I am assuming ownership of my dad's 2000 4runner until I get enough money together to get the car I truely want.

Well among it's many small little problems is the fact that the heat is next to non-existant.

Whenever I turn on the heat the all I get is a face full of luke warm air. No matter how I try the system it's lukewarm everytime. I've let the 4runner warm up and tried turning then heat on after some highway driving and still just a lukewarm stream of air.

This is the biggest concern of mine at this point because fall is edging in and winter is right behind it. This morning was particularly chilly to note to.

So far I've flushed the coolant completely and replaced it with new coolant (which needed to be done anyways). I've inspected the heator core for leaks/fails but nothing of the sort. And I've looked over every line I could without having to dismantle the engine bay. Nothing seems out of the ordinary.

I did search and found a thread saying that if you put the front end of the truck in up and open the radiator cap and let the heat blast for a while it might work so I'm gonna try that soon.

It might not work so any other suggestions would be great.

Thanks,
Josh

EDIT: I meant 2000* 4runner

 

Check the thermostat, it may be stuck open.

 

x2....

 

thermostat... don't know why i didn't think of that.

Anyone here wanna tell me where I'd find the thermostat?

EDIT: I also checked the valve that is on the engine side of the firewall which seems to be directly connected to the control know in the 4runner.
don't know what the technical term for that device would be. My mind is loosing me today.

 

It's inside the t-stat housing

If you follow the lower radiator hose all the way up to the engine, the t-stat housing is right where the lower hose attaches to the engine.

 

 

well I replaced the thermostat, the old one didn't seem to be stuck open but being as I already had a new one I figured why not.

Still the same luke warm crap though. So after a little deliberation I discovered a most startling and scary thing. There was no pressure in any of the coolant hoses. Even after running the engine a good 5 minutes I couldn't feel any pressure (as in the hoses felt empty when squeezed) . So I took the hose running from the block into the control valve off and low and behold it was bone dry .



Now, this car has been being driven for more than a year by us (most likely longer by the previous owner) with no heat, meaning that it's been going this whole time without a functioning water pump. The thing is, it never shows any signs of over heating and the temp gauge always hovered in the middle.

So it's off to advance auto in the morning for a water pump and timing belt. Going to be a long Friday evening fixing that.

Anyone know how this magnificent car ran so long without a water pump?

 

Yes. It's a Toyota.

Glad you found the problem. One suggestion. I'd get the timing belt from a dealership. I'm all for aftermarket products, such as oil filters, roof racks, etc. But for a cruicial engine component, I will always go OEM for the fit and reliability.

 

Well I've never heard of a car just running without a water pump, I've never been an import car guy but after dealing with and seeing the this SUV can go through I'm starting to fall in love with it (:

The only symptom the non existent pump seems to be behind is a slight high pitched ticking that I had originally just associated with the fact that this beaut has a little over 100k on her.

Well, being as legally it's still my dad's and I'm broke (can't get a job until I can drive the 4runner) I have next to no say on where the parts are gonna come from, I will do my best to persuade him otherwise, I'm with you, quality over price any day.

 

X2

Well stated!

 

revisiting the problem, the water pump is fine, after extensive troubleshooting, I found that my premature diagnosis was wrong.

I remembered reading about being able to prop the front end up on jacks, taking the radiator cap off and running the engine with the heator valve open to purge out air so I gave it a shot.

I'm not sure if I did it right so a re assurance/confirmation/explanation is welcome. (:

Anyways, I did that and now there's definitely pressure and coolant getting through the entire system.

But still nothing more than lukewarm air.

so after replacing the thermostat and trying to get all the air out of the system it's looking like the heator core.


But once again, I'm not sure so if anyone has any ideas, help it'd be great.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: yeah otherwise known as flushing the system, sometimes I can't believe have under informed my posts are.

Anyways, I'm going to grab some coolant tomorrow, flush this sucker with via the garden hose method at least twice and the fill Jessy up with some 50/50.