Another head gasket question
 

Hello , i'm new to this forum and hope somebody can help me out . I just bought a 1994 ext.cab pickup with the 3.0 and a 5spd. it has 148,000 on it and is having a overheating problem which i was told when i got it , i had to replace the radiator in it along with the thermostat which is what the people i bought it from thought it needed or maybe a waterpump they wern't sure (and neither was i ! ) my first thought was a bad head gasket but there wasn't any water in the oil it seemed good well sat. i got the radiator and t-stat in put in new ant-freeze (also flushed it out ) and stated it up ran for maybe 5 to 10mins and went right to the redline and started to boilover , i did run it with the cap off and heater on to try and get the air out which seemed to work. now the big thing is what is next ? could it be the head gaskets ? or maybe the waterpump ? is there some way to find out if its the head gaskets or not ? i have no clue as to really what was ever done to this truck , i did see on a sticker that the timeing belt had been changed at 108,000 i think it said when they did that would they have checked anything else out ? is and was there ever a recall on the head gaskets on these motors ? and if it is the head gasket what brand would you guys recommend ? or is this something toyota would repair ? also i'm on a budget a very low one which i spent pretty much already so any help you guys can give would be great !

When your trying to figure out an overheating problem the last thing you want to look at is the headgasket. Judging from what you told me possible crappy t-stat you got. What you need to do is go to toyota and buy an OEM t-stat to make sure its working properly. Alot of wallbobs t-stats are garbage off the shelf.... Is it leaking anywhere? If its not major leaking anywhere then you need to check internals. Is it consuming coolant? Alot of times with the 3.0 if the head gasket does go out its externally from the cylinder which means look outside the head around the block for coolant leaking..... 3.0s have had head gasket recalls way back in the day due to lots of reasons but for the most part don't worry about that. if the water pumps bad you will prolly here it grinding and making a god awfull screeching noise.... and or leaking down near the timing cover and crank...... check hoses.....

idk i have a 22re and the head gasket recently went out and it was pooring white smoke out the tail pipe along with: when i would pull the oil cap it would have a foamy residue on the bottom of it and u could smell the anti-freeze from smelling the oil filler hole but those are some symtoms ive had with my head gasket but as far as the water pump i have no idea, just let us know what u come up with

oh ya id use felpro for a gasket i heard those guys make decent head gaskets and well all gaskets

No i didn't get a oem stat , i should say to that my son said it is building a lot of back pressure and can't see any leaks from anyplace but it was so hot or gets so hot it just boils out of the radiator even the sides a little bit but didn't see anything leaking on the motor , there isn't any noise so think like you said not the water pump plus it looked to me like it is flowing ok , like my son said in 10mins it was in the red and boiling over/out , also this truck seems to be idling at or around 2,000rpms don't know if that has anything to do with it at all but thought i would at least tell you , anything else you can tell me would be great ! and thanks alot !

was just wondering if it would hurt anything to take out the t-stat and try it with out one in it and see what happens ?

You could run it without the thermostat but if you are living in Vermont I imagine your gonna want your heat soon if not already. Did you get a toyota thermostat? Does it run rough and are you getting any white smoke out of the exhaust? If so, does it smell like coolant. As to the timing belt job at 108K I would think anyone who's smart enough to replace a timing belt would also do a water pump on one of these engines since the pump runs off the timing belt. Who knows though.

what i was wondering is if i took the t-stat out and ran it and it still boiled over then i would know its not the stat if it didn't then it would point to it and no i didn't a oem t-stat , and yes we sure need the heat ! its been cold up here already to fast ! it does run a little ruff but seems to smooth out after it starts to warm up and really don't see much for smoke nothing more then what a cold motor would put out . and my son said the samething the pump should have been changed when they did the belt but guess you never know , but sofar everybody seems to think its the water pump or a defective t-stat and not a head gasket my son is really going to the head gasket since it is doing the samething a subaru would do/act like he has changed a few on them and said they do the same as this toyota is doing but to me i'm not 100% sure.

take out the t-stat then you can at least rule that out. Get one of those cooling system leak down testers that you plug into the radiator before you tear into the heads. but since it's a 3.0 there is definitely a strong possibility it's the head gaskets

you can call toyota and give them your vin and see if the head gasket recall has been done on them yet

really? and if it hasnt will they replace them or did the recall have a time limit?

the head gasket recall doesn't have a time limit. If it hasn't been done and the truck qualifies they will still honor it to the best of my knowledge

that would be crazy man, because just yesterday my truck started blowing out massive amounts of white smoke from the muffler and from what ive been reading its probably the head gasket... time to give toyota a call i guess.

I'd call them

From experience I owning a 93 4 runner v6 at one time.
If someone recently did a head gasket job on it is possible they put the head gaskets on wrong. You can confuse the right and left bank if you do and put it all together it will overheat every time.
Don't keep running it like that because your gonna burn up your rod end bearings quick.

Another novice mechanic- expert parts replacer here. But am a helo pilot and when our 4bangers start to over heat alot of the time it's running too lean. Could his fuel system me off? clogged injector?

he has a V6, they are notorious for blowing head gaskets. Toyota had a Special Service Campaign for 89-early 95 trucks and 4Runners.

try w/out the tstat, didnt catch if its a new radiator but if its old check if the fan(clutchfan) is blowing hot air when the engine starts getting hot, if the air isnt hot and the water is flowing then ou might have a clogged radiator. you didnt mention if your losing water, are you?

I have no clue if anybody has replaced the gaskets on it i just got the truck on the 22nd i did see on the fan shroud there was a stick that said they had replaced the timing belt at i think 108,000 its got 140 something on it now , and yup bran new radiator in it .the water seem to be flowing but for the fan i'm going to have to try it again i really can't remeber if it was turning or not i as i said in 10mins it was boiling out and don't know if i said before or not but we had the heat on full and as hot as it got there was not even any warm air coming out of the vents . kind of had to say about loosing water i don't think so can't see any leaks at least not till it starts to boil over !

Do a cooling system pressure test it will tell you if it's the head gasket for sure or not. You plug it into the top of the radiator and if it builds up pressure and holds the head gasket is good. If it builds up then goes down when warm you have a leak somewhere.

Me personally, I love Toyota's but I stay away from 3.0's these days because of the head gasket issue. I've had three and they've all been problematic in one form or another. The 22re on the other hand is bulletproof. Good luck man your head gaskets are probably blown.