ywokchile

hey everyone,

thanks for checking in on my request.
I did my homework and couldn't find any post relating to this.

it's very strange.

Last week I bought a 1996, true granny owned ( i know her niece) hilux (4x2, but couldn't pass it up), with something like 44900 km, or maybe 31 thousand miles?

I live 1000 km from the capital, Santiago, so I had it inspected,
everything was spot on, one scrape, 2 bumps, that was it.
the owner even paid for the oil change and filter, but mechanically, it was pure.

So I traveled, and drove the 600 miles back home,
on the way, i noticed a brownish liquid puddling on the passenger's footwell.
I thought it was my buddy drinking Coke and spilling some so I overlooked it.

I parked it when I got home, two days later, had the undercarriage pressure washed.
Then I drove back home and noticed the fluid. It's not watery, and doesn't look like oil.

I looked under the hood, everything checks out, oil level, coolant level.
and this stuff seemed to leave a snail trail at the far left corner of the footwell, sort of from the center of the firewall.

then yesterday, coming up a grade, I noticed it was making very little power,
and when I reached the crest, the temp gauge was three quarters up, normally it's less than halfway.

I called the mechanical inspection who checked it for me and they couldn't even begin to guess at what it was.

anyone had this happen to them?
I tried to flush the radiator last night with a garden hose, but the little plastic hose at the bottom just drips a little,
am I doing something wrong?

thanks!

snobdds

Sounds like a plugged heater core.

ywokchile

thank you snobdds,

that's what my mech found it was,

wish I could have done that!

for now, he's bypassed the system cause I need to get around, but he needs two full days to take out the dash, and get the part, install, and replace the dash

on a just purchased, 32 K mile truck!

well, it's 15 years old and wasn't getting much use

I did notice there's a bit of hesitation on the highway, like a mild tugging while on the throttle softly.

any ideas?

thanks

bigt

what engine does it have gas or diesel.

ywokchile

it's the classic 22RE

bigt

could be the fuel filter if its a older truck.. id do the basic tune up

plugs. wires. fuel filter, a few ,rad flush, new thermostat

looks like a nice truck

brian2sun

If the heater core is plugged you may be able to save a lot of time and money if you take the inlet and outlet hoses off (coming out of the firewall) and stick a garden hose in there and flush it out. Stick it in the outlet 1st and blow it out backwards and then blow it out the other direction and repeat a few times. It may clear it out or it may not (if it's clogged or corroded really bad in there), but it's dfinitely worth a try. I had the same issue about a year ago and was quoted $900+ for a new heater core and the labor. I fixed it for free in about 10 minutes with my garden hose.

ywokchile

that's some top advice Briansun,
but unfortunately did that, and it's screwed.
too many years (15 ) with too little use and no fluid change destroyed the seals

in my neck of the woods, a heater core is about 950 US plus tax (19%!)
but there is the option of a 150 USD metal radiator made to measure,
which is what everyone does,
in a local forum, an expert from Toyota quoted the price and said no one has ever imported one for a Hilux

the main radiator is ok
but they're built tougher

ywokchile

well, to update
( a little later...)

it had to be opened up twice to get all the leaky seals replaced,
but it worked fine after that.

the truck was sold
(in a heartbeat), and I just picked up a new (94) yesterday

will post about it somewhere else on the forum