Chandler_Ross

I'm a noob to this site. But I know my way around 4Runners. Sorry if I post this in the wrong section.

So here's my story:
I just bought a 97 4Runner SR5 w/ 148xxx miles (my first car ). The guy I bought it from was a "used car dealer" (crook), and he had bought it at an auction. When he got it, it overheated after about 20 minutes of city driving. He took it in to his mechanic and had the water pump replaced. That didn't solve it. Then he took it again and had the heads resurfaced (completely warped), head gaskets replaced, knock sensor replaced, thermostat, and timing belt replaced. This had supposedly solved the overheating problem. Unfortunately it didn't. After driving it for 20 minutes, it overheated again. I had it towed this his mechanic at his expense. They claimed it had a burst radiator hose. They replaced it. Then I picked up the truck, drove it home, and then drove it around my neighborhood for a while trying to make the problem reoccur. It did. After about 30 minutes, it was overheating. I pulled it back in my driveway, shut it off, popped the hood, and was surprised to see steam and coolant shooting out of the radiator cap. Also, what seemed to be near half a gallon of coolant poured out of the bottom near the coolant overflow. I let it sit there for a while. Later on, I removed the radiator cap and checked for any debris or gunk. Just running a rag on the cap itself pulled off a huge amount of gunk. It looked a lot like mud. Then I looked into the coolant overflow and saw the same thing. I looked inside the top of the radiator where the cap is. It is incredibly rusted. At this point, I'm sure the mechanics will come back to me saying that they fixed a problem that either didn't exist, or they fixed the actual problem when they didn't. I'm waiting to hear back from them. I should know in the next few days.

My questions are:
What do you guys think is going on here? Should I be looking into a radiator replacement? And I'm becoming worried that this may cause the dreaded pink milkshake in the tranny (if the radiator is bad) , how can I check for that?

I plan on flushing the radiator myself if these half-witted mechanics don't. I'm just not sure that it will make a difference if the whole thing is bad. Any advice is appreciated.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

First thing if the radiator cap and neck are not deformed and the cap is on tight there should be no loss of coolant there it should be forced out the overflow

I can`t see how headgaskets were changed without the cooling system being flushed and changed just because it should be part of the job.

Cooling system issue use a pressure tester go from there.

Could be a blocked radiator core could just be air pockets. could be they just patched a problem to get it out the door.

was there a new hose on pretty easy to see a blown hose.

Good luck.:jessica:

98_3RZ

wyoming9 is right, the only other thing i can think of is drive it on the highway and see if it overheats, if it doesn't, you might want to check the fan for fluid leakage from the fan clutch(if its leaking, it will be greasy, because it silicone, not coolant), belt tension, or an obstruction on the fins of the radiator and condensor.

DRCOFFEE

An overpressurize cooling system is usually coming from the compression chambers(cylinders). A cracked block would mix oil and coolant to make the mud you mentioned. If it were the transmission cooler leaking, the trans would be overwhelmed by coolant since it is under less pressure in that line than the cooling system. Since the heads have been worked on, Im assuming they are not cracked. Do a compression test first off. Plus the transmission would have stopped working if it was contaminated with coolant. If the coolant wasn't discolored then I'd look at a clogged radiator.

I should ask, does the stuff in the radiator look like a stop leak product? The PO may have tried to hide the problem long enough to offload it. If you have a warranty, open te conversation of a replacement motor.