I did a minor flush of the coolant system last night. Replaced the thermostat and fan clutch and put in Toyota Red coolant. When it heats up later today will be the test...

The lower radiator hose never got hot...but after a little searching this morning, it looks like that's not abnormal?

If everything seems fine driving around today, I'm going to replace the spark plugs and take a little camping trip. Huckleberries are out!

My coolant overflow reservoir had some serious dark, dirty water in the bottom....Not sure if it's oil or what. The coolant in general had a little dark hue, but was overall fairly clean. I drained it into an old gallon jug so I'll need to pour some into something else so I can see it better, to see if it looks oily or anything.

 

Well, I guess I don't know exactly what caused it, but I did a minor flush, replaced the thermostat and the fan clutch, put in Toyota red coolant, and took a nice camping trip over the weekend, with no overheating. Thanks for the help!

I noticed when I replaced the thermostat that I didn't have a gasket in there, and it didn't leak. I bought the gasket assuming I had one in there, so I figured since I had it I'd install it. It's not enough to drip, but because of the red, I can tell that there is just a little leaking from the thermostat housing. I can see some little red streaks. Does anybody use the gasket there, or should I just take it out? Like I said, it didn't leak before without one.

 

not sure on the 83's but on mine the only thing I used was the rubber o-ring that might come with the new thermostat, I forgot if I used my old one, use one from the rebuild kit or the new one came with it. I didn't use a paper gasket. RTV in the place of a paper gasket might work as well. but that o-ring should be there at the very least.

 

No kidding!

The new one did not come with a new rubber gasket, and I had forgotten about it. Put in the new one...why isn't my engine heating up? Couldn't believe how long it was taking for it to heat up, so I figured I must have done something wrong. Took it back out and realized what was happening when I compared it to the old one. Luckily the old gasket was still usable.

I'll probably take the paper gasket out. Thanks.

 

yup, without that rubber o-ring in there you might as well just run without a t-stat. (not good by the way) because the coolant just pushes on it and flows right around the edges of the t-stat.

 

Glad to hear you resolved your issues. You just need to flush all that junk out of the radiator. Adding a new stat and fan clutch are good preventive steps. Keep that old girl running she's a beaut....

 

Thanks!

I'll be on the lookout for a radiator upgrade soon. I'm planning on getting a little popup camp trailer, so I want to make sure my cooling system is in good shape.