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Coolant bottle leaked -- I swear -- hubby doesn't buy it..

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by cyberpriusII, Jul 7, 2014.

  1. cyberpriusII

    cyberpriusII Prodigyplace says I'm Super Kris

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    A bit over a week ago, I posted about a major coolant "spew" in my shed.

    Dear (or maybe not so dear) husband was off fishing for salmon/steelhead/trout/newts.

    It had been touching 95 degrees for a few days. We had two "gallon" jugs of Toyota Super-longlife sitting on a shelf.

    One of them leaked. Both had been opened, but we had screwed the tops down tight.

    After the spill, I cleaned up and grabbed the jugs and put them each in separate galvanized pails. Neither has leaked since. I think the heat in the shed caused one of them to leak. Husband does not believe me and I actually think that he thinks I might have spilled it myself and am not admitting it....hmm...a wife's revenge...

    But, and we are talking about coolant.....there are no "splits" on the jugs that I can find. Possible that heat caused one of the jugs to spew forth from the top (one of them seems to be a bit "collapsed in" on itself if you get my drift -- the other jug is still in original form)?

    Thoughts, marriage-saving advice>>>>>??? It is coolant, should it not be somewhat stable in high heat? Not that 95 is all that hot...
     
    #1 cyberpriusII, Jul 7, 2014
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  2. KhaPhoRa

    KhaPhoRa Member

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    You need to stop lying and fess up. It's obvious you were having fun with the pretty pink liquid and spilled it everywhere. (I'm kidding obviously)
    If you're positive they were both upright then there almost has to be a small leak below the coolant level (or at the coolant level if it leaked down to that point. Fluids don't typically expand any significant amount with heat, but air obviously does, but being on top there's no way air could have pushed liquid out the top so it must have been lower.
     
    #2 KhaPhoRa, Jul 7, 2014
  3. drmanny3

    drmanny3 Member

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    Take each container and make sure the cap is on tight. Then hold one container upside down and squeeze near the bottom with a bit of pressure. If there is a leak near the top of the bottle then you should see it coming out again. Do this with the other bottle. If neither leaks then we indeed have a conundrum.
     
    #3 drmanny3, Jul 8, 2014
  4. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Ahh.. a mystery!

    Has one of the containers clearly lost a fair amount of fluid ?
    If so then it has a crack you want to identify. If you can empty the remaining coolant (say, into the other container) and fill it with water, you can then squeeze the container and demonstrate the leak.

    Why would it leak before and not now in the pail ? Perhaps the heat caused the container to swell.
     
    #4 SageBrush, Jul 8, 2014
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  5. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    I will go with Sagebrush on this one Kris. Interesting post. Hope you find the solution. Sounds like a cracked jug to me... I store SLLC in the garage. Gets real hot out there. Well over 110. Never seen any on the floor...

    Ron
     
    #5 dorunron, Jul 8, 2014
  6. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Take the cap off the container, let some air in. Any leak will show if there's air

    If the container is not leaking, check your roof
     
    #6 JC91006, Jul 8, 2014
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