1st Gen Temp Gauge + Drive Shaft Issues

[Ry'sRunner]

Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone may have a solution and/or answer to a couple issues I'm having with my 87 22RE...

#1 - Temp gauge on the dash does not work right. I can start it up on a cool morning (for San Diego!) and the needle immediately comes up to just below horizontal and does not fluctuate. By itself I'm not too concerned, but it seems like the truck runs hot - hood is too hot to touch after about 15 minutes on the highway, and it smells hot. (or maybe its just 28 years of oil/grease buildup that stinks) However, I've had two shops check it, and they say its not running hot. I guess my first question is, does any one else have the hood get that hot in normal driving? Is it possible to replace the gauge, if it can be found?

#2 - Driveshaft is spraying grease all over the underside. Right where the smaller front section joins the larger rear section. I have the maintenance manual, but I don't see a reference to a seal in that location. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the help!

 

[grumpin]

Mine does the same thing. I put in an aftermarket gauge. With that I found at times it got warm. Mainly climbing in the mountains and with the A/C on. Ended up replacing the radiator, and all the hoses and thermostat while I was at it.

 

[lledwod]

Pretty normal for the drive shaft to fling grease from the location you mention. There is no seal there to my knowledge. If it (the slip-yoke) is greased often or 'too' much the excess works its way out.

 

[Ry'sRunner]

It's been spraying grease around for some time, the underside is completely covered in that section. I've only had it a year, and several places it's caked layer on layer.

 

[jprhome]

the U-joint Zerk could be bad causing grease to come out all over, do you get vibration at highway speeds or anything?

Could need a new U-joint, don't have a lot of experience working with U-joints but I currently am sure I'm having a issue with mine coming off the transfer case and have been researching up on them

 

[Ry'sRunner]

No problem with vibration, it runs smooth as fast as I can make it go!

Footnote on the engine temp, I took it for a an hour highway ride on Sunday, uphill out, downhill back. Seemed to run fine, but once off the freeway and stopped at a light, I can feel the heat from the engine coming in the open window. Coolant and oil levels were all normal, but the dipstick was so hot I could not hold it bare handed. Does that sound anywhere near normal??

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

Sounds about right to me. Could be a slightly hotter than normal thermostat, you can check to see where it opens up with a thermometer in the rad cap. Start this test when cold, let it idle to operating temp, when the water starts flowing past the radiator fill neck, that's the temp its opening at.

There's several different temps for the 22re thermostats available at most parts stores:

160º
175º
180º
190º
192º
195º

IIRC, 192º is the oem recommended temp, but I could be wrong on that.

Also, grease and crud buildup on the engine can act like a smelly blanket! It holds the heat in and smells once the engine heats it up. I'd suggest a good degreasing and pressure wash to get the crud off, including the hood and frame near the exhaust manifold area.

San Diego can get pretty hot, which can cause the issue with the hood being way too hot to touch, is the vehicle's color dark, like black or charcoal grey?

You didn't mention it actually overheating, but more think its running hotter than it should on city streets, and you mention that its okay on the highway, which could mean that the radiator isn't quite doing its job or the fan clutch isn't working quite right.

Test the fan clutch to see if its working correctly. Does it wind up noisily first thing when its cold, then quiet down after a few seconds of your first cold start? That's how it should be. If you don't hear the whirring of the fan when its cold then completely go quiet, you might have a bad clutch. With the engine OFF(!!!!), can you spin the fan blades by hand? Is it easy, hard, impossible? There should be a slight bit of friction and you should not be able to spin the fan more than a quarter to half turn, no matter how hard you try.

If it is bad, could be the "gel" in the fan clutch is done and you need to clean and replace it with this stuff:

If the radiator isn't cooling correctly, your fan will run quite a bit more than usual, and you'll hear it spinning every time you hit the gas. You can get it rodded at a radiator shop, but for the 100+ bucks you spend on doing that, you might as well invest it in a 3 core radiator rather than the stock 2 core that came with all 22re engines.

Look for an automatic 3vze 4 runner radiator that's a 3 core, I have had one in my truck for 10+ years and its still going strong! I never, ever overheat, even if I'm out in Truckhaven, sitting in line waiting to get through a trail in a canyon in 100+ degree weather!

Oh yeah, as for that temp gauge in the dash (assuming you have the sr5 cluster), try smacking the dash to see if it drops down after you start your 4 runner! There's some sort of check to the gauge when the vehicle starts, and its supposed to shoot up to around halfway, then drop back down within the first 5-10 seconds of starting the vehicle. Sometimes it gets stuck up at the halfway mark, and for me, a light slap to the dashtop on the left side, it will drop the needle back down, it then works just fine the rest of the time and comes up as the engine warms up!

 

[Ry'sRunner]

Thanks for all the good info! After 3 or 4 whacks on the dash the needle dropped down and came up normally. An improvement anyway.

I've been trying to find a place that can steam clean the undercarriage, probably can't hurt.

Oh and this one is white...