Q-DawgVFR

Hello. Apologies for long-winded story, but I felt some background is necessary..... Feeling lucky and unfortunate at the same time. We've (wife an I) put only 500km on vehicle ('96 4Runner) since purchase at a used car dealership (282,000 km on odometer) and suddenly run into several problems.
First seems to be weak battery; an easy fix. Next, after boosting truck to get running, I noticed a small coolant leak near lower rad hose connection to block. It seemed to be wet just above that connection. Today when getting underneath truck to try troubleshoot coolant leak and figure out exact location, I noticed oil leaking out of oil filter and oil drain plug. Both seemed to be only finger tight. Oil was looking pretty dark, so my neighbor and I performed a quick oil change. What a treat these are to work on, HA HA!
So we get oil leaks taken care of and focus attention back to coolant leak. With truck running, I see an occasional drip from front of skidplate, and decide to warm truck up more to get pressure on system so that our troubleshooting is easier. Take a 5 minute drive and then get back to my driveway. POOF! Just as I'm waiting for garage door to go up, we spot steam coming from under hood. Pop hood open and see steam coming from back of engine billowing pretty good in the -15 C weather. Rad still sorta cool, so we take cap off. Empty as far as flashlight will shine. Pour some coolant into rad and it just leaks onto the ground. Initial thought was head gasket or something of that magnetude. Started truck and parked in garage with lights and creeper.
After inspecting underside, the block heater is soaking wet, and so is the small hose directly beneath it. This small hose directly beneath the block heater is my question. It looks like it is a metal hose with rubber couplings at each end. It looks like it goes from somewhere at back of engine (drivers side, underneath exhaust header) to the side of the cast connection where the lower rad hose connects to the block. My guess was that it was a heater hose or some sort of temp bypass. I don't have my factory service manual yet (ordered one) but need to get this fixed ASAP. CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT THIS HOSE IS AND WHAT IT DOES??
Tomorrow, my pal (service manager at Ford dealership) and I will be doing a pressure test on cooling system to see it it is block heater or this hose leaking, but I want to know as much as possible beforehand. He says I should also talk to dealership to try and get some compensation for these issues. Vehicle was sold "as is" by dealership (funny there were no leaks under it when I looked at it before buying) but salesman DID inform me that if we had problems with truck that we could negotiate the repairs with them; they would not leave us high and dry. Kind of open-ended statement from him, but seemed like he was willing to deal with things on case-by-case basis.
What do you guys think I should do as fas as dealer is concerned? I'm pissed about the oil leaks; no excuse for that; not sure who did oil change, but it was a Mopar oil filter on engine. I think at the very least, they should cover half of my costs in fixing (especially since I'm doing it myself; I bought the vehicle in a city two hours drive from where I live), or pay cost of all parts (should be cheap as long as there were not multiple leaks.) Opinions, anyone?????

Elton

well that sucks and yes the 3.4L is a real joy changing the the oil they make it soo easy to get at the filter

Q-DawgVFR

Does anyone have any service manual diagrams of the cooling system or anything? Even some sort of block diagram might help. Just need to know how many hoses and where they go. Haven't completely ruled out head gasket either, as it could have leaked out then evaporated off the engine; hence a dry appearance. Does this sound logical?

Q-DawgVFR

After MUCH searching, I've found out a thing or two.....
1. Not entirely uncommon to have external head gasket failure on 3.4L V6 (hoping like hell that this is NOT my issue- fingers crossed)
2. The line I was trying to identify was the line between oil cooler and thermostat housing.
3. The coolant was first noticed just ABOVE the thermostat housing. Today's failure was hard to pinpoint the source (so much was spraying around there) but after everything calmed down, there was lots of coolant on the block heater and the oil cooler hose. If it was a leak on the block heater or oil cooler line, I don't understand how coolant could appear ABOVE the thermostat housing. Did I mention that I'm REALLY hoping it isn't a head gasket????

Q-DawgVFR

UPDATE: Couldn't sleep thinking about the possibility of having to spend a bunch of money to do head gasket replacement at a shop. Could buy a used motor for that price, and probably a similar amount of work. Sooo..... I went to the garage and crawled under the truck again. Can't see S*&T under there except a lot of spilled coolant, and the approximate area it came from. Then I got the bright idea to pull the splash guard from the inner fender and turn the wheel a bit. I pointed my work light into the opening, and it seems so obvious now. I still could be wrong, but it VERY much looks like the mess all came from the block heater / frost plug assembly. The plug in the side of the block is wet all the way 'round and all of the coolant on the engine leads straight up to it. I don't think I could be much happier than at this moment, knowing that it is LIKELY the cheap fix and not the really expensive one. Has anyone changed these plugs out before? What do I need to do to fix this? Any pointers from those who have had this happen to them? As mentioned before, I don't have a shop manual yet, so I feel pretty ill-prepared, but it has to be fixed and I can't wait for my manual to arrive to start repairs. Are there any websites that have shop manuals posted on them for the 96+ 4Runner?

EWAYota

Not sure if what you need to find is located in here at all or not, but it's the only accessible online repair list that I know of besides one for a 93 Pickup.
Might try looking at your local library as well. I know our local library carries Chilton's.

Q-DawgVFR

This is me doing a happy dance! I got confirmation from a mechanic pal that my leak is the block heater, not a head gasket. So, I just need to get the part and slap it in there. OK, so maybe it's not QUITE that simple, but it beats the crap out of tearing down half an engine! I was thinking the best way to deal with this is to pull driver's side front wheel and reach through the fender to get at the block heater. Looks easier than trying to reach up from underneath. Anyone have any tips or tricks on how to get the new block heater set in there in such a way that it won't leak again??? And how do you think I should approach the dealership at which it was purchased? Personally, I think that between the dead battery, lack of fresh oil change, oil leaking from 2 locations, a block heater blow out, and having about 20-30 lbs of mud caked to the chassis and underside of body (after having it "washed and detailed") that I should be entitled to $300-500 returned to me to go towards repairs, parts, and cleaning up the mess on the underside of the vehicle. What do you think???? The dealership manager sounded like a straightforward guy who doesn't jerk people around. I'm not impressed with the way the vehicle was prepared for me, though. I mean some of this is just a stroke of misfortune that I don't know if they could have prevented, but there's no excuse for the mountains of mud under the vehicle. Had the underside been clean, the oil leaks would have been more visible as well.

gohawks

glad your problem wasn't serious. As for approaching the dealer who sold it to you, well, all they can say is "no". Which is what I imagine they will say. But go for it, you don't have anything to lose.

Q-DawgVFR

Talked to dealer today; they are paying for a new battery and for my oil change expenses. I'm on my own for the block heater problem (fair enough; wasn't their fault) and for the cleanup of the underside. Something is better than nothing. Picked up a block heater in my town (small town- surprised that they had the correct block heater in stock) for $40. Just need to get some more coolant and get busy on my day off, and the old girl should be back to normal. If I have some nice weather I will get dressed in my shabbiest clothing and lay underneath my truck trying to get all the underside clean. Then I think I will check the transfer case and diff fluids and change if necessary. Order up a new air filter and we're good to go for another few thousand miles!