So last night the overheat light popped up on my dash. There was no coolant in the overflow tank. Filled it up and went for a drive.. all the coolant came spewing out the overflow tank cap. I put a new o ring on the cap and ran the car until it started to pressurize. I took a video to show what is going on. I'm afraid to drive it the way it is as I believe something will explode due to the pressure. There is some strange noise coming from the water pump.. I'm assuming I am needing a new water pump.. but I wanted you guys opinion before I spend the 230$. What do you think? Here are 2 videos showing what's going on now. The towel is just so I could touch the pump without burning my hand.
I recently replaced my headgasket. No coolant is being burned or anything. It's just getting too pressurized and shooting out the top of the overflow tank.
I agree that you should replace the engine coolant pump. Have you felt the radiator hoses to see if hot coolant is being pumped to the radiator? You would expect one hose to be hotter than the other. If you had a handheld infrared instant thermometer you could measure the temperatures of the two hoses and the engine coolant pump.
Running out of coolant left you with air pockets. Purge air from the system and bring the overflow tank to the proper level for a cold engine. Recheck it after you take a drive.
Hmm. I think I only ran out of coolant due to this issue, though. I have driven 9k miles since the headgasket replacement so I don't think it would still be from that.
I put it in maintenance mode and ran it for about 20 minutes. Hoses never got hot and the water pump began screaming. It was screaming even when I turned the car off and started it normal with no has engine running.. ordered a new pump.
Cooling expert here (in general terms) You should check the coolant temp. The coolant in the tank is bubbling, likely due to boiling. And if it's boiling it can be caused by an underdriven water pump, or a totally dead pump, air in the system, or pressurization and/or exhaust gases via a headgasket leak. So without knowing the exact steps the mechanic used, the parts used, etc., it's hard to say what's going on here. Lets just hope it's something as simple as a water pump. It would be a coincidence that it failed right after the HG change. Also by changing the pump, you could inadvertently fix any bleeding issue when you replace the coolant, then incorrectly thinking it was the pump when it was really the act of changing the coolant. Anyway hope you get it fixed.
When I changed coolant in my Prius, bleeding the system was very easy, I just ran the heater and squeezed the fat hose with the reservoir uncapped. The Gen III had a coolant bleed screw in 2010 and maybe 2011. They got rid of it in 2012, probably because it was unnecessary. Bottom line: It’s easy to remove air pockets from the cooling system.... you should try it first, but the loud noise makes me think it’s the coolant pump.
My 2011 (made in March) does not have it. Will I have to take the top hose off the EGR heat exchanger to burp air out when I (partially) replace the coolant?
