3vz-e Overheating/Bubbling coolant...?
 

Hey guys, sorry to start a new thread, but I need some help. I think the HG on my truck may be going out and have searched through the threads but am still at a loss. So, here's the story: I've had the truck for 1 1/2 yrs and it's always had a little white smoke for the first few minutes of warming up. last summer i had some problems with it over heating when the weather here was really hot, it would die when i stopped but always start right back up. last month i had a long drive to work and it was hot, it ran in the red for about 1/2 an hour and when i got home it had coolant bubbling in the reservoir. its been parked since then. here's what i need to know, what are the other possible cause's aside from the HG? i know about the test for exhaust fumes in the radiator and plan on picking one of those up as soon as i can, but my mechanic said that can only prove if it is the HG, and not that it isn't. no coolant in the oil. heater blower is on it's way out. has a oil leak somewhere that's rather large. I'm not afraid to do any of the work, just need to know what direction i should be looking in. Sorry again to start a new thread as there seem to be a lot about this i'm just wondering if these circumstances seem familiar to anyone... Thanks for any help!

If you ran it in the red for 1/2 an hour there is a chance that the head gaskets are shot. You need to do a compression test to really see whats going on. As for the over heating it could be anything from a bad thermostat a to a plugged radiator or both.

thanks for the reply. I was doing some looking around yesterday after i posted this and realized there was no thermostat. i put one in and the thing made my truck freak out and start smoking after like 2 minutes of driving. looks like i'm going to be in autozone all monday...

and if it did blow the gaskets...then you'll likely need new heads or anew block....because running it that hot prolly means ya warped the heads or block pretty bad.

At this point you would probably be better off just buying a complete rebuilt engine, it would save you a lot of time, money and work.