Rusker

A little background...

I had a problem with this engine having a high idle. I got that taken care of, but the high idle is back. I drove it today after it sat for a year, and when I got home (10 miles drive), the idle was really high again, and the engine felt super hot.

The upper, and lower radiator hose are hot, as is the valve cover and radiator. So I popped open the oil cap, and I could see smoke of some kind coming out. Wasn't really any color that I could see. I took a small video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP_ElfnnpYA

It's kind of hard to see since it's been open for a minute or so. I also got some footage of the underside of the cap. There is a milky substance underneath...

Is it possible the head gasket is blown? Maybe moisture in the oil from sitting?

Brian Pearson

blown headgasket i would say. theres water in the oil

Rusker

Any other way to confirm this? I was hoping it wasn't a blown head gasket.

874runnersr5

check the dipstick.. if its milky.. there you go

slacker

iTrader: (1)

a 10 minute drive , after sitting for a year .. and milky substance on the cap dosnt necessarly mean a head gasket ..


there are lots of things you should check including your cooling system !!

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Rusker

That was my first thought. I've had this truck (camper) for almost 2 years now, and haven't put hardly any miles on it. Just short 10-15 mile trips. It always seemed to run a little hot, but today it just seemed really abnormal.

Checked the dipstick, and I don't see any milky residue like the cap had. Now I didn't start her back up, so she has been sitting for over an hour now. Radiator and hoses are cold, but the valve cover is still very warm.

Rusker

Tomorrow I'm going to change the oil, and pull off the radiator lines to have a look. If the lines were clogged, would only one line be hot or much hotter than the other?

I also see the previous owner installed an in line engine block heater in the lower radiator hose. I'm only assuming this since that wire you see in the photo has a plug on it.

slacker

iTrader: (1)

check out http://www.toyotatrekker.com for the motorhomes .. theres some info there

.. I think you need to check your rad first .. If it is the original .. no doubt , it will be toast ..


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Rusker

Thanks, I'll definitely sign up there.

It's too late to check now, but I'll look into that as well. New radiators are $120-ish?

slacker

iTrader: (1)

I have sold the last 3 rads , from trucks I have parted @ $20.00
I have 1 left .. but your way to far away to make it a "good deal"


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redhawk427

you can sometimes tell if your headgasket is leaking by taking your radiator cap off, start it, and watch for bubbles (air bubbles) in your radiator. that means an exhaust leak in there. some mechanics will check it for free or you can get a tester and it just takes the coolant and tests it for fuel

redhawk427

are you burnin oil? i had a 76 chevy with a 350 and it did the same thing. it burned oil like crazy and blue exhaust came out. had to do rebuild and found that a head gasket was screwed and some piston rings were screwed as well

Rusker

I'll try this as well. At the moment I don't plan on driving it anymore in case it's a serious problem, so I can't bring it to a mechanic just yet.

Rusker

Not that I can see, or smell. Aside from what appears to be a valve cover leak, it seemed to burn clean.

However I had a problem with the idle being too high about a year ago and I got that figured out.. or so I thought. Now the high idle is back, and the damn thing backfires like a shotgun after I turn it off.

redhawk427

are the plug wires in the right spot in the distributor? check the firing order

Rusker

Fired her up, and took a short video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV9iynplkf8

I didn't see anything that looked abnormal.

Shut her down, and took a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsr8iMVyBEQ

Al's Chop Shop

you can get blocked cooling passages from the truck sitting so long. mine sat about 2 years, and it ran great for a bit, but finally knocked a chunck of stale coolant crud and blocked the radiator, almost lost the headgasket. i flushed it a few times with a flushing agent, but that didn't solve it. finally had to get a new radiator, but i at least knew the block was fairly clean from the flushes.

Al

Rusker

Well the waterpump looks pretty good. No real shaft play that I can tell.



From what I could tell the cooling system appeared clean so far. The hoses looked newer, and then looked really clean inside. I haven't pulled the radiator yet to test it. Should I take the radiator off, or just put the cooling system back together and flush it?

Also, what is this? Should hoses be attached to this? VSV?

truckman1966

is that in a coolant passage or is that into manifold runner? if it is manifold runner, when the truck is running, check to see if there is constant vacuum there. if there is, you either a: need to cap it and that's whats causing your truck to run hot, because it's lean. or b: check your vacuum diagram on the underside of the hood to see what those ports control. if it is in a coolant passage, it is what is called a ported vacuum switch. those control vacuum drivability/emmissions accessories.

Rusker

So I wanted to check a few more places to make sure the cooling system is clean, and this happened...




Also, I noticed the gasket had a plastic layer on it. Is this normal? I've never seen a gasket come with something like this? Or was this supposed to be removed? Both bolts were VERY rusty.