Radiator Coolant Leaking a little bit, add black pepper powder?

New one to me the pepper that is, check the coolant level in the radiator itself. To do so, you will need to remove the plastic splash guard over the radiator to access the cap. When full, it will look like the picture below.



Chances are your ICE water pump is leaking. This is not a uncommon problem with the Prius.

 

Correct, some times the bottle will empty out and not refill the radiator when you add fluid to it. Even if it does, you still might have air pockets. Best to check the fluid level in the radiator any time you find the bottle is empty.

Both the radiator and the bottle should be full at all times if the system is NOT leaking. If the bottle is empty or the radiator is low, there is definitely a leak somewhere. Most of the time it shows up as the ICE water pumping leaking. Very common on the Prius. Just went through this scenario 20 days ago. Took a couple of days to get all of the air out it even after the dealer replaced the pump, belt and bled the system.

Also, I highly recommend you use only the Toyota SLLC for your Prius. And change the fluid in both the radiator and the inverter loops when the clock hits 100K, and then every 50K after that.

 

The "black pepper will fill and clog the narrow passages in the thermos, and the herter core.

"Bite the bullet" and replace the radiator and possibly the coolant pump, if needed.

Replacing the coolant on a Prius Gen II requires a special procedure.



It is NOT like a 1961 Chevy.

 

You need at least one of these tools;

 

Prius 30k Service

 

I've never heard of your method of using black pepper powder but that's not somethingI would recommend doing.

 

Ditto.

 

I'm sure he meant heater core.

Besides clogging of passages, I'd imagine that pepper is acidic. You really want to be adding something acidic to further cause internal corrosion? Who knows what else it'll due to anything else the coolant runs thru (engine's water jacket, passages, pumps, radiator, heater core, thermostat, etc.)? I highly doubt Toyota or any automaker intended for people to add pepper to their coolant.

I don't think I'd ever want to buy a used car from the OP...

 

Allen, the ICE water pump and gasket is NOT really expensive. Any mechanic can change it out. The only thing about the Prius is you have to bleed the air out of the system, otherwise you will have problems with overheating and other issues like the heater not working.

If you are going to drive the car into the ground so to speak I would then put some of the stop leak with round balls in it. That stuff will work and stop the leak. That is IF you don't want to spend money to fix the car properly. I can't promise you though that it won't stop up small passage ways here and there. Stuff works great on older cars that didn't have all the stuff like the Prius has.

I would not normally recommend this to anyone, but from what you wrote above it sounds like you don't want to spend any money on it if you have to and get every thing you can get out of it.

I will say this though. If you do use the stop leak and it causes problems with critical parts stopping up that will be the end of the road so to speak. If you ignore the problem altogether and simply keep adding coolant to it you can probably get by for a while.

Everyone has their own budget and maintains their vehicles how they choose. I do understand and respect your opinion on the age and miles of the car. Yes, it is well over the expected lifetime of the car so you have had a good run out of it. But with a little TLC like a new water pump and some fresh coolant it might just add some more life and miles to what you have already enjoyed.

 

The leaking you are describing doesn't seem to be an "urgent" situation where you need to add black pepper, which is really the craziest thing I've heard.

Just top off the radiator and the coolant reservoir and watch the levels. Change the water pump if it's leaking.......but I don't think this would be a major leak, most everyone that has this leak, it's a very slow seeping leak.

 

Hey, only a fool will add pepper to the coolant system. Don't even consider doing. You will most likely cause additional damage and dramatically increase the costs associated with fixing the car. The Prius is a pretty solid performer and should continue to work for you for another 100000 miles. So think first doing something that frankly belongs in the look at what stupid people used to do to their cars. You may not need to replace the radiator as they seem to hold up. The weak link could be the water pump. It is relatively cheap. You can purchase one off eBay for under $30 . The belt costs about $10 It takes about 2 hours to do the work. Not really that difficult. There are some youtube videos on actually changing out the pump. A good additional item is the yellow lisel mentioned above. I found one at Pep Boys for about $30. It really makes filling the radiator and getting rid of the air trapped in the system. You are correct in that the top plastic tank is connected to the radiator. The way it works is when the car gets hot and the fluid expands it goes into the top tank. As the car cools down it is drawn back into the radiator. So if you are seeing some of the level drop it may be filling the radiator. I would remove the top piece so you can gain access to the radiator cap. Be careful if the car is hot as you can easily burn yourself. Once cool you should be able to check the level. Also you can shine a flashlight over at the water pump and look at the inside of the pulley. If it is wet then you got a leak.
Manny

 

It's your car, there's nobody here that can stop you in testing.

 

Really? So, can or should Toyota or any automaker put in a comprehensive list of EVERYTHING that shouldn't go into a car or be mixed into its fluids in the manual? Because they didn't put in stuff like no urine, feces, blood, fruit, cookie dough, bread, eggs, cheese, hair gel, baking soda, Crisco, cooking grease, spices, sugar, salt, acid, base, sand, rice, etc. into the oil, coolant, transmission fluid, etc. means it's ok? Should manuals look like drool-proof paper ?

Common sense? If all the compounds typically in black pepper and its particle size were typical of that of coolant and water, along w/its pH value, ok... But, nope.

FWIW, I found Importance of pH Value in Engine's Coolant on coolant pH level. If I am correct about black pepper being acidic, then it would make the coolant's pH lower.

The Earth First eco terrorists would do stuff to stop logging by pouring sand into the crankcases of bulldozers and quick rice into their radiator... They'd also do stuff like spike trees w/metal spikes so that the chainsaws would kick back and likely kill the logger, but I digress....

I suggest you try putting in sand into your oil crankcase and quick rice into your radiator because Toyota didn't so not to...

 

I was really surprised to find this website that also advocates the use of 1-2 tablespoons of ground black pepper as a means to fix a radiator leak. However the website also says that for radiators with plastic side tanks (which the Prius has) that this is at best a temporary fix.
How to Fix a Radiator Coolant Leak

As previously suggested, the OP should first figure out exactly what is leaking. If the engine coolant pump is leaking, which is the most likely suspect, then I doubt the black pepper will help since the worn bearing is subjected to the shaft spinning and therefore any seal formed by the pepper will break.

The OP asked whether the addition of black pepper would harm the coolant system. Keeping in mind that the Prius coolant system is highly complex, with the engine coolant valve which switches coolant between the cabin heater core and the coolant heat recovery canister, and the canister itself, not to mention the three pumps that are part of the system (engine coolant, CHRS pump, and heater core pump) there are lots of places for the pepper potentially to be trapped. When the engine coolant is drained, at best 6.5 US quarts will come out while the capacity is 9 US quarts, so obviously substantial fluid is trapped by the heater core and the valving.

I personally would avoid introducing such foreign substances into the Prius coolant system. However if the OP wants to do that, that is his business.

 

In my old mustang I used a raw egg whites once... the egg essential cooks and the bitsand pieces flow and fill the holes.

a nice temp fix, but not long term...

there are all sorts of quick fix products that you can buy that will do the same thing.

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