Thanks for the kind words Grego. And nieces story is amazing. Thats one hell of a motivation for anybody lol great for her! Grego I guess i really should whine about not sleeping after reading what you went through. Talking about girly man huh haha

Hey you were right about the naps. I learned to put myself on a schedule that works around, work, school, sleep/naps, getting away with studying here and there at work. Super hard staying awake at school. but ive learned to pack 2 lunches with a couple of powdered mixes of coffee mix that i can drink at school to wake back up. Also pack brain food snacks to keep me alert and boy has that worked wonders. I usually tend to feel like im dozing in the first hour of class(on the days i work before school) but after our first break and drinking coffee eating some veggies, nuts and fruit i am wide awake for the remainder of the time at school.

Dude! thats a horrible story. I bet enduring 3 years of that type of stress and different schedules can really take a tole on a marriage. Im sorry you went through that. So glad you guys got through it and didnt lose the house. That is seriously one huge concern of mine; eventually when i plan to get my own place. I know im still years away from being able to get it. especially because i would definitely like to be set on my feet with a established position in the medical field to be sure i am financially stable. Thanks for sharing that man.


This is true. I have learned to work with it. positive thing is that i am still able to accomplish things on saturday after work. I am usually out of work by 5 and home by 6. so i still have time to study or go out with the girlfriend/friends etc.
I am definitely going to have to find time to take my Corolla to the mechanic because i think i have a rear main seal leak. I cant really tell but it looks like it is leaking from where the tranny connects to my engine. and if that is the case i will not have any time to be able to fix this myself. so it would have to be done by a mechanic while i use my truck for school and work till it gets fixed. I'm still using it though.

Hahaa Thanks man. I love to see people post replies like this. I feel like i really accomplished something big when other people give the same approval i have

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On the bright side in a semi bitter/sweet situation. I am no longer working the 2 graveyard weekdays. So i am now only working Saturday(9am-5pm) and Sunday(11-7pm). Reason i no longer have that shift is because i was temporarily covering those 2 of 4 days that was off a different position. So now that they got someone to fill the spot there is no need for my coverage. Negative side is im losing hours and getting a smaller paycheck. Bright side is i can definitely dedicate far more time toward my school, studies, stay after class to ask questions or stay for extra lecture after class, get more sleep, more study time for tests, spend more time on projects. Now i have no excuses but to do well in school. Its a compromise but the way i see it is that i am still living at home with my parents and they fully support me. They just want me to accomplish this school and do well while giving it 100%. obviously i still gotta help out here at home, do chores and pay the bills that i can afford to help them out but. i think so long as i have support from my parents it is definitely the better choice to ensure i excel in my classes.

Thank you all for the kind works and inspiring stories. I havent had much time for yotatech but i am set on this career. Nothing better i can think of to do with my life then to help change the lives, for the better, of patients. My good friend( who is also my girlfriend Faby's sister) got cancer at the age of 13 and died of cancer at the age of 19 years old. We shared the same birthday and were the same exact age when she died. and all i could think of was she was much too young to go so early. And just to think that there are kids out there that die even younger then she did; not only of cancer but of other complications as well. Children who cant walk and with the help of surgery can eventually make a life changing experience for them giving them the ability to walk again. I mean the possibilities are endless. I'm sure not every case will be a success. But the ones that do will surly stand out. And me being a Certified Surgical Technologist is just one additional person a hospital can employee to put in the OR to help save a life. My psychology teacher wanted me to put some thought into why i wanted this occupation and after much thought i found that this is the true reason why i want to get into this field. Aside from all the awesome gory cases i will have to deal with. but mainly to work on cases of young people like my friend who passed away.
Needless to say my professor was very happy with the answer i gave him.

 

Hey rich. I hope things are going good for you.

 

Keep killing it my homie!

 

School and work is some tough things to go thru. Been down that road myself. I ever get the chance to go to school full time I would be on that in a heartbeat. I was in the electronics field and never could of imagined getting the pink slip. It happened, looking back and if I had to do it again without knowing the future, I would do it again. In some ways it turned out to be a good thing. It turned my life upside down and tough times followed but desperation and determination turned it all around. Still a huge setback. Todays economy you really need to have two or three different skills to fall back on. Dig in your heels and just drive thru it. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

GEAT JOB! loads off effort there! well done

i wish i could make/ find something like that for my 1994.

 

Nice one Rich!

How's things going down there? School fun?

