hennyville2000

I have a major issue. My engine is overheating and surging at idle, also no heat out of the heater. I have changed the thermostat, nothing. Oddly enough I ran some Zerex super cleaner therough the system the other day and the truck ran beautifully,heater was working and everything. I ran it for the recommended 3-6hours drained backflushed the system, filled it with recommended coolant water mix. Started it up and the same thing. WTF? Last night I pulled the water pump but no dice it is in perfect shape. I am clueless, I think there could be a clog in the cooling system somewhere. I have noticed that with the engine hot and heater on I cannot feel any heat or pressure in the hoses leading to the heater core. At first I was thinking a head gasket but the truck only has 130k on it. Guys I need some serious help this is driving me insane. Sorry for the typos as I am posting this on my phone. Thanks in advance for all the help. I am open to any suggestions.

Zach

DaveInDenver

Are you losing coolant? If so, then it could be a HG. If not, probably not. Also a leak could make you lose coolant, so don't automatically assume low coolant means a HG. I had a nagging leak I could not find and it took a cooling system pressure tester to finally nail it down. It would not leak at idle and apparently only on the highway with higher cooling flow and pressure it would leak.

My guess is you have air in the cooling system and might just need to burp it. If you have car ramps, try parking the truck with the radiator fill neck as the highest point and run with the cap off for a while, see if that gets the air out. Make sure you fill the cooling system with the heater valve all the way open, otherwise it's really easy to trap air in the heater core and as soon as you open it for heat, you get a ton of air in the system. A trapped air bubble would cause all the problems you describe and don't minimize the importance of burping the cooling system, a local hot spot or worse, complete coolant flow lock, can cause big problems for your engine.

hennyville2000

All of thid started when I drove the truck about 60 miles at a high rate of speed (85mph on average). When I pulled up to my buddies house it was steaming and coolant was overflowing the resovior. I am not sure how long it was overheated. I am clueless as to why when I ran the Zerex radiator cleaner through it, it ran like a champ?? If the head gasket was blown is this possible? Why did it overheat in the first place?

npreo1

yea man you gotta blown head gasket my 1990 yota did those same things i pulled my head off and sure enough the gasket was shot around the number 1 cylinder

hennyville2000

I was afraid of that. how difficult is a head gasket job on the 22re? I was thinking that was the issue intially. I thought that it was strange that witht the radiator cleaner in the raddy it ran fine, heater worked, all was normal. drained the cleaner and everything went to shizza.

Onebadmudder

I would try flushing the system real good first. There is a coolant plug on the driver side of your motor, hell pull that one too. If that is no good then run a compression check, if the check is low between 2 cylinders, then your HG is probably blown. Really not to bad of a job. Good Luck!! If ya got a little more time and a little extra cash, hell pull the motor and put some rings and bearings in it too. If truck was well maintained, then you should be able to hone the cylinders and take the crankshaft to a machine shop. You wouldn't believe how cheap the kits are. You will be ready for 130,000 more miles!!!!

langzaiguy

I noticed a trend of low coolant in my 91 22re--it was a TINY little HG leak and it was kinda sputtering and it would eventually burn off and repeat. Nothing in the oil.

I'd definitely try getting all the air out of your system. While you're at it, see if you got good flow in your radiator.

I just finished my HG job. Gotta say it was SUPER intimidating going in. I didn't know much--just what I read on here. Everything ended happily ever after (eventually). So glad I did it, learned a lot. Lemme know if you're gonna dive in.

hennyville2000

thanks for all the help guys. this is an awesome forum, I have been a meember of many in the past but never one with so many people willing to lend such imformative advice. I have not had time to try anythibg yet with the holidays but will do so as soon as possible.
Zach