carguygt500

I just finished a head gasket on my 22re. I filled the radiator while at idle and thought I purged it of all the air(heater was blowing warm air and no more bubbles). Everything was fine in my driveway at idle but when I took off down the street, I drove about 100 yards and I lost the heat from my heater and my idle started bouncing wildly.
I immediately shut down the engine and coasted back to my house. I found that the radiator overflow was completely full and it had pushed a ton of coolant out of the vent hose. I let it cool down, started it up and tried to purge the cooling system again. The exact same thing happened again after I took off down the street.
Fearing I might have a serious problem, I got a radiator pressure tester and pumped my entire cooling system to about 11 PSI. 10 minutes later the gauge was still at 11 PSI and I did not find any trace of coolant around the block or on the ground. When I started the engine back up there was no puff of white smoke so I dont think that any coolant is getting into the cylinders either. I'm pulling my hair out.

Is it possible that I have not fully purged the cooling system?

What is the factory procedure for cooling system bleeding?

Any advice would be a blessing.

neockder

Bleeding the cooling system can be a biatch. Sounds like there's still air in the system. Also could be that your t-stat might be stuck closed.

You have to keep the cap open and continually bleed the system past the point in which the t-stat has opened, and coolant is flowing throughout the system. Also make sure heater is at full hot and full blast whilst doing so.

carguygt500

I do that, but after the thermostat opens up coolants bubbles over the radiator and runs all over the cooling fan which is a huge mess while its running so I don't know what to do at that point.

carguygt500

any one?

flyingbrass

I'm no expert, but it sounds to me like a leaking head gasket. They can leak so that the only symptom is blowing gas into the coolant system.

A leakdown test is very low pressure compared to what's going on in the cylinders. 11 psi may not push coolant past the leaky spot into a cylinder, but the far higher combustion pressures are enough to push gas into the coolant.

You said coolant bubbles out all over the place with the cap off, so it's likely not a radiator cap problem.

What did you do to replace the head gasket? Did you have the head checked out, at least for flatness? Did you clean out the head bolt holes, etc.?

You might recheck the head bolt torques if you haven't already.

Nogarage

I've got a similar situation with my '94 22RE, and I've done a lot of searching on the Web, and you might be interested in this:

One problem beginning to show up on higher-mileage 22Rs is coolant
seepage into the exhaust ports. Most common on vehicles running straight
water. The water jacket corrodes into the #1 cyl. exhaust port (most
commonly) and leaks into the exhaust. Sometimes the leak is so small, no
steam will appear in the exhaust.

One of the easiest ways I have found to diagnose this particular
problem is to pressure test the cooling system with the exhaust manifold
removed. Coolant may appear in the exhaust ports, just inside the
manifold surface.

In most cases the crack can be pinned and welded by a competent machine
shop.

Sometimes these leaks will show up on the outside of the cylinder head
near the exhaust manifold in one of the many little casting holes and
recesses below and around the spark plug wells.

My engine supposedly has "only" about 108K miles, but that could have been rolled back before I bought it, and in any event I've determined that the engine was not well cared for. So water jacket and exhaust port corrosion is a possibility. After having replaced the rod and main bearings, and already replaced the exhaust man. gasket and bolts, I am not thrilled about getting in there to do the head gasket. But she runs pretty well now so I can wait til it gets warmer outside. What the heck.

carguygt500

The head was machined and pressure tested. The bolt holes were chased before installation of the new head.

BlackNite3

I agree that the cooling system still needs more bleeding. I've never dealt with it on a Toyota, but I remember what a raoyl pain it was to bleed the air out of the cooling system on my sister's old Subaru. I swear I let it run with the radiator cap of for an hour, letting it spit coolant out every now and then, Checking it to make sure I didn't need to top it off. Thinking that everything was fine and that after an hour, all the air HAD to be out of it, I got in and headed out for a drive. Less than a mile down the road, the temp started climbing way too close to the red. I was freaking out that I had screwed something up. I don't remember what all I did after that, but I know all it needed was more bleeding.

Maybe try parking on an incline in such a way that it will help air through the system better.

neockder

yep. Bleed for close to an hour, then go drive it.

Once it starts climbing, park on an incline and crack the bleed screw on the bottom. It will force the air towards the top of the radiator. It might take a few times of doing this for it to be bled all the way.

