-CoStep-

So I just picked up a 92 Pickup about 2 weeks ago, 126k 22re 5 speed. last night I was headed to the bank (maybe a 5 min drive) and the truck started overheating on me, steaming and so forth. this was the first time I had driven the truck all day. I check the fluids earlier in the day, and also replaced the blower motor resistor (not that it matters). so the fluids were full and I felt the upper and lower radiator hoses, both were hot to the touch. I haven't had time to really take anything apart and check it out since this happened late last night, and now I am at work. Any quick ideas of what it could be? I wanna pull the thermostat and see how it looks..


Thanks for any help.

bswarm

Definitely change the thermostat, pull the lower hose and flush the radiator and engine (through the thermostat opening while it's out) check the fan clutch, and check the oil for possible head gasket failure.

-CoStep-

Yeah that's kinda my plan. I also did check the oil last night and didn't see any kind of coolant/oil mix, so hopefully im good on that. this evening I will replace the thermostat and drain the fluids. How do I go about checking the fan clutch?

bswarm

The fan clutch shouldn't have any play when you wiggle the fan front to rear, shouldn't have any oil coming out the front or rear next to the shaft, should turn by hand, and when the thermostat opens you should be able to hear the fan speed up.

-CoStep-

Replaced the thermostat this evening before it got dark on me. Added a little coolant and started the truck to see if anything changed. It is still overheating of course. I will try to flush the radiator tomorrow. Sucks bc I'm in a apartment complex. Guess if that doesn't work it may be waterpump? Fan clutch had no play at all. Maybe I should check my belts also to make sure everything is turning.

Schnayke

iTrader: (1)

I had over heating issues recently. The cap on my system was not holding pressure, the line going too my recovery tank was not pulling fluid back in, the fan clutch was bad, and the thermostat wasn't opening all the way, both top and bottom hose's where weak, basically only the radiator was good.
That being said once I replaced the cap it stopped overheating but still didn't cool right. Check to make sure the cap is working good. My old 83 toyota also had a bad cap and it would try too overheat but just replacing the cap fixed the issue.

-CoStep-

What's the trick to testing a cap? Never really even thought about that.

I'll try anything at this point haha. Sucks I don't have much daylight when I get home, maybe an hour.

bswarm

The official cap test is to hook it up to a pressure tester and see if it holds pressure, then releases the pressure at whatever pressure it's rated at. Or, you just see if the radiator hose feels hard when the engine warms up (pressure). I think you have other problems though. Did you burp the air of of the system after replacing the t-stat? Can you see coolant flow with the cap off? Is there steam coming out of the tailpipe?

-CoStep-

After installing the thermostat I unscrewed the cap, topped off the coolant and started the truck. Waited on the truck to take some of the coolant and added more. And yea the truck had a little condensation when I started it, but like I said it hasn't run all day and the weather was pretty chilly. 30s.

scope103

If you've got steam coming out, you might have a blown head gasket. You (or a shop) can check for that with a gadget like this: (It uses simple chemistry to check for CO2 in the head space of the radiator -- there should be no CO2 in the coolant, so if there is, it's coming from somewhere.)

-CoStep-

I just youtube searched 22re blown head gasket to see what showed up, it's not like those videos and after it ran for a about 2 min it went away.

Schnayke

iTrader: (1)

both the bad caps i had where obvious. the o rings on both where cracked bad. new ones are like 10 bucks at toyota.

-CoStep-

So when I started the truck with the cap off, it didn't shoot coolant out like a volcano or anything. I'm gonna flush the radiator tomorrow. Then if it isn't that I will go waterpump I suppose

-CoStep-

On my lunch break I went home and pulled the thermostat completely out and started the engine. It ran for maybe 2-3mins before the engine started surging so I cut it off and noticed that I had a leak around the thermostat housing (could have spilled some when I removed the thermostat) very frustrating dealing with such little daylight. also checked the oil again and it was clean but I did need to add coolant as I guess it overflowed yesterday evening..

Schnayke

iTrader: (1)

Get a couple magnetic led work lights. You can get them for as cheap as 5 bucks. Life savers!

-CoStep-

So I wanna try the fan clutch a little more. I checked the shaft for play with no luck. I have read when it is cold it should spin freely, when the engine is warmer it should take more force to turn it. Does this sound correct?

-CoStep-

update, started investigating again when i got home from work. i put the thermostat back in and started the truck. it ran for 3-4 mins before it began to surge and proceed to overheat again. i felt the radiator hoses and the top was hot, bottom was cold. that seems okay. previous owner stated the timing chain and water pump were replaced last spring. i drained/flushed the coolant out of the radiator and everything seemed fine there. I spun the fan clutch before i started the engine and it spun freely. after the engine started to overheat i noticed the fan never came on. i turned the engine off and spun the fan again, it still spun as freely as before. not sure if any of this helps me??

i have a co worker bringing a compression tester kit to me tomorrow and i will try that out. thanks for any help you guys. really new to these trucks, but not a new mechanic.

Schnayke

iTrader: (1)

when its cold and has been sitting it should be stiff. once you start the truck it should spin up and you will hear the fan pushing a lot of air. then after a few seconds that noise will go away. its hard too totaly diagnose the bad fan clutch. however if it spins free after sitting over night then it is likly bad. by spin free i mean with a small push it will rotate around rather then stop as soon as you stop pushing it.. however that does assume it is not hot where you are.

-CoStep-

I live in sc, it's been getting to freezing Temps the past couple of days. After sitting overnight I can spin the fan and it is free. Probably spins a few complete rotations.

-CoStep-

Just ordered a fan clutch so we will see how that goes.