So like a complete idiot I let my girlfriend drive my '95 Runner (see signature) to work today and of course she calls from the side of the highway with an issue!

The Runner is overheating and a lot of steam is coming from the radiator cap and the coolant reservoir cap was 'blown' off - filled both the reservoir and the radiator with water and drove it the short distance home.

One odd thing I noticed is that when I tried to turn the heater on it only blew cold air.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Does it still hold water in the radiator? Is it leaking? if its not leaking and just dissapering than I think it might be a head gakset!

 

I've checked the radiator and I can't see any leaks but of course it was dark so I may be missing something. Its just odd because I've never had an issues with it until tonight. Not even a hint of overheating or loss of coolant.

 

Thermostat! plus your girl(the Toyota) got jealous of your other girl(girlfriend) and tried to ditch her for you!! good luck

 

probly true!
maybe its a bad rad cap, the pressure passed the rad cap seal and decided to back up into the res, blowing the res cap off and overheating it

 

x2 on thermostat but if the oil is milky looking that is could be the headgasket just take a look at things when it is light out side and let us know! Good luck man and i hope its not to bad!

 

you better put the girlfriend in her place for harming the real love of your life (the runner)

 

I've talked to a couple of people now and they are all leaning towards thermostat - none of the tale-tale signs of a blown head gasket are there but I know the engine never had the recall done so I'm not ruling it completely out - as for the girlfriend she made the fatal mistake of telling me to buy a better car when I was yelling at her - guess which one will last me longer - lol

 

i say the t stat is stuck open and its not getting warm enough to blow hot air

 

As a followup question - my repair manual tells me to first drain all of the coolant out of the radiator prior to installing the new thermostat - is this necessary? If it doesn't have to be done then hell I can check the thermostat in minutes. Thanks again for everyone's help!

 

yea you will need to drain the coolant as your gonna have to take off the radiator hose as to check the t stat you could toss it in a pot of boiling water

 

Ok - disaster averted! Now that it's light out I sat my girlfriend down (calmly this time) and went through her day - I sent her over to Kwik Kar to get the radiator flushed and new coolant put in as summer is finally dying out - this was a few days ago - instead she went to buy a pair of jeans - appherently a "mechanic/waiter" she works with said she did not need to do that but he would do it for her - he drained the coolant properly enough but only filled the reservoir with tap water - and there lies the problem - this of course led to more yelling - long story short or short story long - my girlfriend is incompetent when it comes to handling my Runners and will never be allowed to touch them again - lol

Did learn one thing though - which really is common sense - last night the radiator was just too hot for the water to not evaporate immediately from it causing it to continue to overheat - lesson learned - when it overheats shut it down and leave until you feel comfortable placing your family jewels on it - then it's ok to look at!

 

good... now let her know that if she ever harms you babies, either of em, again, youll run over her fingers and use those new jeans as an oil rag...

 

Ok I did a complete radiator flush and put in new coolant - as for the girlfriend we'll see if she's fixable - lol

Thanks for all the help and advice!!

 

Gf's require much training on how to OPERATE a Yota. Anyone can drive one but our baby's need more.

 

I got bad news for ya...

If the motor got hot enough to blow off the cap and spew steam everywhere it's probably still going to be toast even if it starts running ok again. An overheated motor almost always blows the headgaskets within a short time. If it starts running bad do a compression check.

When it gets hot and then cools down the heads warp. It's just a matter of time then before it blows a head gasket.

Here's wishing you luck though.