k_southman

Was out ice fishing today and I didn't realize that I had my winter front on my truck untill it was to late. So dumb!! I was crusing across the frozen river in 4x4, truck was working hard plowing through the 16" of snow, I noticed a bit of steam creeping out the hood then noticed that my temp gauge was near the top. I opened the hood and you could see the rad was boiling. I pulled the winter front off and the temp gague went back to normal in about a minute. I don't think it was boiling for more then 2-3 minutes. Lost about 1L of coolant total.

Drove the truck 30 miles home and it seems to be fine. Just wondering if I should take some steps to prevent some further damage due the the overheating. Should I:

Change Oil? (I run Mobil 1 5W30)
Change the Coolant?
Change the ATF?

Any other tips? Thanks for the help. I think I am going to leave the winter front off for the rest of the winter...

frodin1

What do you mean by "Winter front"?

Dare44

i think he means one of those cloth things that goes over ur grille to keep the engine warmer

k_southman

You got it, the idea is just to stop some of the cold air from getting into the engine compartment. It helps alot when it is -35, but not a good idea when it is -5 and you are working the truck hard.

nix4x4

yeah id like to know what your talking about, too. I know that excessive heat cause motor oil lubricants to break down faster. As far as coolant, I'd say replace what you lost and go on with life

MTL_4runner

Change the oil to synthetic if you haven't already because if you do overheat, it will save your motor from a complete meltdown due to sludging. Coolant should be fine but make sure to add enough coolant to the mix to give you max protection in cold weather (I've made that mistake before and it sucks). ATF should be fine, but smell it and ensure it's not burnt (it should have a nice red color when put on a paper towel).

These engines are very durable but their one achilles heel is overheating so you should also check your coolant hoses and see if they are firm after the vehicle has warmed up (they should feel full but not like there's any significant pressure in there). If so you'll need to watch it because the head gasket seal may have weakened.

mt_goat

I'm beginning to think an over-temp idiot light would be better than these Toyota factory temp gauges. I once blew a heater hose on my Taurus at night on the interstate and the first thing I noticed was a nice bright CEL lit up the dash. I was able to get to the shoulder and shut it down quickly and save the engine.

Some aftermarket gauges will let you setup a warning buzzer or light for over-temp conditions of your preference. It would be nice to get visual warning light when the coolant hits say 230 F (over normal temp but before boilover) And then have a warning buzzer at say 240 F or so. My factory temp gauge shows middle of the normal range up to 240 F and then it will start creeping up. But unless you constantly monitor your temp gauge you may not even notice it until you boil the coolant.

The oil temp gets even hotter than the coolant because its main way of cooling is the factory oil cooler which uses a coolant to oil heat exchanger.

k_southman

[QUOTE=MTL_4runner;50708071]Change the oil to synthetic if you haven't already because if you do overheat, it will save your motor from a complete meltdown due to sludging. QUOTE]

I am running Mobil 1 full synthetic.

I agree that a warning light might be a good idea. I have an aftermarket gauge sitting in my garage, just have not had the time to install. Maybe this weekend.

Nuthuts96

iTrader: (1)

just overheat an engine once, then you'll never be caught not looking at the temp gauge every 5 miles!!! that's what i did. definitely save me money from buying one of those temp. lights.

overheat your engine once and i guarantee you'll look at the temp gauge more often out of paranoia.

icerunner

Hey Bro,
what a close call!!! thank your lucky stars as if you wern't paying attention to the gauge it could have costed you (big time) ....
I think you'll be ok as you likely would have noticed major issues right away.... and I think it helped you a great deal that you were running M1 Synthetic oil. As race teams have found out, the Synthetic oil is a great deal tougher than conventional oil and may Saved your ass (engine) big time....the M1 can withstand 425F temperatures without breaking down ...If you were close to changing it anyway, I would go ahead just incase there was some minor damage done you'll want to drain out any excessive metal fragments that are too small for your oil filter to catch.


my advice.
1) Have your current oil analized by "black stone labs" to check for anti freeze in your oil (i.eblown head gasket) or excessive metal/wear metals in the oil ( test via a oil sample kit) btw: im willing to bet the M1 held tough or your engine would not have made it.
after testing the oil, I would refill with M1 oil and new filter
2) definatly change the coolant
3) "drain and fill" the trans, 4 quarts every 500 miles for the next few thousand miles, and soon youll be running fresh fluid...

I think you'll be ok as our engines are tough and resiliant

kind of like a cat ......"9 lives"