Ozman

This is my first post so bare with me. I have a 93 4runner 3.0 4x4. That has acquired a problem iam trying to narrow down. Driving down the road it was not gaining any speed up a small hill. Got on level road and it started to slow down, so i pulled over and the motor dies. I see steam out the hood but the temp gauge shows normal, center. But it is hot. I have had a slow radiator leak once before about a month ago. But i checked the water before i left and it was full. Anyway i waited to put some water in that i carry about 30 minutes later, cause there was water around the rad and front of the motor. i added about a quart, started the truck and it took a little while to start and ran rough. So i let it idle to see any leaks that i could, one in the rad. i tried to add water with it running but i got wet and the radiator would blow the water back out the top after a bit. I turned it off filled the rad. over a 10 min period. And put the cap on. I started it and it started a little long but ran fairly good with no miss and no smoke out the exhaust. I drove it about 1 mile to get it off the road and tow it home it ran pretty good with no noticeable power loss. I turned the motor off when the gauge was back up to middle. And towed it. Got it home tried to start it, Ran very rough and died. Took the plugs out, did a compression check "Not Good" on 4 of 6 cyls. only 65 psi. on #1 and #6 135 psi. So i figure bad head gaskets, But dont know if there is something else Too?? The plugs were white with grey deposits, i think from the gas? And i checked codes--- 25 or 52? What else can i check? And i wonder why it ran ok before i towed it? But no so good now?? Any Help would be highly welcome!! Sorry for the long post, I feel the more info the better on diagnos. problems.

Blair

OZMAN - could be a bad radiator, could be a bad head gasket. Try the 'search' button on top and see what others have tried.

Ozman

Thank you for the reply. I was wondering if my water pump was causing the hot engine problem? It will leak around the T-housing (plastic) after it has been warmed up and then turned off. But not while it is running that i can see. Any suggestions??

williemon

If your compression numbers are in fact correct, then you are gonna have to pull the heads for a top end rebuild anyway. To do that, you are going to have to pull all the stuff like radiator, waterpump, timing belt, seals, so it would be best to do a full top end rebuild and front rebuild too. You do need to decide if its worth your cost to have the engine rebuilt or replaced.

I found out the hard way that having one rebuilt can get up there in price close to just having it replaced. Make sure the compression check is being performed properly, also might want to do some tests to determin the shape of the rings to decide if rebuilding the top end would be better than a replace of the engine. Answer a few questions like how many miles is on the engine, does it use oil, did it perform well or have a few issues already.

You might want to check to see if it is covered under the head gaskit campaign.

Ozman

Thanks willemon, I havent made a desicion to fix any thing past a HG. I will be doing the work myself, Outside, No Garage. So it can get ugly fast. I have done a compression chk. 4 times now. same but #2 and #5 are the good ones.
The toyo has been great to that point. HG were replaced already at about 68K. Now it has 204K. No engine codes now. Some lifter noise. Thats about it.