 

Hi guys. Ive been away from yotatech for quite some time now. Been very busy with school, band, and truck. But i can say THINGS HAVE BEEN GREAT! I will reply to all the recent posts on my thread, explain how school, work, and everything else is going in a different message for now I would like to address an issue that’s been a royal pain in the butt trying to fix with my rig.
For the past 2 months or so I have been overheating slowly. But it began heating up more often. Before it would only happen on uphills such as driving long uphills like when driving to big bear mountain or the long incline of angeles crest nation forrest. These were times when I would be going 65-70 and I would have to drop my speed to 55ish to keep the engine cool. Now this has been for the past couple of months and I understand that that is normal for any rig to heat up slightly on uphills. But after a while this issue began happening just driving on the freeway with no inclines. When I finally realized it was an issue was when I drove out to Mark’s(chefyota4x4) house in 64 degree weather at about 7pm or so and seen my rig temp guage started to raise. This was definitely no normal. THEN I seen coming home from my girlfriends house the truck overheated slightly above the ½ way point from driving home from fabys house it’s an 8 mile drive on the street. AND IT HEATED UP ON THE STREET GOING 35-45 miles per hour!
After that point I knew something had to be fixed. SO I bought Mark’s used 3vze v6 aluminum/plastic radiator(about 2 years old; looked like new)
This is the pix of the job with his radiator.
Here is the picture of my old stock copper radiator. As you can see the cooling squiggle portion is very damaged, clogged and mounting points were even broken at the welds. It was only a matter of time before it gave out. So I was almost certain replacing it would fix my issue.


After about 2 days I seen the overheating issue hadn’t gone away. I realized I hadn’t bled the system of air bubbles completely so I kept massaging the hoses until I didn’t have to refill with coolant anymore. And about on the 3rd day this happened…

The top portion of the radiator had sprung a leak where the aluminum and plastic meet. (the portion just under the top radiator hose)
This led us to believe we have too much pressure or still air bubbles in the system. So I started the rig up on a cold engine with the radiator cap. And didn’t see any bubbling so I didn’t think it was air in the system anymore. But none the less I had to fix the messed up radiator now. While all this was going on we suspected my fan clutch wasn’t working anymore because I would never hear it engage. Also thought radiator cap was bad because I never had radiator fluid going into my coolant overflow. So
I borrowed Marks 3vze v6 fan clutch which he is 100% sure is in working order, bought a new thermostat with a small valve to allow air bubbles to bleed out into the radiator( http://instagram.com/p/nCbyAGFIpn/ ), and I bought a brand new aluminum/plastic radiator with a new 0.9 cap to go with it. We also suspected my thermostat was bad or at least stock open so just to be on the safe side i bought a replacement as well. Pix of parts here:

http://instagram.com/p/nCkY1LlIh7/
So I installed all of these parts on Saturday. And Still my fan clutch never engages, coolant overflow never goes up to a higher level. What else is there to do???? What else could it be? Mark suggested to get a leak down and compression test. So I took the rig to a mechanic 2 days ago(Tuesday morning) before going to school originally to get the leak down and compression test done. Upon arriving he took a thermometer and stuck it in the radiator and read one temperature vs what my temp guage said and he said it was off. ***mind you the truck wasn’t over heated at the time, it was at normal operating temperature. *** So he asked me to go to school and come back afterward(by then the truck would have been ran on both the freeway and a major street) so I did just that.
When I returned the mechanic found one tiny tiny tiny (one drop every 10 or so seconds) leak coming from a hose that connects to the cluster of sensors in the back. That particular hose connects to a metal line containing coolant on the driver side right along the driver side fuel rails. The leak was dripping from where the metal line connects to the rubber line. He told me to tighten the clamp when I get back home. He didn't do any type of test at all; just did a visual examination. And told me the truck sounds and seems to be running perfectly fine. Doesn't seem to have any other leaks, other than the coolant one he pointed out to me, which I have since then tightened.

Then he asked me about the cluster of hoses on the passenger side and I told him I'm 100% sure that those are connected correct. Because I did them myself according to the toyota FSM page. He then asked about my spark plugs and I answered they only have about 2k miles on them and I replaced them about 4 months ago and I only use the original denso spark plugs speced for my vehichle.. Same with question with the air filter His last question was how often do you drive it? And that's where he gave me the "no no no" look. I answered “I only drive it about once every 1-2 weeks. but most times in between just moving the rig across the street for the city street sweeping.” And he said that's not good because the truck sits too long without use. He said to test it out for 1 full week just to try it out. And see if I notice any difference. He said he gets that same idle issue with his car if he neglects to drive it for a few weeks. He didn't charge me at all for just checking it. He just asked me to tighten that leaky hose clamp and drive it all week while observing my temperature and idle. And if the problem persists to come back to him.
He said that because all the parts he suspected were just swapped out 4 days ago:
-Radiator
-Radiator Cap
-Thermostat
-Water pump 2 years ago
-Correct inputs of cluster of vacuum hoses on the passenger side.
-No coolant leaks?(only the one was found which I have already fixed)

