Coolant levels in 1.2T

[ATF1979]

Hi,

I have had my 2017 Auris for 4 weeks, not driven much yet due to Covid, I bought it from a main Vauxhall dealer, I popped the bonnet a few days ago to take a look.

The coolant level with the engine cold was about one inch below the LOW mark. I suspect the dealer missed this or the coolant is leaking.

Assuming the last Toyota service 12 months ago checked the level, how much would you expect the coolant level to drop after a years use and 8000 miles?

[TonyHSD]

Well in hot summer days when engine is running hotter than usual it is normal to have some coolant evaporate through the cap and lower the level. You can look around the cooling system components for any leaks and around the water pump and if all dry then just top up with the same oem coolant and monitor the levels on regular basis, nothing to worry about it in advance. If the car keeps loosing coolant then you may want to further investigate the issue. 👍

[Cyker]

I don't know about the 1.2T as petrol turbos tend to work the cooling system a lot harder, but my Mk2 Yaris 1.33 didn't use any coolant while I had it (Made up for that by drinking loads of oil instead  ), and my old Mk1 D4D would loose a bit if I was hooning it around a lot in summer, but maybe half a cm tops.

I wonder if they flushed the coolant and re-filled it before they gave it to you - It's very easy to underfill them as it takes ages for all the air to get out of the system if it's been drained - Had that with my Mk1 D4D when I had the water pump changed, ran the engine for ages to try and purge all the air, and I was still having to top off the coolant a little bit at a time for a good few days before all the air was purged and the level stopped dropping! The 8NR-FE engine might be like that too...

I'd say report it to the dealer you bought it from so it's on record and you're covered if it does turn out to be a leak, but for now I'd say top it off and keep monitoring it as you drive it as it may just needed to be 'burped' if they have changed the coolant  

[ATF1979]

cheers both. I took it back to the dealer two days ago and asked the salesman to see under the bonnet, to record it.

It has pink coolant, so I assume Toyota pink.

"petrol turbos tend to work the cooling system a lot harder" - I was not aware of this - Is that why the 1.2T has two fans?

[Cyker]

Probably! Although having 2 fans isn't uncommon - IIRC my colleague's old car had 2 fans, a small quiet one and a bigger noisier one.

I just mean turbos create a lot of heat, and with the hot petrol exhaust driving it there's even more heat, and the turbo uses engine oil to cool itself, which transfers the heat to the engine block (Or oil cooler if it has one), which has to be cooled by the cooling system, and the turbo intercooler is also cooled by the cooling system, so there's a lot more heat to deal with. On the bright side your car will be a lot warmer in winter than mine!  

One other tip - It's also recommended you let the car idle/run on low load for a bit before switching the engine off when you park, so the turbo has time to cool off - Normally, the slow traffic crawl when getting to your home or business is enough, but if you've e.g. been driving fast on the motorway and pull into a services it's especially important!

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

Probably! Although having 2 fans isn't uncommon - IIRC my colleague's old car had 2 fans, a small quiet one and a bigger noisier one.

I just mean turbos create a lot of heat, and with the hot petrol exhaust driving it there's even more heat, and the turbo uses engine oil to cool itself, which transfers the heat to the engine block (Or oil cooler if it has one), which has to be cooled by the cooling system, and the turbo intercooler is also cooled by the cooling system, so there's a lot more heat to deal with. On the bright side your car will be a lot warmer in winter than mine!  

One other tip - It's also recommended you let the car idle/run on low load for a bit before switching the engine off when you park, so the turbo has time to cool off - Normally, the slow traffic crawl when getting to your home or business is enough, but if you've e.g. been driving fast on the motorway and pull into a services it's especially important!

Good tip 👍, same applies when start the engine cold wait at least one minute before you driving off to let the oil flow everywhere evenly especially in the turbine and don’t go crazy rpm before engine reaches normal working temperature. 

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Cyker said:

One other tip - It's also recommended you let the car idle/run on low load for a bit before switching the engine off when you park, so the turbo has time to cool off -

Not only this but the instant the engine is stopped there is no oil getting to the turbine and compressor shaft bearings. It gives time for the turbo revolutions to spool down to where a sudden stop of oil should do less damage.

[AisinW]

I thought most Turbo engine will still drive the fan on when the engine is off.  I am not sure with 1.2T oil pump. The newer D4S Toyota has an electric oil pump. If 1.2T has electric oil pump, Toyota should program it to run for a few minutes after the engine shut off to cool down the Turbo. Toyota starts using Turbo gasoline engines in Trucks and SUV, replacing ancient V8. 

[Cyker]

The funny thing is I'm having to unlearn such habits with the Mk4! I'm trying to retrain myself to only turn the car on when I'm about to literally drive off, esp. at this time of year, as otherwise the engine immediately fires up and jumps to 2000rpm, filling the air with petrol fumes and shaking the whole car until I move off!  

And when I get home I have to remember to turn it off immediately as there is no OFF switch for the headlights, so at night I'm just beaming all my neighbours with super bright LEDs! I had taken to flicking the sidelights on as a compromise, as that is the only way to force the main lamps off, but then I always forget to switch them back to Auto after I turn the car off and get the beep of shame when I get out of the car...

 

[sentra]

Hi all, I thought I would post my experience with my car that has a similar problem.

I have a 2017 Auris 1.2T(42k miles) and about 3 months ago I noticed the coolant level was about 1-2 inches below the minimum mark when the engine was cold. I thought this was strange because of all the cars I have owned they never needed coolant, maybe 100ml or less once a year. I topped it up and thought nothing more.

This week I was topping up my windscreen wash and to my horror the coolant level was almost to the bottom!

I filled it up with about 500ml and contacted Toyota as my car was under its 5 year warranty. 

I have taken it in and they have told me that there was a small leak in a pipe that ''feeds the water pump''

They will receive and install the part tomorrow and I will pick it up then.

[AisinW]

Ja, use that 5 years warranty before it is expired. Once you are in the relax warranty period, some dealership mark up the price for annual maintenance 

[Cyker]

Good on you for checking your fluid levels regularly and catching it before the car broke! More people need to do this!

Too many people just use their car and never check even basic things like oil levels or tyre pressures and then whine about it being unreliable when the poor thing breaks down...

 

[AisinW]

If you have non hybrid, plastic and rubber  parts often get brittle and can abruptly fail.  The return pipe from the thermostats sudenly crack and spew all coolant in no time in my 3.3L V6 on my Sienna 04. I did not realize it until I got home 5 miles later. I noticed it because the engine temperature sudenly drop to minimum low, no coolant  left, the AC suddenly off too. 

It was still ok because the oil helped cooling for a while. I changed that plastic pipe, new coolant and new oil too. It was still fine until I sold it 30k miles later. At 214k miles, no oil consumption, really tough engine although i changed the oil every 5k miles/6 months with cheap Pennzoil yellow bottle, non synthetic. 

Unfortunately, many new cars has no engine temperature gauge anymore. I check all fluids every 2 months or before long trips/vacation. 

 

[furtula]

Water pump will also leak coolant when nearing the end of it's life.

There is a small hole called the weep hole which leaks coolant on purpose when the seals are gone, to warn you it needs replacement.

It might not always leak so much to be noticed, but you can check around the pump for oxidation, another sign it needs replacement.