Overheating while at idle and driving

[cashmoney]

Good questions. Don't know the answer as I just bought the thing 3 weeks ago. I do have the receipt showing the water pump and timing belt being replaced last year. Although at this point I'm a hair skeptical. Damn it I'm mad at myself for not checking this before I bought it.

Having a full radiator should help keep temps down on the drive home. Going to swing by oreilly's and get some coolant and take it slow and easy. I'm flushing everything tonight.

 

[jeremyc74]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that sounds like a classic symptoms of a blown head gasket.

Have you checked the dipstick for signs of water?

It's possible the gasket went bad and caused the overheating, or it's possible something else caused the overheating and the head gasket failed due to it, but if you've got sludge in the radiator that's the most likely culprit.

 

[cashmoney]

Made it home with zero issues. That water I added did the trick.

Drained the system tonight and it was murky as hell. Overflow from the cap to the bottom of the tube in the overflow bottle was packed full of mud. Blew all of that out and flushed the bottle real well. Added some coolant flush and filled with water and burped the system real well. Going to drive it the next couple of days and let the cleaner do it's job per the instructions and refill the system with coolant.

On the plus side, no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. No water under the oil cap and no bubbling in the radiator while running. All good signs of a head gasket intact.

 

[cashmoney]

****. Buddy of mine looked at the crap I pulled out and said it looks like copper stop leak stuff. Now I am worried about a head gasket. Now I really am pissed at myself for not checking the coolant. I always check the freaking coolant.

 

[stir_fry_boy]

Any additive like that I think does more harm than good.

Consider leak down or compression test to determine if there is any head gasket issue.

 

[jeremyc74]

****. Buddy of mine looked at the crap I pulled out and said it looks like copper stop leak stuff. Now I am worried about a head gasket. Now I really am pissed at myself for not checking the coolant. I always check the freaking coolant.

Well, if it isn't overheating anymore it may be that someone was trying to fix a coolant leak rather than a bad head gasket. Hopefully that's the case because that's a much easier fix than pulling the heads.

Are there any signs of a previous coolant leak? The most common place for these things to leak is the water pump seals, and the water pump gasket itself after that. Since the pump is a PITA to change someone might have been trying to correct that with the stop leak crap. Also, the leak may not have stopped, and the low coolant level is why you started overheating.

Any idea when the timing belt was last changed? The water pump is usually replaced at the same time.

 

[cashmoney]

Been driving it today with the coolant flush in there. No issues over heating thus far. I haven't seen any coolant leak evidence but admittedly I didn't look very hard yesterday being it was my anniversary and I was trying to just get the system flushed. The more I think about this the more I'm leaning towards someone mixing two different coolant types. There are no other signs of a blown head gasket. Maybe I'm being naive but I'm not jumping to worst case just yet.

 

[michael33r]

Your truck is 15 years old. If you want a buzzer or warning lamp, buy a newer one. thermostat control parameters, coolant temp threshold readings all can trip warnings now.

My 97 4Runner had the check engine light come on when it overheated on me. After shutting off and turning it back on the light went off on its own.

 

[jeremyc74]

Your truck is 15 years old. If you want a buzzer or warning lamp, buy a newer one. thermostat control parameters, coolant temp threshold readings all can trip warnings now.

Lots of GM vehicles of this age have a "Check Gauges" light that comes on to get your attention. Of course they're mostly junk so it stays on all the time anyway.....:hello:

 

[michael33r]

Your truck is 15 years old. If you want a buzzer or warning lamp, buy a newer one. thermostat control parameters, coolant temp threshold readings all can trip warnings now.

My 97 4Runner had the check engine light come on when it overheated on me. After shutting off and turning it back on the light went off on its own.

 

[cashmoney]

Well not so good today. It won't maintain 80mph on flat ground without downshifting and I've burned through 3/4 of a tank of gas in a 150 miles. No, not all at 80mph. Only the last 45 miles. The rest have been city driving. Truck is parked pending a compression test this weekend.

 

[cashmoney]

Is it possible to have a blown head gasket on an engine that doesn't burn oil, doesn't hesitate, doesn't miss, doesn't smoke, has no coolant in the oil, no oil in the coolant, starts first time every time, and other than the incident in this thread (which seems to have been taken care of and hasn't over heated since) runs flawlessly except for having no power and crappy mileage?

 

[stir_fry_boy]

Is it possible to have a blown head gasket on an engine that doesn't burn oil, doesn't hesitate, doesn't miss, doesn't smoke, has no coolant in the oil, no oil in the coolant, starts first time every time, and other than the incident in this thread (which seems to have been taken care of and hasn't over heated since) runs flawlessly except for having no power and crappy mileage?

Possible, less likely now. No power could mean no compression which would cause it to have crappy MPG. Also start looking at other culprits for the no power like fuel, spark and air delivery disruptions (filters, injectors, spark plugs, wires etc). Could also be a timing issue.

 

[cashmoney]

Plugs, wires, pcv, fuel filter, air filter all changed last week. MAF, TB, IAC all cleaned last week. All cables tightened to remove slack. The timing thing has crossed my mind as it's an absolute dog between 1500-2500 and then takes off like what I think normal should be. I stomped on it from a stop and it was doggy through those rpms and then took off and shifted promptly and crisply at 5000rpm. Only thing I've got left to do is fluids (this weekend) seafoam the intake (I'll sacrifice the new plugs), and O2 sensors (no lights on the dash). Beyond all of that and a compression test I'm out of things to try.

 

[cashmoney]

Here are some pictures of what I found in my radiator and what the plugs I pulled out last week look like:

 

[LittleCaesar]

Someone used tap water in place of coolant and kept it in there for a long time. That is rust. In the South plenty of good old boys don't use antifreeze and just use water. Looks like it was done in TX that way as well.

Get a new radiator first IMHO.

I'd then flush the system out at least twice, then grab some Zerex Asian coolant, run it for 1000 miles and see how it looks. Then drain it again if it warrants such; if not go to 5000 miles and repeat.

I would also put on my short list having to replace the water pump and while at it, the ECT sensor (OEM here). Thermostat (OEM) as well, though you may have gotten that one already.

The 5VZ is no speed demon. If you want a 4runner with speed, find one with a 2UZ in it.

 

[cashmoney]

It's not a speed demon but the thing should certainly be able to maintain 80mph on flat ground without down shifting every 60-90 secs. It acts like it's under geared but I'd certainly hope not with just 265/75's.

 

[stir_fry_boy]

Wrong plugs they put in. Yours are correct. I agree with Cesar, that's rust. Replace the radiator. That won't fix the power issue, so still should do a compression and possibly a leak down.

 

[cashmoney]

Compression test is happening tonight. I'll let y'all know what I find out.

 

[ljparton]

There's a product called RMI-25 that I used to flush out the cooling system on my 2nd gen that looked just like that.

Flush and fill the rad with new coolant and add a bottle of it. It'll break that crap up over time, and once it looks murky again flush it and you should be good.