..i do hear somewhat of what can be called water splashing when it idles/sit still

The water fall noise kind of reminds me of a rain stick that you would see at coach house in the mall.

But if you hear liquid sloshing and it's from under the hood..., burping will solve it.
I would seriously do mine and keep it on ramps in the morning till night fall and do some night driving.

Let it run while it's elevated and check it every 15 minutes or so. The steeper the incline the shorter the process and the better results. If it doesn't stop it..., repeat the process until it does. I did mine like 3 times after I got it,

I worked it 2 hours at a time. It finally filled up and emptied the air. I know one cat that spent 15 hours burping and finally achieved his goal.

Don't overheat it while you are driving it with the warning light coming off and on. Doing that could lead to overheating, wich in turn will lead to a blown head gasket or BHG.

the low coolant light is not pointing towards the radiator

it's indicating that the coolant overflow bottle is low

it's located in front by the driver side headlight

looks like a windsheild washer bottle

the light comes on because the fuild level is too low

your coolant system is using/leaking water

Yes, ddmcse is right. The sensor is in the bottom of the overflow bottle. Your radiator can be completely empty, as long as the overflow has coolant in it, the light will not go on.

Let me guess, only when you take left hand turns it flickers, am I correct? Same thing was happening to me, oh, about 2 weeks before my head gasket finally let go. It happens because you are losing coolant from "somewhere" and the cooling system is compensating by drawing more coolant from the overflow bottle. Then, when you take that hard turn, what little coolant is left in the overflow sloshes to the side of the bottle that doesn't have the sensor. Then the sensor is not covered with coolant and the light comes on or flickers. Take your overflow bottle off, 2 10mm bolts, see where the sensor is? On the drivers side of the bottle. If you don't see any coolant leaking on the ground, you have an internal leak.

I don't see a new head gasket in your sig. Every single MK3 supra has a leaking head gasket straight from the factory. If you have a stock, factory, 20 year old head gasket, I'd bet a large sum of money its leaking. DO A BLOCK TEST.

turn the heat on full blast while you burp the coolant.

Well hell that makes it easier than I ever thought it could be.

I get that white smoke as well only when starting in the mornings and the rest of the day it is fine...I need to top up the resivour a bit every few weeks...I do not see coolant leaking anywhere though and I do get the burning coolant smell too.

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c..._1945_32487294

Sorry, I couldn't resist!!

so you think this will need to be replaced?..i have no other signs of HG issues

The 7M can and will run 10's of thousands of miles, some times even 100,000 miles, with a leaking head gasket with no other signs other than mysteriously disappearing coolant. No white smoke, no milkshake oil. While driving those thousands of miles with the gasket leaking, it is destroying the coolant passages in the head, corroding them and pitting them. Then, after enough has eroded away, it will start to overheat.

If you are losing coolant, but it is not dripping on the ground or dripping in the passenger compartment (heater core), you have 1 of 3 problems. Blown head gasket, cracked head or cracked cylinder/block, period. A proper running engine uses no coolant, not even after 100,000 miles, not even a drop.

well that news sucks...but let me ask you this recently i changed my rad after this I had to top up the resivour twice....do you think changing the rad had anything to do with this?...as far as the HG goes I am not sure if it was ever changed. I got this car in February.

You're answering your own questions ebang. If you do not know and can not find out if the hg has ever been changed and you smell burning coolant....,

It hasn't been and your'e going too have to.

The damage isn't happening in your radiator, unless you are consistently overheating or dumping rad hoses.

The HG hasn't blown yet, and you have signs of fatigue. It's better to change before it goes. Or you can do like I did and say F_*k it. When it goes I'll fix it and everything I want in one fail swoop. Over 5k later I am rebuilding my car.

Right now you could probably do it smart without cutting corners for around 2k.
Butcha gotta do it before captain ahab spots her. Cause she's gonna blow. And you may want to think about carrying a can of starting fluid for when it does. That might get you home.

thanx guys
 

the last owner said he replace it with a metal headgasket (hes a machanic) but i dont believe it. so im going to ask my friends dad if he can do it for me. he has his own shop and yes i nkow i can try and do it myself buh i have no place at all to do it at. hopefully he hooks me up hes hooked me up before. and he does do really good job he rebuilt a 88turbo supra and it ran perfect

Hello credit card bill...Bye Bye life...

i think ima go with stock headgasket and new bolts..if im not modding it n e more can i just get new factory bolts and new factory HG

SAVING for a 1jzgte or a new Toyota Tundra Crewmax(i wish)

The price difference between new toyota head bolts and ARP head bolts is so small its not worth buying inferior quality toyota head bolts. I think factory head bolts cost somewhere near $60 and ARP cost around $90. It's really a no brainer, this is one thing you don't want to skimp on.

I bet the previous owner DID use a metal head gasket. But he didn't do the proper machine work to the block. I bet he didn't even hand lap it. That would explain why its leaking again. People think they can just slap a metal head gasket on and think they solved the problem. In fact, a metal head gasket is more prone to leaking than a factory head gasket. It's the bolts that fail on a bone stock supra. The safest route is to use a factory head gasket and ARP hardware, don't mess with a metal head gasket unless you are machining the block.

Go with a factory head gasket and ARP bolts and you should be straight.

"Right now you could probably do it smart without cutting corners for around 2k.
Butcha gotta do it before captain ahab spots her. Cause she's gonna blow. And you may want to think about carrying a can of starting fluid for when it does. That might get you home"

Well saving cash is right up there, I would like to do it myself but i have never done anything major on any car...the most I have done is change plugs and wires..that type of stuff... I am a little hesitant of doing anything like a HG

If you take mondo pics of the tear down in every phase it'll help alot.

I'm not a mechanic man. I'm doing mine. Toyota said they would do it all for 5k.

I told them to get bent. I took the same 5k and are doing it myself and I now have a carbon fiber hood and front and rear strut bars and MSD wires and blaster coil and a bunch of other shite that toyota would have never figured in.

The 7m series engine is really not hard to work on. Besides it's just making it easier for YOU to work on in the future if you take the chance and learn how to work on your ride.

But definitley..., to each their own.

make sure you refer to the tsrm and you should be good

no way I can afford to spend 5k on that!!...My wife will leave me...she is still mad enough for me buying this car...looks like i have a lot of work and learning ahead of me

Her'es what I tell my wife.


Just wait. You'll see.

well today i made a left turn at like 5mph and the light stayed on..im getting a little scared here about the HG going on me..Thanx ihatehack. ima just get the 90arp bolts and the stock gasket. because im thinking of either selling it or gettin a new motor now. I know im gunna miss the supra if i do but i gotta wait till i get a job that can afford the supra


well i have some ishino headgasket that sells for 64bux it says its OEM replacement and some felpro HG for $99
Are those good prices for headgasket and brand..i See that Hack use felpro but i dont need n ething crazy just a simply replacement thank you again guys need this help badly

Yep, I used a felpro one. It was a decent quality too. It's held up to a couple hundred miles of complete torture so far :)

I paid $200 for a complete Felpro engine gasket set including the head gasket, even came with turbo gaskets. I just didn't use the EGR cooler gasket because it was made out of a non-metal gasket and the OEM one is metal, I bought one from the dealer it was like $20.

Light is staying on now huh? You are losing coolant quick. I'm telling ya, go buy a block test kit they are $50 and will give you solid proof if you need to start tearing the motor apart.

I overheated my car 3 times, coolant temps around 230F, when the head gasket finally gave way. I got lucky, no internal damage or warpage was done so these motors are pretty stout, but I suggest catching it before it starts to overheat. No need to take chances.

I have a brand new top line graphite hg I didn't use. It came with the kit.

Make me an offer and cover the shipping. Pics if you want.

Actually the light isnt staying on just flickers when i make left turn only. But i check my coolant and there all there even in the container. But i went to get estimate on prices for doing my hg and shit 1k holy crap no way

where can i go to get a block test kit im hoping praying to god that its just a bad sensor though but my car hasnt over heated yet "knock on wood"

i think ima take the chance and tear the block down just to get a working motor. My mom is going to be piss and putting this in my face buh oh well I LOVE MY MKIII

I would have loved to have had an MKIII when I lived in the LBC.

I'm having my coolant light come on whenI take left hand turns and my car and it isn't warmed up all the way. It goes away once it warms up and I had my HG replaced (with Felpro gaskets) and the head machined so Im positive that there isn't and leaking HG. So could it be the resivor that might have a slight leak in it?

