Head Gasket? Radiator? HELP!

[fjcruiserpd]

This morning on my way in to work I cam to a stop at a red light and noticed steam coming out of my hood. I then started to get the faint sweet smell of coolant coming into the cabin. During the drive the temp gauge stayed steady in the middle never moving left or right.

When I got to work I lifted the hood and got a stronger hit of the coolant smell. I could also hear what sounded like a drip of fluid hitting a hot surface. I checked under the truck but didn't see any fluid exiting the anywhere onto the ground. My coolant reservoir is about half full. I believe I'm due for a water pump and timing belt replacement. The person I bought it from took good care of it but hadn't had those two things changed since 2009.

I'm wondering where the steam/dripping could be coming from. Could it be the radiator or the head gasket?

After buying the car I had a local dealership run the VIN number which showed that the head gasket recall replacement had been done a while back.

It's a 1993 3.0 V6 with 178,000 miles.

*ETA* The dripping/hissing sound seems to be coming from the back of the engine.

 

[Nick Danger]

I had a similar issue with my '95. Turned out I had a small split in a hose located near the firewall. Might be a place to take a look while you are under the hood.

 

[RiFF RaFF]

This morning on my way in to work I cam to a stop at a red light and noticed steam coming out of my hood. I then started to get the faint sweet smell of coolant coming into the cabin. During the drive the temp gauge stayed steady in the middle never moving left or right.

When I got to work I lifted the hood and got a stronger hit of the coolant smell. I could also hear what sounded like a drip of fluid hitting a hot surface. I checked under the truck but didn't see any fluid exiting the anywhere onto the ground. My coolant reservoir is about half full. I believe I'm due for a water pump and timing belt replacement. The person I bought it from took good care of it but hadn't had those two things changed since 2009.

I'm wondering where the steam/dripping could be coming from. Could it be the radiator or the head gasket?

After buying the car I had a local dealership run the VIN number which showed that the head gasket recall replacement had been done a while back.

It's a 1993 3.0 V6 with 178,000 miles.

*ETA* The dripping/hissing sound seems to be coming from the back of the engine.

Don't panic yet. Most likely it's the heater return tube that's located at the back of the engine. I had the same thing happen, and also thought it was my head gasket. After looking with a scope I found the culprit. The tube had rusted through. This is very common with our older 4Runner/3vze.

Rusted through area.

Where it's located at the back of the engine. To replace this part - IF it's the bad part - the intake plenum will need to be removed. I'd recommend replacing the knock sensor, and pig tail while your in there.

:thumb:

 

[fjcruiserpd]

I had a similar issue with my '95. Turned out I had a small split in a hose located near the firewall. Might be a place to take a look while you are under the hood.

Don't panic yet. Most likely it's the heater return tube that's located at the back of the engine. I had the same thing happen, and also thought it was my head gasket. After looking with a scope I found the culprit. The tube had rusted through. This is very common with our older 4Runner/3vze.:thumb:

Thanks so much for the responses guys. I was panicking a little bit. Hopefully it will be one of the simple solutions you both mentioned here.

 

[RiFF RaFF]

Thanks so much for the responses guys. I was panicking a little bit. Hopefully it will be one of the simple solutions you both mentioned here.

When you find/fix it - post the results.

layball:

 

[mikekfr]

As long as you're not sporting a chocolate milkshake in your oil, you're gonna be ok.
Let us know what you find

 

[fjcruiserpd]

Okay, can someone point me in the direction on the proper steps to removing the upper plenum? I'm not a seasoned mechanic but I'm good at following directions when it comes to taking things apart and putting them back together.

I just want to make sure I don't remove the wrong things and leave the wrong things in place.

 

[RiFF RaFF]

Okay, can someone point me in the direction on the proper steps to removing the upper plenum? I'm not a seasoned mechanic but I'm good at following directions when it comes to taking things apart and putting them back together.

I just want to make sure I don't remove the wrong things and leave the wrong things in place.

1st step - find a Factory Service Manual - http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/97103-1st-2nd-gen-4-runner-tech-factory-service-manual-common-fixes.html

Take a bunch of before pictures!
Label everything to ease installation
Take more pictures to refer back to the labels.

If in doubt - take and post pictures. There are a bunch of really smart 2nd Gen guys here.

:fishing:

 

[mikekfr]

Along with pics, as mentioned, take a cardboard box & cut it into flat sections or sides from a cardboard box and poke holes in the cardboard and place 'certain' bolts/parts there and label each section...one thing i've learned in many hours of reading here....( much like doing upholstery ) keep the groups or sections of parts in order as how they came out...it will make putting everything back in so much simpler. Also some masking or painter tape to label stuff isn't a bad idea either.

 

[fjcruiserpd]

Okay, so instead of trying to take the time to find the culprit of the leak myself I took it to the local dealership for them to find the issue. Turns out the heater hose is leaking.

So my question is this, how hard of a DIY job is replacing the heater hose? Like what will the frustration level be? I've done minor work myself on this truck before (spark plugs/dist cap/wires/new brakes) but do not consider myself a wrencher.

Would I be better served letting the dealership do it? The price they quoted me was $375. I already have to pay them $159 of that for the diagnosis.

This is Northern California money, btw.

 

[mikekfr]

That's another $220....omg do it yourself, the worst that can happen is you get mad, scrape your hand and save $200. Did they show you which hose? And the very worst case scenario, is there a compression fitting on the end?.....If it's just a hose clamp on the end, def. do it yourself. That's my .02

 

[fjcruiserpd]

That's another $220....omg do it yourself, the worst that can happen is you get mad, scrape your hand and save $200. Did they show you which hose? And the very worst case scenario, is there a compression fitting on the end?.....If it's just a hose clamp on the end, def. do it yourself. That's my .02

Thanks. I think I'll do it myself. So if anyone can chime in on good ways to get to the heater hose I'd really appreciate it!!!

 

[mikekfr]

Go to the 5th post on this thread Where can coolant leak from rear of engine? - YotaTech Forums and look at the second pic, i found that pic by googling '1993 toyota 4runner heater hoses diagram'

There's pics out the whazoo using google, just be creative with how you word stuff.

 

[fjcruiserpd]

The dealer pointed out the offending hose. Part #87245. And of course, after he showed it to me I felt really dumb because it is out in plain sight.

I'll try to get it done this weekend and report back. Fingers crossed this does the trick.

 

[mikekfr]

You can do it....just check for leaks when you're done and you've got the engine up to running temperature.....something like a paper towel or toilet paper wrapped all around the hose ends will show 1 drop of something from 10 feet away when looking for leaks. I've got my utility trailer loaded up and gettin rdy to fly for the day......good luck cruiser

 

[fjcruiserpd]

So this is odd...It's been two days since the dealer found the leak for me. Since then I've driven to work and back but the leak seems to no longer exist. No steam coming from the hood, no smell of coolant filling up the cabin, no dripping coming from the undercarriage.

I'm still going to replace the hose, but now I'm wondering why everything seems to have magically gone back to normal.

 

[RiFF RaFF]

So this is odd...It's been two days since the dealer found the leak for me. Since then I've driven to work and back but the leak seems to no longer exist. No steam coming from the hood, no smell of coolant filling up the cabin, no dripping coming from the undercarriage.

I'm still going to replace the hose, but now I'm wondering why everything seems to have magically gone back to normal.

We call that "RFO Unknown - Rectified by PFM" Translation - Reason For Outage Unknown - Rectified by Pure F'n Magic".

It will make working on your engine bay a lot easier if you remove the hood first - trust me!

:thumb: