'92 single cab, 22re pickup. 170k miles.

It has a brand new radiator. A brand new water pump. Brand new thermostat. All done a month ago when doing the timing chain.

It got pretty hot going up a hill in the area, so we checked the fan clutch and it was weak. So that got replaced.

On flat ground it's generally fine. Temp gauge is right in the middle. I didn't notice anything in town. But on a drive to Tahoe in 50 deg weather, 3 hours in and on long steep hill climb into the hills, it went up very nearly into the red. I turned on the heater and eased off it to keep the temp down, so I can't say if it would actually have hit the red... but it was sure going that way. Same issue on the drive home, hitting some uphill grades after 3 hours of driving.

We swapped out the thermostat in case the new one was sticking or bad in some way.

Did a leak down test and that's fine. I'm not losing any coolant. The oil looks good too.

Same thing though. Mostly fine on flat ground. But on a long drive to Humboldt, doing a climb up the hills the temp went up 3/4 of the way on the gauge and I had to work to keep it below the redline. On the drive back-- a long 5 hour drive in 75 deg heat-- it was even running hot on some of the gentler up hills and very gradual grades. Not quite trying to overheat, but pretty clearly running hotter than it should.

So, any thoughts?

The truck is new to me, so I can't say if these are new issues. As I said, mostly around town and on a cool day, you won't notice any issues. It's hill climbs (mostly) that do it. And it's hard for me to identify any other performance issues-- it seems mostly fine to me, maybe a little sluggish at times-- but I've never owned a 22re before, so I can't say for certain.

All the work has been done at a reputable Toyota truck-exclusive shop, but they are stumped. Looking for a second opinion.

 

Was the system burped?

 

No. Not in the way that I've seen some people write about jacking up the front end, or parking it on steep hills.

I asked the mechanic about that, seeing as I've heard so much mixed information about the need for it. The mechanic was insisting that the system basically self burps. That the air would work it's way out through the vent cap and the radiator would pull fluid from the overflow reservoir during it's usual heating and cooling periods. We did the usual thing of letting it run with the cap off and filling it up/topping it off while squeezing the radiator hose and bleeding obvious air from the system. After a while it was as full as it could be and no bubbles coming out.

 

Can't hurt to try it - just sayin.

 

Yeah, I suppose. I'm in San Francisco. Plenty of steep hills. So I just find the steepest one I can get my hands on, park it uphill and run the motor for a while with the heater on?

 

You were told by a supposed Toyota Shop that you do not need to bleed the 22R series engine.

That is a very scary thought perhaps you were talking to a new hire ??

All my 22R series engines have tee`s in the heater hose for just the purpose of bleeding

Did you supply the parts or did they ? Like any other China built part quality control is a new word for them.

Have you double checked the temperature gauge with a heat gun ??

Sending units do go bad with age.

 

do you mean bleed, as in bleed all the coolant when draining the system? Or burping-- as in burping the air from it.

All the parts are oem or better. Nothing cheap.

I have not tested the sending unit, but given that it behaves as you'd expect-- sitting at normal and dipping up on tough hills, I imagine thats not the problem. Good call though.

 

Cool you have builtin ramps yes that should work. Burping and bleeding are dissimilar words for the same thing.

 

How's your timing? IIRC, wrong timing can make engine run hotter.
How's the shroud? Need that to direct airflow through radiator.
Was the system flushed recently? Coolant passages may be blocked.
I did a heavy-duty flush on mine as described by Prestone on its flushing solution container. Even with our 2007 Corolla which had fresh-looking coolant, I found the water this dirty when I did the "heavy-duty flush"

 

Timing should be good. The crew that did the timing chain have done it plenty of times before. That said, I wouldn't know for certain. I'd have to figure out how to check.

Shroud is great. Fan is pulling strong.

System wasn't flushed, though it did lose a lot of coolant during the work on the system and was filled with mostly new fluid. Could be sediment in there though.

 

Uhmmm . . . Rad . . . if this is what you drink please seek help.

 

LOL!
OK, switching brands..

 

YES SIR NOW you're drinkin. Don't forget to save some for yer ole buddy Yota guys.

 

Aye-aye save some for yah.

 

You are a god among us mere lil mortals

 

Bit of an update.

I found a nice steep hill. Ran it on there for a long while, heater on, varying the throttle. I'm not sure if any air cleared or not.

I had another mechanic look at it with me. They felt most stuff looked good, except the new fan clutch was not working as it should. I guess once up at an operating temp the fan should lock and not be able to be stopped. It wasn't. So I swapped out the fan clutch with a unit that's working as it "should." To be honest I'm not convinced it'll make the difference, but we'll see. I won't know until I get into some mountains, hopefully in the next week or two.

Still, I welcome any input. I haven't checked the timing on it yet, as someone suggested. Gotta do that.

 

My build thread has comparison video of good and weak fan clutch at operating temp...
HERE.
​

 

"go ahead . . . link your thread"

 

Thanks, that was helpful. And an easy way to test it.

Curiously, it was a new aisin unit that was not working as well as it should. That said, it was working pretty well and I'll be surprised if it actually fixes the problem.