So I was driving back to Troy, NY from Claremont, NH when my 1993 Toyota pickup (22RE 5spd 4X4) made a pop sound and the engine over heated. I started to pull over, put the clutch in, the engine dies, and i drift to a stop.

Some history: my temperature gauge has been going into the red for ~5 seconds at a time and then dropping back down to the normal range. I thought this was a problem with the temperature gauge since the dash gauge dropped so fast.

While my brother and I were disassembling the engine to get to the head gasket, I said we needed to test the thermostat. I put it into a bowl and poured boiling water on it, submerging it completely. it didn't open.

I think the temperature gauge was reading correctly and the thermostat was not opening, but then it would get to some higher temperature and open, then cooler coolant would flow and the gauge would register normal again.

What do you guys think? Did the 10$ thermostat do me in?>>>

Btw, we got a new gasket in and it fired up. However, we did break the recirc. fuel value (drawing a blank on its name) and had to get it brazed back together- on a Sunday afternoon!

Thanks again for any input, I want to make sure I get to root of the problem and maybe commiserate a little.

 

replace the thermostat. i would clean and check the rest of the cooling system just to be safe. replace any suspicious looking hoses and flush the radiator. it wouldn't hurt to take the radiator and have it professioally cleaned and pressure tested.

 

My 90 runner 22RE lost coolant internally, overheated and warped the new head 30000 km after complete rebuid.The gasket at #3 seems to have seperated. The frt diff vacume lines were disconnected for some time prior to this. Could this form a vacume leak that would alter the timing enough to cause detonation or something that would cause the gasket to fail? Also there is top block deck erosion on #1 right around the outside of the cylinder sealing band of the head gasket. The block had been decked and I wonder what caused this erosion in such short time? Any help?