I went through some really watery mud on the weekend and now the truck is overheating. I pulled 4000lbs last weekend for an hour at 80km and not even a twitch on the temp guage but now after the mud I can^t drive three miles.

How much can I wash the engine? It has a thick layer of mud on the oil pan and pretty much the entire motor. I have check for flow in the rad and it is full and seems like the pump is working and therby the thermostate. No white exaust AT ALL, so I have rulled out a head gasket I think. I will try to scrap or preassure wash the engine clean but this seems like a lot of work for a little mud, will this be required everytime?

 

Might try washing out the fins on the radiator. It may be caked in dried mud and that is causing the overheating. No problem w/ washing the engine down, just keep the electronics parts fairly dry.

 

I just removed the grill, bumper and lower valence. Wow the truck looks funny without the grill and bumper. Anyways, the rad was packed where i could not rinse it before. I removed the fan shroud and rinsed the inside and outside of the rad, I will take it for a test run when I am finnished cleaning the whole truck.

 

Exactly my thoughts.

 

you might of blown your head gasket. take your engine oil cap off and check for any slimy stuff on the cap... let me know if you have any further questions ....

 

Ditto, now go use some quarters.

 

so did cleaning it solve your problem?

 

I have to reassemble the front clip now and test it out. I will let you know. I am try to decide between the original circle t grill from 95 or a TOYOTA grill from a 90 runner. I kind of like the old grill but it is a tough choice. Mabye a new thread is in order.

 

Well much to my dissapointment the washing of the rad and engine didn't help the over heating much. I can drive 5 miles or so after the truck is warm and then the temp slowly climbs. No coolant in the oil, no loss of coolant, no spike in oil pressure when it's hot, no loss or power, no hint of steam in exaust.

I am baffled by this one because I can turn the heater on and the engine runs at normal temp again, I drove 20 miles with no twitch of the oil pressure or temp

Please help

 

You might want to see if this applies:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...tml#Thermostat

 

Thermostat not opening?
Can you hear the fan operating?

 

I believe that if the thermostate is pooched then there will be no flow in the rad, when I open the rad cap th fluid is flowing past. Let me know if this is wrong?

 

hey 4 crawler, do those 2 stage t-stats come in the 22re from the factory?

 

if you see flow then the t-stat is open

 

a lot of thermostats have a failsafe where when they get too hot they lock open. better than locking closed, imho.
maybe the thermostat isn't closing and which would cause the water to not spend enough time in the radiator to cool down?


when the engine is cold, pop the top off the radiator and start the engine. If you see turbulence from coolant flow, the thermostat is stuck open.

 

Here's the update. STILL OVERHEATING. Running the heater brings the temp back to normal.
When I open the rad cap and let it warm up there is no flow, there is no preassure in the top rad hose, and the bottom of the rad and bottom hose are much cooler than the top.
My question is if the thermostate is done, wouldn't there be preassure in the rad but no flow? I ordered a new thermostate, will be in tomorrow.
Let me know your thoughts.

 

Which is it flow or no flow?

Oh, and you won't get pressure in the upper hose with the rad cap off.

 

I put the cap back on before feeling for preassurelol. There appeared to be flow last weekend but yesturday I let it heat up over half and no flow I could see( squeezed a bit of fluid out to see across the cores). I am going to change the thermostate this morning. Whey did they put the thermostate in the water pump #^$&. I will change coolant and flush the rad also, might try some CLR mieral remover in it before putting new coolant in. THe rad looks alright, no fins missing and the seem to be very firm.

 

That is how it works. You can try and spray out all the mud you want with the grill pieces removed, and you won't get it all. The best way to clean it out is to pull the radiator and then you will be able to see where the mud is and spray it out. You WILL be suprised how much you missed. 10 years of having my yota in the mud has taught me that.

I came up with a sprayer tool that will get most of the mud out. Again to get it all remove the radiator. I had a car wash wand I got at a yard sale and hacked off the sprayer head. Something like this, red line where I cut:


I was left with the piece that screws onto the hose and the metal rod attached to it. Cut/bend the metal at the end so the water shoots out at a 90° and you can get past the tight spots to the entire radiatior.

 

I changed the thermostate with "a good one" from NAPA. I drilled the jiggle hole and put it at 12 oclock. Truck still overheates after about 15 miles driving slowly climbs, goes down with the heater on. WTF, I will remove the rad and clean it/replace it with one that I know is new(er). I was wondering how to tell if it is waterpump failure. This is really starting to piss me off>