Hello!
Last weekend I went ahead and performed some needed maintenance on my 97 SR5 that currently has 225,000 miles. Bought one of the OEM TB/WP kits and also did my VC gaskets and all that jazz too.
I followed many write ups as well as Tim and Sean’s videos for both jobs and they were invaluable. I am about 98% certain I placed my jiggle valve on the new T-stat in the 6’o’clock position (although it might be between 6 and 7). I also did a wash and flush of my cooling system with distilled water until it ran basically clear, looked like the PO was running red coolant although I’m unsure it was Toyotas (if you believe it truly is superior). I filled it back up with a 50/50 mix of Toyota red (I guess I’m one of those snobs ha) and followed Tim and Sean’s advice about having capacity for those with the rear heater. So on the last drain I got Apx. 8 quarts out so I subtracted that from the 9.5 quarts the system is supposed to hold (with the rear heater). I went ahead and added 1.5 quarts of concentrated Toyota red before using my burping funnel to top the system off with 50/50 mix that I made with distilled water. Although I had much more left in the funnel than I expected as I thought I mixed close to just enough plus some extra in a separate jug to make sure no air got in. I let it idle at temp and held revs close to 1750 rpm for some time while I had the heater (front and rear) on full blast. I also did this on an incline with the truck facing uphill. My app showed the engine temp sit between 185-192ish which seemed awesome and made me feel the T-stat was working properly. Drove home after the job and all seemed great (was in the 70s outside at around 12am). The next day I took it for a drive and noticed my temps much higher, closer to what they were when I decided this whole thing needed to be done, they were at 194-197 on the free way the whole time and as I got off and was driving through my parents neighborhood at about 25ish mph up moderate hills the temps started to hit 199-204. Parked the rig in their driveway and let it idle to see if they would come back down and they kept climbing slowly to 210 before I killed the engine. Decided to let it sit and went ahead and checked my new drive belt tensions. They were way too tight so I adjusted them to apx. 1/2 inch deflection using a business cards with measured marks I made with a sharpie. I thought maybe the added tension from the belts might be inhibiting the efficiency of the fan when it was trying to engage (it seemed to be making some odd noises while idling that I confirmed using a stethoscope and have seemed to go away after loosening them). Pulled it somewhere level and checked my trans fluid and decided to drive the 10 miles back to my place. Similar things happened, okay temps between 192-197 on the freeway and then a slow steady increase as I got home and let it idle. Followed some steps to try and diagnose the fan clutch and it seems to be fine but I’m going to more seriously take a look at it.
Could it possibly be the bearing in the fan bracket? I hope it isn’t. Moving forward I bought a new rad cap as they’re cheaper and not difficult to replace, should be here Friday. The other things I’m curious about are is it possible that my coolant mix is too antifreeze heavy? Could I just park it on a steeper hill and burp it some more with distilled water? If that and the rad cap doesn’t work my next plan it so drain the coolant into my huge container I bought for the job (after cleaning it with just water) and double checking the jiggle valve position and possibly testing the old T-stat in a pot before reinstalling it and filling with the coolant I saved. I knew I shouldn’t have got rid of the old one yet haha. If that doesn’t work, and if the fan clutch seems okay I’ll just go ahead and replace the radiator seeing as that’s the only thing left (I replaced the hoses and got the constant tension clamps during the TB/WP job). The PO did have paperwork of the rad being replaced with an OEM one Apx. 3 years ago though so idk.
Anyway, this post is mostly acting as a journal of sorts. I plan to do this more frequently as I’ve put a lot of work into my rig myself thanks to this forum and people like Tim and Sean’s videos. Maybe when I have free time I’ll document the rest I’ve done already in a similar way and whatever I do in the future.
Any comments or ideas, please feel free to post them! I am curious if the coolant mix could even be a problem as I couldn’t really find anything through searching about it.
Last weekend I went ahead and performed some needed maintenance on my 97 SR5 that currently has 225,000 miles. Bought one of the OEM TB/WP kits and also did my VC gaskets and all that jazz too.
I followed many write ups as well as Tim and Sean’s videos for both jobs and they were invaluable. I am about 98% certain I placed my jiggle valve on the new T-stat in the 6’o’clock position (although it might be between 6 and 7). I also did a wash and flush of my cooling system with distilled water until it ran basically clear, looked like the PO was running red coolant although I’m unsure it was Toyotas (if you believe it truly is superior). I filled it back up with a 50/50 mix of Toyota red (I guess I’m one of those snobs ha) and followed Tim and Sean’s advice about having capacity for those with the rear heater. So on the last drain I got Apx. 8 quarts out so I subtracted that from the 9.5 quarts the system is supposed to hold (with the rear heater). I went ahead and added 1.5 quarts of concentrated Toyota red before using my burping funnel to top the system off with 50/50 mix that I made with distilled water. Although I had much more left in the funnel than I expected as I thought I mixed close to just enough plus some extra in a separate jug to make sure no air got in. I let it idle at temp and held revs close to 1750 rpm for some time while I had the heater (front and rear) on full blast. I also did this on an incline with the truck facing uphill. My app showed the engine temp sit between 185-192ish which seemed awesome and made me feel the T-stat was working properly. Drove home after the job and all seemed great (was in the 70s outside at around 12am). The next day I took it for a drive and noticed my temps much higher, closer to what they were when I decided this whole thing needed to be done, they were at 194-197 on the free way the whole time and as I got off and was driving through my parents neighborhood at about 25ish mph up moderate hills the temps started to hit 199-204. Parked the rig in their driveway and let it idle to see if they would come back down and they kept climbing slowly to 210 before I killed the engine. Decided to let it sit and went ahead and checked my new drive belt tensions. They were way too tight so I adjusted them to apx. 1/2 inch deflection using a business cards with measured marks I made with a sharpie. I thought maybe the added tension from the belts might be inhibiting the efficiency of the fan when it was trying to engage (it seemed to be making some odd noises while idling that I confirmed using a stethoscope and have seemed to go away after loosening them). Pulled it somewhere level and checked my trans fluid and decided to drive the 10 miles back to my place. Similar things happened, okay temps between 192-197 on the freeway and then a slow steady increase as I got home and let it idle. Followed some steps to try and diagnose the fan clutch and it seems to be fine but I’m going to more seriously take a look at it.
Could it possibly be the bearing in the fan bracket? I hope it isn’t. Moving forward I bought a new rad cap as they’re cheaper and not difficult to replace, should be here Friday. The other things I’m curious about are is it possible that my coolant mix is too antifreeze heavy? Could I just park it on a steeper hill and burp it some more with distilled water? If that and the rad cap doesn’t work my next plan it so drain the coolant into my huge container I bought for the job (after cleaning it with just water) and double checking the jiggle valve position and possibly testing the old T-stat in a pot before reinstalling it and filling with the coolant I saved. I knew I shouldn’t have got rid of the old one yet haha. If that doesn’t work, and if the fan clutch seems okay I’ll just go ahead and replace the radiator seeing as that’s the only thing left (I replaced the hoses and got the constant tension clamps during the TB/WP job). The PO did have paperwork of the rad being replaced with an OEM one Apx. 3 years ago though so idk.
Anyway, this post is mostly acting as a journal of sorts. I plan to do this more frequently as I’ve put a lot of work into my rig myself thanks to this forum and people like Tim and Sean’s videos. Maybe when I have free time I’ll document the rest I’ve done already in a similar way and whatever I do in the future.
Any comments or ideas, please feel free to post them! I am curious if the coolant mix could even be a problem as I couldn’t really find anything through searching about it.
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