Please don't be a HG issue!

C

calithirteen

New member
So after spending a week camping upstate with my family in our new used pop up I noticed the truck acting a little funny. On the way up I hit bad traffic and while towing about 2500lbs. Had the a/c cranking and noticed the temp gauge going up. No where near red but definitely above normal. Chocked it up to the heat outside, standing in traffic, and the a/c. Turned off the a/c got out of traffic and resume my 3 hr drive without any further issue. This trip took me up through the mountains and I ran the a/c high the rest of the way and the temp gauge read normal. Then had the truck had been idling with a/c on for about 5 minutes then turned off. After restarting it the truck was idling rough then smoothed out. Drove it with the pop up and gear packed for the 3 hours home (a/c on again) and it ran fine with the temp gauge holding normal. It was later in the day so not as hot out. Drove it today to run errands with no a/c and after it turned off I heard a bubbling sound. Checked under the hood and saw it was boiling in the reserve and bubbling from the cap.

No other signs of leaks or smoke or noticeable smells. Fluid levels look normal.

Things I've recently done:

Tranny cooler 2 weeks ago
Radiator, thermostat, radiator cap 6 months ago

Please tell me it's just a bad cap or maybe I need to add anti freeze!!!
 
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Check status of oil
Look under radiator cap to see if you see any mixture
Was your coolant reservoir full of coolant?
Sounds like a head gasket you can do I leak down test to tell for sure goodlucj
 
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Also take your oil dipstick out see what's going on there.
I would say top off coolant and take for a drive to see if your losing any
But before you do That you gotta verify which coolant your running you don't want to be mixing different types
 
If it never reached the red zone in the gauge, you should be fine. When towing and in hot weather never have the AC at 4th speed. I use 4th speed only for the few miles and slowly bring it down to 2.

Did you flush the cooling system before installing the now radiator?

Fill the radiator back again and check the following.

To check the HG symptoms, fill the radiator to the cap level and start the engine without the cap. If you see a continuous flow of bubbles, it is the HG that has failed.
 
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giovannie23 said:
Also take your oil dipstick out see what's going on there.

I would say top off coolant and take for a drive to see if your losing any

But before you do That you gotta verify which coolant your running you don't want to be mixing different types
Click to expand...



I checked the dip stick and the oil looked good. No chocolate milkshake. Gonna have to wait till Monday to check with my mechanic to see if he flushed the coolant and what he replaced it with. Until then I'm dropping it off at his shop and driving the Camry.


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nissanh said:
If it never reached the red zone in the gauge, you should be fine. When towing and in hot weather never have the AC at 4th speed. I use 4th speed only for the few miles and slowly bring it down to 2.

Did you flush the cooling system before installing the now radiator?

Fill the radiator back again and check the following.

To check the HG symptoms, fill the radiator to the cap level and start the engine without the cap. If you see a continuous flow of bubbles, it is the HG that has failed.
Click to expand...



I hear what your saying about towing with the ac on and 4th gear. My concern is that the symptoms are still happening despite no longer towing the camper.


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Check the fan clutch etc. There is some goopy looking stuff under that radiator cap and where it attaches that would concern me if it were my vehicle. A leak down test would be the best route at this point with the flush done and the parts replaced.
 
calithirteen said:
I checked the dip stick and the oil looked good. No chocolate milkshake. Gonna have to wait till Monday to check with my mechanic to see if he flushed the coolant and what he replaced it with. Until then I'm dropping it off at his shop and driving the Camry.


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Click to expand...


did he recently flush the coolant? If he did he might not have taken the air out properly
 
IME with normally driving it bleeds on it's own after not that much time. It should have shown signs before this. I'm not saying it IS the head gasket but a leak down test can save a lot of frustration and isn't that hard to do as suggested earlier.....
 
nissanh said:
If it never reached the red zone in the gauge, you should be fine. When towing and in hot weather never have the AC at 4th speed. I use 4th speed only for the few miles and slowly bring it down to 2.

Did you flush the cooling system before installing the now radiator?

Fill the radiator back again and check the following.

To check the HG symptoms, fill the radiator to the cap level and start the engine without the cap. If you see a continuous flow of bubbles, it is the HG that has failed.
Click to expand...

Are you saying don't tow with the HVAC fan speed at level 4? That doesn't make any since. All your doing is moving air slower or faster---? Am I missing something?

That gauge on the dash is pretty much an idiot gauge, I had a 96 4Runner running almost 240 and that gauge never moved. If you plan on doing any towing, I'd invest in a scangauge or something to monitor actual temps. It'll do Trans too, which is really important when towing.

You can also go down to your local auto parts store and rent a cooling system pressure tester, and a block leak tester to do a quick check.
 
MandAtaco said:
Are you saying don't tow with the HVAC fan speed at level 4? That doesn't make any since. All your doing is moving air slower or faster---? Am I missing something?

That gauge on the dash is pretty much an idiot gauge, I had a 96 4Runner running almost 240 and that gauge never moved. If you plan on doing any towing, I'd invest in a scangauge or something to monitor actual temps. It'll do Trans too, which is really important when towing.

You can also go down to your local auto parts store and rent a cooling system pressure tester, and a block leak tester to do a quick check.
Click to expand...



I took it to understand that the 4th level was a reference to the automatic transmission meaning 4th gear but I could be wrong


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calithirteen said:
I took it to understand that the 4th level was a reference to the automatic transmission meaning 4th gear but I could be wrong


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Click to expand...


Yea, starting in 4th gear of the Trans and working back to second gear wouldn't make since either though. I always tow with the overdrive off BTW.
 
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