Not sure if the t-stat is located behind the timing belt like on some cars (stupid design) but might want to change it just in case(if its not behind tbelt).

carguygt500

Is there a bleed screw?

flyingbrass

If the cooling system only needs filling/air bleeding, why is his cooling system overpressurizing and blowing out coolant? Lack of coolant won't cause it to blow into the coolant reservoir or spew out when the radiator cap is off.


To fill mine I back out of my driveway until my rear wheels are in the gutter, which elevates the front of the truck a little. I let the engine idle with the radiator cap off until it comes up to temp. Rev the engine a few times. I add water as it will accept. When the thermostat opens, turn on the heater and do the same. Rev the engine a bit to get everything circulated. Lightly squeezing the upper radiator hose throughout the process helps burp out air bubbles.

One time of doing that gets all the air out, at least for my truck. I've done it enough times to know what it requires. I get a few slight coolant runovers/dribbles along the way, but nothing I'd call "bubbling over" or "a huge mess."

Ron Helmuth

good post by flying brass above

the 22re is well known for this. A professional shop will likely give you a few pointers to earn your business in the future.

you could for grins and giggles just remove the thermostat and see if anything changes but you are describing air build up/bubbles. The shop I frequented with my 2nd gen here in Denver was called Toy Car Care and they were intimate with this issue. Heck for all I know they may help you over the phone. Heck of a nice shop in Centennial CO.

nogarage if you tried to attach a link I am not seeing it.

Don't let this get you down sir. You will chuckle at yourself once you know the correct sequence of actions to remove the bubbles.

Takenover

The first time you run it after completly draining the system it will run hot. Air pockets trapped in the water pump, and the heater core will usually purge on their own after running it almost hot the first time.
I would install a fail safe thermostat, and try again.

vital22re

iTrader: (2)

you've got air! try this, crack open a heater core hose as you fill your coolant. The air will escape at that spot as you fill the motor. Your problem may be that you're filling your radiator and not the block. Try adding one of those flush and fill t-fittings in one of the heater hoses, you can remove the cap from that as aposed to pulling a heater hose off.

romans_567

I have the same problem, I believe. After replacing the T-chain, water pump, ect. On my 1989 22re, it would appear to be getting compression in the radiator. It would overfill the overflow. Also no oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil, no white smoke and no coolant out exhaust. I then tried to run it with the cap off and it was not too bad at first (it would slowly run over) but then as it got a little warmer it would Bubble over and like previous stated it would make a huge mess. I attempted purging the system numerous times and never would work. I also pulled the truck back into my shop the other day and after sitting for nearly a day and a half I pulled the cap back off and it “spued coolant” out. I am now in the process “pulled the head last night” of replacing the head gasket.

I hope it works!

abecedarian

Coolant expands as it gets hot. The colder it is, the more it will expand.

You cannot rely on "pushing coolant out the radiator cap as the engine warms up" for any sort of indication of a head gasket or other failure unless the engine and coolant are warmed up to normal operating temperature: let the engine warm up to normal temperature, with the thermostat cycling properly, THEN check for bubbles in the radiator.

Dipstik_90

As the t-stat opens the air trapped in the system "bubbles" out of the open rad cap, hot air expands. Some people mistake this as a blown head gasket because sometimes depending on the amount of air it will bubble alot. Mine ran out the cap and hit the fan making a huge mess but it did stop. Try and let it bubble see what happens, just watch the temp guage and you shouldn't hurt anything.

romans_567

My gasket does have two bad spots on it on #1 and a bad spot on #4. It could be just a coincidence but it definitely had its issues. It still could've had air in it, however when it would warm up to normal operating temperature and my coolant level would go down then back up and over (consistent with the revolutions of the engine). It also as I stated earlier held pressure for a day and a half after not being ran. ???

Dipstik_90

That's normal for it to vary with engine speed.

carguygt500

Thanks for all the quick replays.

I have a great local repair shop about 1/2 mile from my home. So this morning I started the truck up and drove it immediately down there without stopping. I figured that engine would not even get warm driving such a short distance.

I emptyed the overflow ocntainer and made sure I had enough coolant to make the short journey.When I arrived, less then a minute and a half later, I noticed my overflow was completely full once again and my radiator had LOTS of pressure when the tech tried to remove the radiator cap. All of these issues and the tempurature gauge never even came off cold.

I defiantly believe that there is air in the system, but if it was only a pocket of air I had not purged, it seems like there would be less pressure in the system. My situation feels like air is constantly being added and pressurizing my coolant causing the radiator cap to open, which pushes all my coolant out into the overflow bottle. Again this is all just speculation and I will have more information in about and hour. STAY TUNED