Ilovemountains

OK, after doing much reading, trouble shooting and many many foul words later I think I’ve got it! First of all totally drain the system and take out the thermostat and leave the tube from the radiator out of the way... I wasn’t sure as to what tube needed to be blown out in the cooling system so I did all of the ones on the back of the engine till I found it! There is a small 4" long rubber tube that is bent in an upside down U shape that connects 2 nipples right in the middle of the engine on behind the fire wall and intake. I had to take my hood off and climb on top of the engine to get to it. I bought a long set of needle nose pliers and got the tube off, the side that comes from the sensors was clean and clear the other end which is the return line was plugged tight, I had to use a piece of tubing and 130psi out of my air compressor to blow the line clear! Another piece of rubber gasket maker flew out of the thermostat housing! It really did look like a rubber fishing lure.. I was then able to run water from the garden hose through it with no problem at all, a royal PIA but I think that may have been the issue, with that plugged no hot coolant could flow over the sensors at all! I cant test it yet because my moron neighbor walked over to see why I was sitting on my engine and stood on my brand new Toyota thermostat Oh well, I was going to install the Napa one that I bought last week but I would rather wait till I get another Toyota one today.. I also bought the new water temp sensor just to make sure! It hasn’t come in yet but its getting replaced regardless, I won it on Ebay new in the box for $5 plus $8 for shipping, much better than the $80 the stealer wanted huh~! Why the F@$* Toyota put such a small tube in a U shape to return the coolant from the sensor bank is beyond me but it was totally blocked..

Ilovemountains

"I cant test it yet because my moron neighbor walked over to see why I was sitting on my engine and stood on my brand new Toyota thermostat Oh well,"


Actually he stood on all of my tools and my new thermostat... nice huh...

celica

was your neighbour blind??? or drunk???

shiftless89

Excusable only if it was a hot blond female!

midiwall

Cool that you found this, but... you should try to figure out WHY it became blocked in the first place.

You say that it was "another piece of rubber gasket maker...". Are you talking about something like PermaTex? If so, then there could easily be more of it floating around in the system. If the piece was large enough to plug that hose, then another piece could be plugging up the cooling jacket of the block or smaller pieces could be sitting in the radiator.

And... where did it come from? If it came from a bad seal job on the intake manifold or somesuch, then you could have a coolant leak waiting to happen.

eeek.

MTL_4runner

Sounds like someone got a little to liberal with the permatex at some point.
Like Mark said, hopefully this was the only large piece floating around in there.

Ilovemountains

The stealer installed my new H2O pump last year, when I got the truck home it was leaking from the passenger side rear of the engine, not sure why but they had to fix that seal. I had heard of others on Yotatech having the same problem with this after having the water pump replaced by the dealer, sounds a little fishy if you ask me... There was a lot of gasket crap in the thermostat housing also... I did a full flush twice so I think I got it all out "hopefully".. It makes me wonder though, if the water pump comes with a gasket why would they use the sticky stuff?? Also how many people have had the same problem that I have caused by a blocked tube and have been charged for a full transmission rebuild when it really has nothing to do with the trans.. I don’t trust the mechanics at the local Toyota dealer, they didn’t even know that the temp of the engine had anything to do with the trans shifting into OD, neither did the parts guys, perhaps they don’t see many 88s but still. When my truck was leaking from the back of the engine after the water pump install I took it back to them, they said and I quote "the new pump created more pressure than the worn out one and that’s why that seal let go" I said BS, its a circulation pump not a pressure pump! Anyway I made them give me their loner car for 2 days, I beat it TO DEATH!, really I did more damage to the engine and trans in that car than they charged me for hosing up my truck.. I had always wanted to throw a car in reverse at 50mph! If you put it in N, floored it then threw it in reverse it actually slid to a stop and went backwards, ONCE after that the R was no more.. Oh well.. freaking stealership bastards~!

Ilovemountains

He is speacial in his own way I guess, he saw the tools and all next to my front tire and walked across them like a total ass! He is picking up my new thermostat as we speak, not sure what his problem is... He is a 21 year old loser that has no job, no car and no life... I really dont trust him to even look in my garage! Oh this is too sweet of a new smile!