rpeAMP

Ok, I'm at my wit's end with my cooling problems (no pun intended). Here's a brief history so that you'll know what's goin on.

- Several leaks repaired by stealer (bypass hoses, heater hoses have been replaced as a result) and everything pressure tested ok afterwards.

- Found another coolant leak recently, turned out to be idler pulley, so had it, timing belt, thermostat and water pump all done at same time. Not sure if stealer refilled coolant or pressure tested it, but I would think that would be standard procedure??

- Right after first set of leaks (before the idler pulley, etc.), coolant temp would rise and fall, rise and fall, very erraticly. As the temperature went up, the heat out of my vents got cooler (sometimes completely cold). As temp went down, heat came back like hell.

- Took truck back to stealer, they blamed the radiator cap and replaced it for free and apologized that the problem happened, swearing this was the issue.

There were many times in between these repairs where I had to pop the radiator cap off and refill the system to buy me time before I could get it looked at.

So that gets us to today, about two weeks after the last problem. No leaks whatsoever (at least on the ground, I guess it could be burning it). No white smoke other than some cold-start condensation that goes away after 1 minute or so. Now, it's doing the exact same thing. Erratic temperature, and it does the heat hot/cold thing too. So, it obviously wasn't the radiator cap, and definitely not any of those other components listed either. When I got home and jumped out of the car, the engine didn't necessarily feel hot, but I thought I could hear boiling coming from somewhere up front (maybe overflow??).

Tomorrow, I'm gonna try to burp it hoping it has some massive air bubbles somewhere in the system, praying that the stealer forgot to do this or didn't do a good job.

Does anyone have any advice or hopefully "I've been there and know exactly what's going on" testimonies???

marko3xl3

Did you check the thermostat?

rpeAMP

Well, I "ass"umed that since it was doing this before it was replaced, AND afterward, that would rule it out, however I guess maybe not.

How would I check it?

rpeAMP

Ok I just got done burping the system, and I think I got some air out of it. It took forever though, probably because I wasn't able to get the front-end as high off the ground as it should have.

By the way, while it was purging, I noticed that the heat went away...is this normal during this process? Temperature gauge stayed the same, never budged once the thermostat opened up.

marko3xl3

Oops, I must've missed that part, I am sorry.

If you still wanna know though, the easy to check the thermo, is take it out and stick it an a pot of water and heat that water up the the specified temp of the thermostat and see if it opens.

Again, sorry if I missed that bit, I read your whole post, but things just happen, like a faulty "brand new" thermostat

Good Luck

rpeAMP

I just re-read my last post and after doing so hope you didn't think I was coming down on you or sarcastically slapping you for missing that detail! That was not my intention at all so I hope it didn't come across that way!!

I'm grateful for any help at this point, and I will definitely pull the t-stat and check it out...

I'm hoping this doesn't lead to a leaky headgasket. :cry:

Toyofast

If you pull the t-stat then all the work you did to get the air out of the system was for nothing since the t-stat is on the bottom hose

When your temp guage goes up and down is the truck moving or sitting still at idle? Check the connector and wire going to the temp sensor for the guage. Perhaps the connector isn't conected all the way causing false readings..... this is probably more on the last result check list but worth a shot too.

Do you hear gurgling sounds coming from the dash when making hard left turns when the rpms are around 2000-2300? Heater core filled with air?

How is your overflow container? Cracks, leaks? Maybe once your radiator pukes out some extra coolent it is then leaking out the overflow bottle... could happen.


I'd try a hitting up a good radiator shop in your area, since that is all they do, they might have a hint of where to look first.

rpeAMP

I do hear gurgling...right around that RPM range, when the heater valve is open, but not when turning...actually all the time when the above conditions are met. It's been doing this since I bought the truck 4 years ago.

The truck can be moving or idle when this the erratic temperature happens.

BTW- The headgasket recall was done in 99 so I'm SOL as far as the recall is concerned if the headgasket is indeed bad...

Toyofast

Then from the sound of it I'm going to guess that you have a good amount of air still in the system.

I too had a decent amount of bubbling/gurgling sound when I first got my truck a few years back, but I knew it was low on coolant and there was a good amount of air in the system.

Try running the engine without the radiator cap on. Or install a relief valve on the outlet side of the heater core so you can manualy release the air pressure.

rpeAMP

DAMN...I've got white smoke now sometimes after a warm start, whereas before it would happen occasionally but only on a cold start. I also have some stuttering/misfiring that eventually disappears once the engine's warmed up; however, I would put money on a bad headgasket.

I guess I'll go get a leak-down test and compression check tomorrow and see if that's what's up.