Strange surging idle and coolant issues

simze

New member
Hello everyone. I have a 89 T4R with a 2.4l 22re, been driving it for 2 Years. A few days ago my truck began to overheat about a mile out of town, drifted to the house and let it sit to cool. I fired it back up no problem, run at high idle for a minute then began to surge. I've noticed the coolent level in the rad was down so filled it and let it surge for about 10 min to normal operating temp and no heat from front or rear heater cores. So I changed the water pump with a new one, new fluid, cut in a vent at a high point on the return line from the heaters and bypassed the control valve at the fire wall. Its not overheating anymore but still surging when cold untill the thermostat opens(which was also replaced)then it smoothes out to a rough low idle and the cab heat is part time, sometimes hot and sometimes cold. Dropped the oil - no antifreeze. Changed drive belts,Checked timing which was ok.I was just wondering if anyone else had this problem or knows where to trouble shoot this delema. I dont really think its a blown head gasket for the lack of evedence in the oil, spark plugs and valve cover. But I dont really know. Thanks for looking.
 
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I'm more familiar with the carbed version than the EFI, but the EFI engine has a number of temp sensor and a cold start injector, any one of which could be bad and causing one of your problems.

The lack of heat is another problem (and could be causing the other, possibly).
After doing all that work on the cooling, maybe you now have an air pocket in the system.
 
Thanks for the info. I took it to my mechanic today, after the cooling system pressure test he called it a blown head gasket or cracked head No 1 cylinder in particular. So i'm off to start the tear down. Anyone Know if the head bolts need to be replaced-are they stretched? Some vehicles in that year need new bolts every time you replace the head gasket-ford in particular. Just wondering if my 4runner needs new bolts as well. Once again thank you for your intrest.
 
I was leaning toward the HG, but since you didn't have any signs of coolant/oil mixing, I didn't mention it.

Another possibility would be a worn Timing Chain wearing a hole thru the TC cover, but you said the TC was OK.

Use new bolts, they're cheap enough, and check out engnbldr.com for parts. Ted's service and prices are great.
 

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