Then he asked me, “Was the temperature sensor replaced on the rebuild.” My answer was no. And he suspected that I might have a faulty temperature Gauge because when I took it to him he took a thermometer and checked the coolant temp vs what it said on the Gauge and saw a significant difference. He said you might not even be overheating because if you were you would be having coolant spilling into the over flow reservoir which I didn’t. And fan clutch would be engaging and I don't hear it come on at all. He even put his hand on the top of the radiator and said yea the radiator is hot but not out of the normal kind of hot.
After inspection (no tests just visual and from the history I explained to him of my rig) he just told me to tighten that screw for the hose clamp and test out the truck to see any difference at all.

Since then I researched more and found that the water pump could have messed up(as chefyota4x4 mentioned) so i listened to the water pump with the stethoscope yesterday and it sounds perfectly fine. No grinding. Just your normal moving sound in sync at all times nothing bad sounding about it.

Yesterday I drove the truck to Faby’s house on the freeway again about 8 miles away. And I seen the temp needle began to raise about ½ way but then went back down. I’m lost for what it could be.
Here is the full history: 89 Toyota 4runner 3vze 3.0L V6 10-11k miles since the engine rebuild.
-Engine was rebuilt
-Radiator
-Radiator Cap
-Thermostat
-New water pump on engine rebuild
-Correct inputs of cluster of vacuum hoses on the passenger side according to Toyota FSM and Haynes manual.
-No coolant leaks?(only the one was found which I have already fixed)
-I checked my Check engine light even though it wasn’t lit, just to see if there was anything saved on the computer. And all I got was constant non stop flashes every ½ second with no pauses in between. So My system isn’t picking anything up.

Symptoms:
-I have had an Idle issue for the past year and a half or so. My truck is a normal 800 rpm, then drops to 600,400, and sometimes 200rpm. Cant say for sure what it is. But that problem ive had for a while.
-The truck overheats when put in strain(such as pushing it on the freeway) uphill drives on the freeway. Truck does not overheat on the street anymore.
-Fan clutch wont engage
-No difference in coolant overflow reservoir level

My good friend, Tony, asked me to think back as far as I can think and asked if I had this issue after I got the truck back from the mechanic when I had first had it rebuilt. I don’t remember it ever having issues after getting the truck back. It had a ton of power and uphills were great with this rig. Mind you the truck was still stock and on 31” tires but still.

Then he asked when did you notice you began having this idle issue? Because everyone seems to think I have a vacuum leak somewhere that makes it feel like the engine is drunk when it drops down to 200rpm or 400-800. And I wasn’t sure.

So he asked. Have you done any work to the motor yourself at all? And I answered yes
I remember replaceing the BVSV and my Knock sensor/knock sensor pig tail.

Friend then proceeded to ask me, Did that require you to remove the plenum or manifold? I said yes. So he asked… are you sure that you put it back together correctly? I said yes. THEN HE ASKED, “Did you use new plenum and manifold gaskets?”

BOOOM! *light bulb turns on* now that I think about it. I didn’t put new gaskets. Both times that I took that portion apart I re used the existing gaskets it had.

Then my friend says, “well there you go, You might have a vacuum leak coming from those one or all 3 of those gaskets. You should always install new gaskets when you do those kind of jobs no matter if you think they are still in good condition or not. and should always follow the 'X' torque pattern that your manual says to go by.”

He says yea your temp guage might be off. But if you do have a vacuum leak coming from there that could possibly be the source of all your issues. 1)the rpm/idle issues and 2) the overheating. I bet you have a vacuum leak because all the symptoms you have seems to be related to a vacuum leak. Which is why everyone would always suspected the cluster of vacuum hoses on the passenger side. He first thought it could be my intake airflow meter or something. But I have since tested that out with Mark’s donor trucks air flow meter top and I continued to have the same issue. So the low rpms wasn’t related to that and mine was fine. Also have a clean air filter in there.

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So this is where I am at right now guys. Still have a slight overheating issue when the engine is put under strain such as freeway driving especially uphill freeway portions.

You have the list of things I have replaced and the entire history or my engine now.

