breakerfalls

This morning while driving to work a really weird thing happened. As i'm pulling up to a stop light the check engine light comes on, and I hear the sound of alot of water shifting in the engine. It almost sounded like someone was pouring a large amount of water down a drain or into a big cup. Once I got to a complete stop at the stoplight the check engine light went back off after a few seconds of sitting stationary.

I hadn't driven too far so the engine was still kind cool, so I jumped out and checked my radiator. That was pretty much full, so I just checked the rest of my fluids for the hell of it and they are all fine. I was in the middle of now where so I just drove it to work. I also drove home today and kept a close eye on it. Nothing seems wrong, but I'm still a little concerned.

Anyone know what happened?
-Keith

Memphis4X4

Thermostat opened and coolant started circulating through the heater core?

KING

Your 4RUNNER is haunted.

EWAYota

did you touch anything that has to do with the heater or fan speed or anything to that nature?

breakerfalls

I did have the defroster on with heat, but I do that almost every morning.

Maybe it is haunted! I hope it doesn't try to kill me by slamming my head in the hood or backing over me!

-Keith

Mohamed

That's probably it, I wonder if your anti-freeze, did freeze (somehow in a certain way to restrict coolant movement) and the engine heat melted it finally, opening up a huge rush of coolant? Is it cold where you live right now and when was the last time you changed your coolant?

breakerfalls

I replaced my radiator about 8 months ago, so that was the last time it was changed. I live in Florida, and last night I odn't think the temperature got cold enough to freeze, probably only down into the 50's.

Now that I think about it I do add about a half gallon of water to my radiator every couple of weeks, so I guess in the time it's been since the new radiator got put in all my antifreeze could have disappeared. I should probably buy some and stop cheating with water all the time.

Thanks,
Keith

Blair

Check for a small coolant leak. Probably, like most the 3.0's, you'll find one or two on the top bulkhead of the rad.
Otherwise, have a look at what's coming out of your exhaust. If it's white and billowy, suspect head gasket. I've said that before, but I'm going through it now and kinda paranoid that way

breakerfalls

There was a little bit of white smoke the other morning, but again i had chalked that up to being a little cold. The smoke only lasted less than a minute.

I called the dealership just after i bought the 4Runner to check on the head gasket problem and they said that it wasn't one of the models that was part of the campaign.

These problems are the first real signs of trouble I've seen. Wouldn't something like a blown gasket be more constant than the ocassional puff of smoke and a single incident like the topic of this post.

Now I'm worried though...

=Keith

Blair

Well, it depends. It can start of slow, and occur over a number of months or weeks, or it can just go BAM!. Do a quick search here on "head gasket" and see how others have experienced it.

Initially, mine occured over a number of weeks. In fact, it started in the second week of December with a funny little gurggle in the heating system, which, like you, I put down to an air bubble. Then, I began to notice that I was loosing coolant. Next was the white smoke, but only on start up. Soon I was loosing a liter (quart) of coolant on a 60 mile trip, blowing white smoke ALL the time, having a slight miss at 3000k, horrid gas mileage and a huge loss of power, especially on hills (of which you have none in Florida I hear).

Now, before I bought the Runner, I had the local Dealer check my VIN, and knew it was covered. I then called Toyota, and advised them that I was the new registered owner and they confirmed the open service campaign. So, I knew I was at least getting new HG's.


I've made a few posts lately, about my experience, which seems to be coming to a positive conclusion, which I will detail when the final bolt is tightened and I'm driving off the Dealer's lot. But, to caption that...Dealer tried THREE new HG's and for various and sundry reasons, none have worked. The shortest success lasted 10 minutes. I'm on the third HG right now, and after 60 miles, the symptoms have returned. Needless to say, it's going back.

As for "Not covered", check a recent post (today). Someone here found that, even though Toyota said "Yes", local Dealers said "No". Corporate got involved...and it's a "Yes!!!"

My advice...be nice, be firm. If it looks bad, ask for a Good will discount...you may get some break. Toyota is being very fair to me, so far.

PS: As I mentioned earlier, I'm kinda 'sensitive' to this issue, as I've been dealing with for a month now. Your issue could be something as simple as a small leak, at a hose or something. Check the simple stuff, first. And keep your fingers crossed. This repair can cost HUGE $$$$ ($1500 - $2500) and leads lots of people to either do it themselves, swap in the 3.4 or just scrap it and move on .
:cry: :cry:

breakerfalls

I just read the other post about emailing toyota, and I think I'll give that a try. The dealership I called told me that my truck was produced in late 95 and that by then the head gasket issue had been adressed and that it wasn't a concern. The other day while checking for my stock gear ratio I noticed that my truck was produced in very early 1995. We'll see what the people at the toyota website have to say.

-Keith

Mike Murrell

And that dealership lied. Check out alldata.com.

CTB

That is exactly where mine was leaking last fall. I never realized this was a common place for leaks until after I replaced my radiator and did some more reading about leaks on the forum.

Blair

Yep, seems to pretty common. Many people here will agree.
A light scuff with some sandpaper, push some "Steely" compound (originaly designed for gas tanks I think) right into the pinhole when it's warm, and a light topcoat of JB Weld seems to make it all good. Mine is, so far .
I did this in really cold temps, so I'll probably do it again, when things warm up.