Jeffreynmandy

It's about 100 degrees here and I had to pull a small trailer with a golf cart. it was for a 1.5hr drive one way. I ran the air conditioner some, but kept it off most of the way. I checked the water level before I left and it was good.

This was the highest it got during the trip, it stayed closer to the middle of the gauge the rest of the way. It never lost power or felt sluggish. When I got home.it did make a noise from the radiator area, and then a very low gurgling sound near the radiator while it was shut off. It was barely audible though. I checked the oil and it looked ok too.

It's an older truck, but I would think it shouldn't be borderline overheating, just pulling a golf cart.

Or Am I asking too much from the engine? I've searched for days, but I can't find specific info on towing and hot outside temps on a 22re

Robert m

iTrader: (2)

obviously it shouldn't be that high and towing a golf cart shouldn't be too much for the engine. I would start small by checking the radiator cap and see if it needs to be replaced. If its bad and not holding the pressure, it will let the water boil.

navyboy

Had a similar issue but it was due to the radiator needing to be serviced. just make sure that the fins aren't bent

Jeffreynmandy

I was going to replace the fan clutch, radiator, cap and thermostat. But I'm at a loss with the radiator. No one has one that will fit. There's 2 sizes. 15 3/4 and 16 3/4. Autozone first gave me the 15. The bolt holes didn't line up. I returned it and got the 16. It fit perfectly but this one takes a larger radiator cap. I get it all back together, and the freaking hood won't close. It barely closes without a cap.

The 16" one has a larger taller radiator opening. I returned that one. O'Reilly, AutoZOne, advance, and carquest all have the same radiator.

The guy a Napa said he'd trust my radiator more than a plastic one since it looked so good. It did have allot of bugs in the fins. So I sprayed it off at the car wash and put it back in.

So I have a new fan clutch, thermostat, and radiator cap. And a cleaned up radiator. I'll try it tomorrow when it's hot outside to see how it does.


I'm trying to stay on top of this, the truck has 75,000 original miles, and is in really good shape. It still has the original radiator. I guess I could pony up for the exact factory replacement. I'm thinking around $275. $400 at the dealer

Jeffreynmandy

It's a 1992 4cyl. 4x4 with automatic transmission.

grumpin

I'll second the radiator. Mine looked good, but it definitely runs cooler. Nice looking engine bay!

Odin

From the looks of the outside and only 75,000 I'd say the radiator is probably good.
I'd wager the system just needs a really good flush (block plugs and thermostat removed) and good coolant. A shop might want to rod it out though.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

You also need to remember the auto transmission dumps extra heat into the radiator as the transmission heats up while towing.

The gurgling you heard may have been the coolant being drawn back into the radiator from the over flow tank.

Just what type of driving were you doing when it started to get warm??

Stop and go crawling along at 5 mph??

Pulling up a hard hill??

Then what caused it to cool down??

Figure out what happened before replacing good parts.

I would spend the money to have your radiator re cored before buying a poor quality aftermarket replacement if it is the radiator.

A infrared heat gun will show radiator blockages real quick.

Jeffreynmandy

It was mostly hwy driving. Slowing down some helped it a little. The drive there was a slight down hill grade, so a slight uphill change on the way back. It happened on the way back with the trailer empty.

That's why I'm wondering if there's a problem, what makes me unsure though was it was hot as piss that day. It got its hottest about 3/4 of the way home.

It seems like I shouldn't do that pulling a empty trailer at hwy speeds. I just dont know how much effect the 100 plus degree weather has on it.

I don't tow with it much at all. But luck has it to where the only two times I had to tow something, it was extremely hot outside. It never goes past the half way mark when not towing. Most days it only goes about 1/4 on the temp hand.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Just keep an eye on things.

Those factory temperature gauges are not the best.

RJR

I'm with Wyoming. The gauges aren't precision devices, and consequently I don't think you have adequate data to suggest anything is really wrong. To me that just looks like an expected temperature reading for a hardworking engine on a 100deg day. If you haven't boiled out any coolant or vented steam out of the pressure cap, you haven't gotten anything hot enough to likely cause damage yet. The coolant boils at around 240degF with a 15 psi cap, so you know it didn't get that warm.

The danger point for an engine comes when the coolant starts boiling inside the system. At that point the coolant turns to vapor in the critical parts of the engine. Vapor is hundreds of times less effective at removing heat than liquid, so the parts of the engine where the coolant is vaporized get almost no cooling. That leads to severe temperature gradients and thermal stresses which quickly cause all kinds of problems.

Jeffreynmandy

Well I decided to see about having the radiator re rodded. I took The radiator to the radiator shop, a old school place. Tons of radiators everywhere. He didn't even have a computer. He looked up the stuff from a book. Felt like going back in time a little bit.