I am thinking of replacing the following:
-Plenum Gasket
-Manifold gaskets
-Swap in a new temp sensor and sending unit
-I would like to install an aftermarket Mechanical Temperature guage. Everywhere I read says the stock Toyota gauges suck so far the best choice is to get a Mechanical temp guage because there wont be anything else out there that is more accurate for me the one of those. So If I go this route I might not do the stock gauges because it’d be a waste of $$$ to buy extra sensors I don’t need ( and I still am not sure if its defective at all yet)

-Mark also thinks I should do the head gaskets while im at it if im going to replace the manifold and plenum gaskets. But that seems like a tough enough job to tackle already.

PS: I have since then checked my oil to see if I see coolant in there and I don’t see any at all Ive checked radiator and don’t see oil in there. Ive checked multiple times to see if I can see air bubbles surfacing on a cold engine start and nothing. Only thing I see is that when the engine heats up the coolant will slowly push coolant out of the radiator as it heats up.
Heres a vid I took of what I mean:
http://instagram.com/p/myD9xZlIs4/


Also As a last resort: Incase I ever want to go with a electric fan in the future after fixing this issue Here are the dimensions of where the fan would be installed inplace of where the AC stuff goes. But this one might not happen because I would like to eventually have a working AC at some point in this truck’s life.
http://instagram.com/p/nClimFlIi7/

***************************Now with all that said LET THE COMMENTS, THOUGHTS AND QUESTIONS BEGIN! *****************************

 

Wow Mark had a 2 year old part that still looked new!!! That's a shocker.


I had to replace my rad just before I met you in SoCal. Glad to see things are going well and that you've found some wrenching time.

 

easy test to check for a vacuum leak
spray carb cleaner in short bursts around the suspect areas/hoses the engine will surge very noticeably engine at idle warm just relaxed spritz things if youve got any it will show it

as for the going to middle of the range mine does rain or shine snow freezing cold if it goes higher then ya got an issue (you said once that it was middle then went down thats good thermostat opened to cooler fluids an showed it)

fan clutches when cool should spin freely little to no drag hot they should be very hard to spin the thermal coil is easy to see an get to use a hair drier on it then try to spin the fan

 

Actually, what I said was, lol, "if iiii was going to tear my motor down to the bare heads, again, I MIGHT just go for it, .....But FIRST,.......

I would verify actual temperature via A aftermarket temperature gauge...

Second, I would then, if I found it was actually overheating, probably do a leak down or take it in to have it done along with possibly a hydrocarbon test just to make sure that there isn't some tiny allowance for compression to get into the cooling system, somewhere on the head gasket...

Its okay man, I know you have a lot on your plate and I'm not bitching, lol. But I also said that I didn't think it was sounding like the brightest idea to drive in a lot more when you're not sure if its even overheating, just to see if it overheats as much... I know that was the mechanic that said that and not your idea.

For vacuum leaks I would definitely try to use ether ( starting fluid ) of a high content like CRC high% ether stuff. Carb cleaner works fine I'm sure, especially if you shoot it right into the air cleaner... But some of these vacuum leaks are so tiny and yet can still cause all kinds of weird idle problems. I just find that high either starting fluid seems to identify and cause idle up easier. And then of course as I also mentioned, there are still a few guys in Los Angeles to do smoke tests. They basically just Jim a bunch of smoke in your motor and pressurize it, and it definitely will very often reveal precise vacuum leaks.

Plugged water jackets and all the other stuff we talked about... I think its really pointless until you verify 100% that you are actually overheating. You probably mentioned it as well and I tried to read it all but I'm kind of in a hurry... But I think it's also really important to note, while it might be unrelated, the motor is having some really weird idling issues and so forth that seemed to really be giving you problems. it was really freaking hot today right? I drove around all day and maybe one time my fan came on. If you are in fact not overheating, that might explain a lot as to why the fan doesn't come on very often.

As far as the halfway mark thing and all that... I would have to leave it to all of you who on that motor, as to whether that is normal or not. My 2.4 obviously never overheats, but it also never ever goes above 1/3, going up the mountain fully loaded,.... or on the trail constantly running for 4 hours... Never. So if it's normal for a 3.0 to run around half, its news to me.

I'm really freaking sorry you're having to deal with this right in the middle of just trying to get through school. Terrible timing... But you will get it brother! Honestly think that once you verify that it is overheating if it is... I would really recommend that you get it in for a leak down and hydrocarbon test. It's not going to cost you much and it could reveal tons! I just hate to see you spending so much of your precious spare time and more importantly don't want you to spend any more money if you don't have to you at this point in time in your life! Lol.

