blown head gasket?
 

88 4wd 5sp 22re pickup... OVERHEATED the other day and had to replace the radiator. Drove it to work, temps higher than normal, but not overheating, and loosing heat off an on. Added 1/2 gallon of water, and drove her home. Same symptoms, with the added small whistle coming from the overflow bottle. I touched the lid, and it blew off the bottle... wow, lots of pressure ( granted I did swap the lines with newer and slightly smaller ones from the rad. to the overflow ) . Yanked the rad cap, hot shower... dumbass... and it looked like someone poured dish soap into the radiatior, it was foaming so bad... wish i could upload video clip... anyway, I drained all the coolant and flushed the system with just water... filled with just water and let her idle for approx 35 mins, no overheating and no foaming. Drove her again today about 25 miles, and same symptoms as far as loosing heat, but no foaming or whistling noise from the over flow... the overflow bottle is full though....and some bubbles ... figuring a head gasket, but there is no oil/water mixing, and not smoking from the exhaust.....

Sounds like a headgasket. Curious to know if you find the thermostat failing was the cause. Test the thermostat in boiling water to see if it opens.

I had similar issue, it was a headgasket. You can go to O'reilly's (my local parts store is NAPA but they didn't have one) and pick up one of these
Word to the wise, mine tested good until it got up to temperature and the thermostat opened, but before/as it was opening it raised the coolant level and puked it out the top of the radiator, if you have the tester on then and suck coolant into it you will need to clean it out and replace the fluid before you can test. Once the thermostat was fully open it quit puking coolant out and it tested positive for blown headgasket, which when I replaced had a small visible "blown" spot between cylinder 3 and 4 allowing a small amount of gasses into the cooling system under pressure which caused the cooling system to build pressure and blow coolant into the overflow bottle and onto the ground, and not to suck the excess coolant out of the bottle back into the radiator when shut off. It only seemed to lower the coolant level to the top of the core and I drove it around Wyoming for a couple days after replacing the radiator thinking I just had air in the system, then 750 miles home while keeping an eye on coolant levels and temperature. I was LUCKY, I wouldn't suggest driving like that.

i'll do some more with it in the mornning. I've only had the truck 6 months, just had the timing chain replaced less than 500 miles ago, new TPS, and replaced the front brakes, calipers, and rotors, new battery and alternator...and now a new radiator. I keep replacing, sooner or later, I'll have a new truck. Truck has 188k on her. Thinking about just pulling the motor and rebuiding...

yep, she gone....

A proper timing chain replacement protocol would have included headgasket replacement. Hope you didn't pay too much.

This was my first thought when I read it.

If it's not using a lot of oil, I would not rebuild it because you probably have a lot of miles left on the bottom end. Just doing the head gasket is going to be easy compared to doing a timing kit and head gasket at the same time.

Back in August 2017, I did a timing kit and head gasket on my 92 22RE that had about 185,000 miles on the engine. 17,000 miles later it's still doing great, and I am consuming about 3/4 quart every 3,000 miles. I do have an oil pan seep that I never fixed.

On the top end of mine, I ended up going with an Enginetech complete bolt on cylinder head with new Enginetech head bolts. Local machine shop was four weeks behind, and I could not wait for them to rebuild my head. Installed a Toyota head gasket and never did re-torque. The Toyota head gasket has the proper rubber sealing beads, so you don't need to add any sealer like the manual says to do.

My rocker arm assembly looked fine to me, so I left it alone. New cam in the cylinder head still looks just fine. I should have bought new rocker arm adjusting screws, but made do with the old ones.

I've never loosened a head when doing a timing chain, I have did a timing chain when taking the head off, unless there is a reason to take the head off I never would when doing a timing chain. It is a lot of extra work with no upside unless there are other issues already present to fix. You can only shave a head so many times before it has to be replaced also, and a proper head removal always includes a shaving before you put it back on a new gasket. I know some people can get away without having it shaved, but these aluminum heads tend to always warp just from tightening and loosening the head bolts. A Toyota head gasket (22RE)will usually last forever if it a)doesn't get hot and b) has a perfect head and block to be sandwhiched between.

As long as your pulling the pan to clean it I don't see a problem with leaving the head on. I have heard about oil leaks at the TC/block/head meeting corner. But most of that is probably because people tried to squeeze the cover back in without pulling the pan. I personally had one leak, number 2 out of the 5ish I have done, at that union and I pulled the pan to clean it. I chalked that one up to luck of the draw. I figure if I put a good metal backed guide in by the time its due for a TC a head gasket wouldn't hurt.


We were assuming you paid to have it done. IIRC, the FSM calls for a head gasket when doing the timing chain.

Yes, always pull the pan, a) because you need to in order to have room to replace the TM cover and b)because you will get coolant in the pan.

You will have to drop the front diff to pull the pan, you won't have to totally remove it, but you will have to drop it, I know I have always taken the axle off one side and given myself more room, you might be able to manage to get the pan over the oil pump without doing so, but I don't think you can and I chose not to fight it.

The only 2 IFS ones I did I pulled the motor. Harness from cab, fuel, exhaust, etc. now I have a SFA again so fingers crossed in another 250,000 thousand miles it will be an easy change.

I currently drive about 30-40k a year so that will stack fairly quickly. :eeek:

Just pull the entire engine. Get new coolant hoses everywhere. You will be doing it anyhow, later... :)

You have a new radiator already :)

well, how bout an update..... New engine going in, only real upgrade is the cam...
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