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When I fire up the beast in the mornings, or when it's been standing for a couple of hours, there's a sort of gurgling watery-type noise from behind the dash somewhere. Just before I bought it, the dealer gave it it's 60k service (even though it only had 46k showing) and I think they changed the coolant as when I look in the rad, the coolant is obviously new (bright red and completely clear). Is it possible they didn't manage to refill it properly, leaving an airlock in the heater matrix?

The heater blows out hot air and having done over 1000 miles in it already, the level in the rad is staying the same, so if there is an airlock it's clearly not going anywhere on it's own. The engine temp looks perfectly normal to me too (ie middle of the dial, as per most cars!) and within a mile or so the noise is completely gone until it's been standing again for a while. Nothing in the car is wet and it's not rained for ages down here, so I don't think it's water that's collecting somewhere (as the noise would be constant rather than just after standing still).

Anyone got any ideas? It's going in for a wheel re-balance soon, so I can ask the dealer to investigate, but I'm kind of relying on the car at the moment for work!

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Is the level in your expansion tank altering at all? Have you topped it up?

When the coolant is changed, and the system is refilled, it is usual to run the engine with the rad cap off until the thermostat opens and sends coolant throughout the engine and rad, this is noticeable by a drop in the level in the rad. The heating needs to be at max warm as well so the coolant is at full flow through the heater matrix.

Assuming the dealer has done all this there should be no air in the system at all unless the expansion tank is empty or the overflow pipe from the top of the rad cap to the expansion tank is blocked, thus stopping

the transfer of coolant both ways resulting in trapped air in the system.

It could be a shagged water pump as well!

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I too have heard this on my beast too on a few occasions on starting in the mornings only but only now n then.... recently I have not heard it for a while so I dunno what it is my self... everything is working as it should.....

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I had this problem on my Supra many years ago. I bled the system several times but it never managed to get rid of it. I sold the supra in 1998 and the guy I sold it to still has it. It still gurgles when its first started.

I have since learnt that its supposedly caused by a leaking Head gasket and is quite common amongst Supras and usually the first signs of impending failure.

My old Supra has been gurgling for the last 9 years and still drives perfect without overheating or losing water so maybe its not the end of the world.

The supra is only mentioned because of the similarities between the 2 engines.

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I had this problem on my Supra many years ago. I bled the system several times but it never managed to get rid of it. I sold the supra in 1998 and the guy I sold it to still has it. It still gurgles when its first started.

I have since learnt that its supposedly caused by a leaking Head gasket and is quite common amongst Supras and usually the first signs of impending failure.

My old Supra has been gurgling for the last 9 years and still drives perfect without overheating or losing water so maybe its not the end of the world.

The supra is only mentioned because of the similarities between the 2 engines.

Interesting that you've had it too - only thing is mine's the V8, so not such a similar engine! It's only done 48k so hopefully it's not on it's way out already!

I shall check the expansion tank but if it all looks OK then I'm not gonna worry about it too much, it doesn't seem to be doing any harm and it sounds like a few cars do it! I'll mention it to the dealer when it goes in next weekend, they might have an idea but maybe it's just one of those things...

Like you say, not the end of the world!

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If it's coming from within the dash it could be the gasses from the aircon system as they can gurgle and make whooshing type sounds especially when the system is first started.

This is what I was thinking it could be..... nothing else comes to mind

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Same thing happened to my mk2 GS300SE.

Visual inspection taken by main dealer and found expansion tank was empty.

After topping up, the noise disappeared.

IT COULD BE COINCIDENCE, but now there's no more sort of fluid flowing noise coming from behind the dash.

Note: The AC on mine isn't as cold as it should and need to check it some other time.

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OK well I've checked the expansion tank and it was well below the maximum mark. Indeed, it was an inch below the minimum mark too, so I've brought it up to the max mark, taken it for a spin and it's still there, so hopefully it was just a *****-up during the service (I'm pretty certain it got changed, it had it's 6-year/60k service, and the coolant looks far too clear to have been in there for long).

I guess tomorrow morning I shall find out if the noise has gone away or not, hopefully it will have and I shall check the levels again in a week or two to see where we are.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I shall leave it for few days and see if it goes away!

Mike

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OK well I've checked the expansion tank and it was well below the maximum mark. Indeed, it was an inch below the minimum mark too, so I've brought it up to the max mark, taken it for a spin and it's still there, so hopefully it was just a *****-up during the service (I'm pretty certain it got changed, it had it's 6-year/60k service, and the coolant looks far too clear to have been in there for long).

I guess tomorrow morning I shall find out if the noise has gone away or not, hopefully it will have and I shall check the levels again in a week or two to see where we are.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I shall leave it for few days and see if it goes away!

Mike

Any update on this then do you still get the noise or has it gone? or was it somthing else?

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Yes, sorry guys I had meant to write back to this thread.

Having topped up the expansion tank, the noise has now gone - not heard it once since the top up so it looks like that was it. Great news, something else not to worry about now!

I had also been suffering from vibration at motorway speeds, however Lexus Milton Keynes (where it came from) agreed to stump up the cost of all 4 wheels being rebalanced (the tyres had been removed so the wheels could be refinished during the preparation for sale); that was done yesterday morning at Lexus Croydon and that problem has now gone too.

So it's now pretty much perfect I think... ;-)

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

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