Mr.w, it "goes away when warmed up" because as the engine warms up it spits the heated coolant into the overflow causing the level to raise. What is the level in your overflow before you start it in the morning? It should be at or above the full mark, if its any lower than the full mark then the light will flicker when you take left hand turns. I think you just didn't fill the overflow up enough.

88Tsupra you can get a block test kit from any NAPA store for $50. Part # BK 700-1006. If they don't have it in stock, have them order it.

I spent just about 1K just on parts when I did my head gasket. But I replaced every single coolant hose (like the ones for the ISC and the one that goes to the water bypass pipe under the intake manifold), sealing washer (including the 32mm heater union that is on the back of the head), gasket (including the EGR cooler, something a shop won't even take off), o-ring (like the o-rings and insulators for the fuel injectors), timing belt and tensioner (a shop will just reuse your exsisting ones) and ARP head bolts (a shop will just get new toyota ones prone to streching or a hack shop will just reuse them).

Do the block test before you even pick up a wrench. Post your results.

I'll do the block test at school when I get a chance but for now I'm a little busy taking NATEF tests. I'll get on the block and post results after I make my breaks stop squeaking(another problem yet to be solved).

Damn thankx IHATEHACK i appriciate this alot man. I just talked to my cousin and he said He will help me tear the block apart. hes built motors before but just honda motors. Ill go and buy the block test tomorrow after i get out of class and ill try and post pictures(if the damn thing lets me though always says its to big) hmm i think i might be spending alot too just on buying parts. Such as timing gun torque wrench and etc. Oh yea ima replace the timing belt too and the intake manifold hoses. I bought new valve cover seals alrdy and new hose technique kit (bought that alrdy from suprasport)

Thanx again man i APPRICIATE this so much. will in two weeks my motor will get torn apart and buy buy car and camping trip..hello crazy bills

last thing if i do a compression test whats the correct compressoin rating i should PRAY to see

Compression test won't tell you shit about your head gasket condition, a block test will.

I had 180's across the board with a blown head gasket, I had 2 cylinders at like 175 though.

went to school yesterday and i saw a guy with a blk MKiii with a 2jz swap in it so i asked him about my coolant issue he took one damn look at it and fixed it like it was nothing cuz he took it for a spin (i was in the car as well) and no more check engine light wth. all he did was take out the resivor checked the sensor and know its fix. i know he didnt brake it buh im just happy its gone. but i will still do the block test IHATEHACK so ill post it when its done after i get my timing correct tho

Yeah, what did he do, unplug the 2 wire white connector?

Take the 2 10mm bolts off that hold the overflow bottle on, and see if the sensor is still connected.

i thought he did too buh i just double checked it and its still pluged im going to still do the block test

too bad we can't enable sounds so we all could hear Queen playing

"another one bites the dust"

sooner or later it's not miller time, but bhg time

Sorry for posting in an old thread but I didn't want to start a new one. Well I figured out why coolant light was on and it was air in the system. I went to add coolant in but I noticed it was brown and sludgey. I don't think I blew another head gasket because the car runs fine but what I do believe is that 4 months ago when the HG was fixed the person I had do it didn't flush the coolant that well so now I got oil in there. I'm working on flushing everything out(changed the coolant twice already, going to change it again in another week) but it might take sometime.

If your coolant is brown it is because of the block rusting from not having a correct amount of antifreeze with rust inhibitors in your cooling system. That happens when you run straight water.

Air gets into the system for a reason, because coolant is leaking out. If its not leaking on the ground then like ddmcse said, its not miller time but BHG time.

This is what you should do, go buy a block tester, some cooling system cleaner (comes in pints at the autostore, its meant to clean the cooling system) and some coolant and distilled water. Drain the radiator until you can't see coolant anymore, about a quart or 2. Block test it. If its ok, then drain the rest of the coolant and fill it back up with tap water and cooling system cleaner. Run the engine with the heater on til its warmed up. Then drain the radiator again. Fill with coolant and distilled water.

If you put just tap water and the cleaner in, which are both clear, watch the color of the liquid that comes out of the radiator, it will make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up.

I'll try the cleaner thing out, I dont have enough money for a block tester so I don't think I'll be doing that. There was no missing coolant though, the levels were fine before I changed it. Maybe the coolant was never changed when they did the HG?

Well I did a block test and there were no leaks. I did find that my resivor wasn't on right so that could cause the light to come on so I fixed that. I'm going to take my car to a shop and have them hook it up to a machine that can flush the coolant better than I can.