 

Hey Rich do you have a temp gun?? I have one with a laser...its real handy in situations like that...My .02 cents

 

I have seen where the temp guage just pegs out that the sending unit just needed cleaning. It gets a hard water build up on the sensor and somehow effects the reading. I have seen this twice. On one of mine it would just peg it self out with in a minute of start up and was sitting all nite. I would clean or replace the sensor and see what happens.

 

Went to OReilly Auto Parts and bought a set of intake manifold/plenum gaskets for when I get that big vacuum leak fixed. Also got an aftermarket mechanical temperature guage so I can always be precise with my engine temperature and not have to 2nd guess the stock guage anymore. The guage has 2 wires so the numbers on the guage light up white and needle will be red; should match up with my dashboard lights perfectly. I'm thinking of mounting that temperature guage sending unit to the outer thermostat housing where the housing connects to the bottom radiator hose. I think that would make for a better reading because the guage would have a more direct temperature since the hot engine coolant will be coming out from that thermostat. What do u think?

 

I think that's a great idea and a good mounting location for the sensor. I too a ways 2nd guess the stock temp gauge as I feel it's hard to tell the exact temp of the truck. Like a guessing game.

 

Hi Andrew. Definitely miss YotaTech. And I'm happy to get to work on the rig too. Just didn't wanna work on it like this lol we got that radiator off his donor truck. This was way after you came down.


I will definitely need to try that hair dryer test lol. As for the carb cleaner. I suspect I'm leaking from the gaskets. How can I check that area with all the junk the 3rd has in the way lol ill test it out on the hoses though. Thanks for the input Mr Dragon.



That smoke test sounds like a decent way to find out. By the way I know u ain't complaining. I just freak out when it comes to big jobs like that. I get really nervous cause I've never done heads or head gaskets. It's just intimidating that's all. But honestly. The truck runs really good. Has decent power. Just seems to fail after a bit. I dunno. But I seriously suspect a huge vacuum leak from those 2 manifold and 1 plenum gaskets. Not saying I haven't caused damage to the heads from driving it for as long as I have. But yea u get my point. Hoping that all it is gonna be is those 3 gaskets.


I don't have a temp reader gun. But I Think My Dad has a industrial heat gun for his granite and marble work. Might use that to test my original fan clutch Williams method.

I checked the contacts on the sending unit and on the cable side and saw that the contacts on both sides were pretty nasty looking. I cleaned them up with a small flat head screw driver and used electrical contact lube to keep good contact. Then drove it. Still found it headed up just a tad bit. But nonetheless it still heated up. So I'm refraining myself from driving it any more until I can get that after market mechanical reader installed.

 

Granite and marble work!!??Sounds like a money makin business!!

 

Updates look good! Nice work with that rear bumper!

 

Sorry to hear about the overheating issues. Hope you get it figured out soon. Like others said, I would verify the actual temp with a temp gun and see if the gauge is working properly.

And the carb cleaner does make it super easy to find a leak. Engine will rev up when it pulls in the carb cleaner through the leak, making it easier to find.

Wish we were closer. I would lend a hand to help. I know what it's like to have school, work, and everything else get in the way of making repairs or just working on your vehicles in general.

 

It's a very good business if your the company owner lol my dad gets decent pay. But it is very very heavy hard work. I worked with him during high school weekends and vacation time. And that's when I realized how hard his job was. Good work but u get hurt down the line etc.

Thanks dude. I like the work we did on it too!

I have some carb cleaner back at home. I can definitely test out that method as well to see if there's air leaks on the hoses and see if I can spray some on the gaskets. Or if it'll reach down there.

See this is why I like yotatech. You guys are a helpful bunch. All you guys are awesome. Thanks for that tip on carb cleaner and heat gun to test for leaks and fan clutch guys.

And you're right. It is hard to find time to wrench in I the rig. I absolutely need this truck running for this next Saturday May 3rd though. My band is playing a HUGE concert on May 3rd. And rather then take my mom's car for the band gear and another car for people. I'd rather have my rig fixed so I can haul everything in one rig and one trip. Well see how it goes. If I can't fix it in time I'll probably just rent a uhual or something.

 

I tested out that car cleaner method. But I didn't get any difference in response. Led me to believe it was either gonna be the heads or the manifold/plenum gaskets leaking air into the system.

Possibly found the source to my overheating issue.

Only took me 2 hours to get everything taken apart. Not bad! My only question is that when I do decide to put the new gaskets on there do I need to add the gray gasket maker stuff on top of the gaskets? Just wondering because it came in the bundle of gaskets I bought.