bike4miles

So I was driving around town today and it was about 80 degrees. After driving about 5 miles I swing aroud a corner and my runner stalls in the middle of the road. I look at the temp gauge and it was maxed out!!! Steem is flowing out from under the hood so I fliped on the hazards and we tried to push it but it was too heavy for my friend and I on the hill so I fliped on the hazards and waited for a while. I was able to start it up afte five minutes and drove it a block away to a parking lot (the temp was in the red the whole time). Turns out he coolant was low. Took 180oz of water to fill it up

So my question now is, what kind of damage could I have done by overheating it? Why did it stall? Is there a shutoff switch that is heat activated? Should I keep an eye on something for a while to make sure nothing is messed up? I drove it after re-filling the radiator and it seemed perfectly fine but I am still woried.

mike_d

my friend overheated his 22re two months ago and warped the head. of course the person who had the truck before him also overheated it and warped the head, and already had it machined. so machining it again was out of the question and he had to buy a new head. it was an expensive ordeal. i'd check to make sure there's no water in your oil or oil in your water. also watch for sweet smelling white smoke coming out of the exhaust.

i'm not sure about the shutting off thing. i doubt that those old engines had any safety things like that, but i'm not sure.

you'll also want to check your fan clutch. i bet that it's not engaging and that's why you overheated.

bike4miles

What about the water vapor? The intake was sucking in a lot of steam, could that have caused it to stall?

bike4miles

Here is my intake right next to the overflow tube that was blowing out steam.

Fahrenheit 451

Did you leave the engine running while pouring in the new fluid? Dumping cool water into an engine that was overheated then shut off is a good way to crack a block.
A simple rule about Toyotas is that their thermostats are not immortal by any stretch. It might be a good idea to go buy a new one and not a Kmart special. I have bought cheap thermos in the past and they are just that. Not worth risking an engine to save $10-15 IMO.
I wouldn't think the steam by the intake could cause the engine to stall. The filter itself would prevent much of the moisture from getting through although I suppose it would be somewhat possible for the moisture to get into the internals of the air flow meter and possibly make some temporary bad contacts. With that little arm riding over a small magnetic strip it wouldn't take much to mess things up for a bit.
As far as any long term damage, if it runs ok, doesn't blow white smoke or start mixing oil and water it should be ok. However, if it got hot enough long enough, the valves seals likely lost some life and puffing blue smoke on startup after sitting for a while wouldn't be a big surprise.
BTW, you may want to point that overflow down into the groove in the overflow tank in the future in case it happens again.

Plays_with_Toys

I had this happen to me a little over a month ago as well! It didn't get to red, but it sure was getting close, and I couldn't figure it out for a week.

As for the stalling, I assume it probably was your intake taking in the water vapor, though I didn't have that problem and I too am running an open airbox w/ a filter.

The toyota engines have aluminum heads, which aluminum is a low temp metal, so when overheating occurs, this is the problem area, just like mike said. I haven't had any problems with my truck, but I didn't get as hot as you either. Good luck!

bike4miles

Just checked the oil and took a look at the exhost and it didn't look or smell abnormal so I think i'm ok on the head gasket. I do have a freshly re-built 22re waiting to be installed so if worst comes to worst I will have a big install project on my hands but I think it is ok. O yea, BTW the overflow tube was pointing down, just got bumped before that picture.

bike4miles

Anything else I should be concerned about?

DavidA

This happened to me about 6 months ago. My thermostat stuck and my old radiator blew the seams. The 22RE is pretty tough. I overheated it about 5 times before we got it all fixed. I have a new radiator, hoses and thermostat. Start with changing the thermostat, very easy to do. Watch the temp gauge and you might be OK. If not then you might have to get a new radiator...when/if you do that go ahead and take the time to replace the hoses also. The belts and hoses are very easy to get to when the radiator is out.

bike4miles

Well it's good to hear you did it five times and you still didn't cook it. I feel better now. Thanks for the advice.

aksnowboardersr

Thank you for the great information...I recently overheated my 22RE when my radiator unexpectedly blew at a stoplight halfway across town. I had no money, no phone, and the temp outside was in the low digits if not in the negative with a 15mph crosswind. I had no choice but to run it as far as I could, stopping a couple times to let it cool. The last time it was started was to make the last half mile towards home and i needed a jump and I had to floor it to start it. Now it just turns over, sounds like it's not getting spark but I have not confirmed that yet. I am currently on less than a top ramen budget and it is still very cold with limited tools. Is there anything anyone could recommend I can do without having to buy anything initially to see if I damaged the head or the gasket, or not? Maybe a quick way to get it started for a moment to get me heading in the right direction?

worshipmentor

iTrader: (3)

My experience with a 22RE overheating? my son did it, HARD and along with warping the head/blowing the gasket it created a very weird situation. apparently during the overheating black crud (a techincal term) had broken loose inside the motor. when my son and his buddy's (and yes I had to finish it) got done and restarted it he drove it to school one day and it was knocking. after pulling it i found that the oil pickup screen looked like it was covered with coffee grounds!!!!!!!!! this of course caused oil starvation of the main bearing............
does this always happen? likely not BUT if you severely overheat a higher mileage 22RE i'd pull the pan and look........WAY cheaper than the $1200-1500 we spent.