Anyways, he said it was stopped up by the way it drained out ( he plugged, then filled it). He wouldn't fix it because he said it had calcium build up on it.

I decided to make the new one fit. I was going to try to put spacers to bring it back a little, but I cut a little of the sheet metal from the underside of the hood near the cap. I also got the correct flat cap as well.


That got it closing. It may partly be my fault because I was expecting it to close easier than it does. I guess I never paid attention to just how much force it takes to close the hood.


I haven't drove it yet, but a May need to pull the trailer 20 miles tomorrow. That should be a good test. I'm taking a gallon of water just in case something goes wrong.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

It is a shame more and more radiator shops just don`t want to work on small radiators .

When a price is quoted 95% of people would say I can buy a new( China made) radiator cheaper.

Hearing that all the time most get the why even bother attitude .

Odin

You cut on that beautiful truck just for a radiator ?


There were several options, order a CSF, custom made, a top US manufactured aluminum, or even order one from Toyota. Cut into that rig.. no thanks

Jeffreynmandy

It wasn't bad. I only did it because it's an area that will never really be seen. I cleaned it up and put wire loom around it.


I think it fixed the problem though. It's 90 degrees, so I pulled the emty trailer 25 miles at 60-65mph with the ac on high. It never went much past the cold mark.

I have an anxiety problem, so now I'm worried is that too low, or if I'm gonna have a leak.

Turd Furgeson

The radiator shop didn't offer re-coring your radiator? If the radiator guy can put one together right (fill all solder joints up all the way,block off end rows of tubes) then a re-core with a high quality core is the way to go as long as your tanks are in good shape. And just because it has calcium deposits doesn't mean it can't be rebuilt. That's part of the rebuilding process is cleaning the tube to header joints to apply new solder at those joints. Now the age/condition can play a role in whether it's rebuildable or not.

superex87

You need a new thermostate..... that needle should sit right in the middle regaurless of outside tempiture. Buy a new oem toyota one. all otheres will have problems.

Jeffreynmandy

Is it possible that I put it in upside down? I don't quite remember, I was aggravated with the radiator.

I don't know what effect that would have. I don't know a whole lot about it. I had some help. When I took it apart. It was surprisingly easy.

Odin

You're probably good with the installation.
I really don't see an issue with where the needle on the temp gauge is riding. You probably installed a 180 degree thermostat. If you want it to ride more towards the middle replace it with a 190 degree thermostat. If you still have the box or a receipt from the thermostat just look up the part number, that should tell you what temp you installed. Unless it was in the wrong box that is. ALWAYS visually verify what it is before you install it.

In recent years there has been been an increasing number of thermostat failures from the aftermarket because of them trying to make things cheaper and cheaper. You can only go so far before quality and dependability suffer and I believe they hit that point a few years ago. Most here will now tell you to install a factory Toyota thermostat (made by Kuzeh) because of it.

There are two options there. The factory thermostat on a standard 22RE is rated at 190 degrees. It is a single valve thermostat design that can cause temperature overshoot when you first start the engine in the mornings or when the temperature has been allowed to cool down pretty far.


Temperature overshoot.. What is it?
Question: “Why does my engine temp go all the way up to the red before it comes back down to the middle of the gauge after I start it up in the morning. It only does this when the engine is cold and once it warms up it seems to operate normally. Could it be as simple as a stuck thermostat?”

“What happens on the 22R and 22RE engine, when the coolant goes through the heater core it gets cooled off enough that when it gets dumped back in on top of the t-stat it shuts it. Therefore the temperature in the engine continues to go up. The Toyota two stage thermostat has two valves in it, one opens at the regular temp, and one smaller that opens at a cooler temp. If the cool water shuts the big one, the smaller one stays open. All this happens because of the lack of a by-pass hose, which on other systems, keeps hot coolant running on the t-stat.”

You can get the two-stage thermostat mentioned above from your local Toyota Dealer but it isn't cheap.
Toyota Two Stage 190 degree thermostat P/N: 90916-03070





The other option is the factory single valve 180 degree thermostat. It may produce a little of the temperature overshoot because of the single valve design.

Toyota one stage (normal) 180 degree thermostat
Toyota P/N: 90916-03083


.

chuckross1957

With a truck it comes in handy having extra cooling capacity. You find out how good your cooling system is when you tow something on warm day. I think you were running too hot and your gauge is working fine. If you really want to check it out get an IR gun. You can use one to check how hot your coolant is going in to the radiator and how hot it is leaving the radiator. I think in your situation it was a good idea to stuff a larger radiator in there. I'm not sure how the one you used compares to a CSF three row radiator. When I installed my CSF radiator I had to trim the plastic shroud with a jigsaw.