overheating, looking for input

[llamavan]

Thought I would ask since I'm not seeing one in your pics and video — did your van's radiator come with the fan shroud?

Gwen

[User1]

Thought I would ask since I'm not seeing one in your pics and video — did your van's radiator come with the fan shroud?

Gwen

Yes and is in good shape and installed correctly.

[User1]

Really getting frustrated doing the flushing and refilling of the cooling system. Thought I had most of the water out of the system today. I figured sense the cooling system has a capacity of about 1.9 gallons, I could drain it and put in a gallon of the coolant. Then top it off with some water. The only thing is that it took about 1/2 gallons of coolant till it was full! That means that I hardly had ANY of the water flushed out of it when I added the coolant.

OK so what's the magic in getting the system flushed and empty? The drain that I added is at a heater hose really close to the front bumper. I guess this isn't doing the trick. I figured that if I opened this drain and took the radiator cap off, then start the van, it would be fairly empty.

[timsrv]

There's a block drain right behind the alternator. It's a major PITA to get too, but if you can open that, between it and your radiator petcock it will pretty much drain the entire system. the block drain is a brass plug with a 14mm hex head. I'm sure you'll have fun with it (I always do) . Tim

hint: use a 6 point socket. It's hard to get on it straight and 12 point sockets will tear it up.

[User1]

Man I never figured this was going to be such a hassle! I am not finding either drainage point from either stated above. I look behind the alternator for any drainage and I don't really see anything. Behind the alternator is a mount of some sort. I can't find the "radiator petcock" either. How bout a hint on the radiator petcock? I would assume I can get to it without taking a bash plate off right? I would also assume it's on the bottom of the radiator? I can provide pics if needed to show you what I'm looking at.

[User1]

This can't be one of these drains could it?

[timsrv]

Lol, I told you it was a PITA. Here's some pics for you. Tim

[User1]

Thanks Tim. Sorry to be such a pain!

It seemed like they designed this cooling system so that it couldn't be tampered with. Kinda like just set-it and forget it.

[User1]

OK, I think I finally finished this job! I never realized changing the coolant would be this difficult. I had everything back together only to have to take it apart again. NOTE TO SELF; never put things back together when the task is not completed yet.

I had everything all back in place only to have to take the engine cover off the passenger's side so I could get to the radiator petcock. I just don't have the snakey hands that is required to work in tight places. Hell, even the hose of death looks easier than trying to get at that drain on the block. I just relied on the radiator petcock and hoped for the best. It ended up that I just got a gallon of coolant into the system. So I'm considering it done. Hopefully there will not be any more cooling problems, but even if there is, it looks like a cake walk taking the radiator out. Which is the only thing that wasn't replaced and could be a source of the problem.

Thanks for the help Tim. I NEVER would have found that drain without your help.

[User1]

This thing is driving me ------>

OK I was all set to go to three wreckers I've yet to go to this morning. I claim in the van and start putting down the road and the thing is overheating! It was hitting close to the red in less than two miles! Looks like there maybe a leak around the rear heat outlet. Right at that little box thing you can see on the side of the van. Either there or from some line that goes to it. There seems to be very little info I can find on this cooling systems. Has anyone ever seen a complete diagram of the whole cooling system? I know I'm not completely out there thinking this might be a good things, I've seen diagrams on other cars I've worked on.

A couple of other questions that's really got me is that the van today was cooled off to the point that the gauge was showing the needle at a bit over the half-way mark. As it was idling parked at a parking lot, I thought the gauge was going to go down to where it is suppose to idle, a little below the half-way mark. What happened was that the gauge started climbing to the point that I had to shut it down! It took one good stop to get back home. I had gone less than 2 miles away!

OK to help with some questions you may have on this,

*There was still coolant in the overflow tank when originally found overheating.
*The shroud is on it and is working correctly and is mounted correctly.
*There is about a 50% blend of coolant and water in it.
*The T-stat is from Toyota and is installed correctly.
*New clutch fan installed and working.
*Don't know the history on the radiator but looks like it was replaced 9-13-07.
*No I am not hot rodding it. If anything I'm babying it.

I think that pretty much covers the history of this thing.

[User1]

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that when I was idling with the gauge at a little over half today, I turned on the heat and the fan was on full blast. What I was really at lost to try and figure out was that it was blowing non-hot air. To me it seemed like the heater wasn't blowing out hot air and was not taking any heat from the system.

[timsrv]

You said there was coolant in the recovery tank but is there coolant up to the top of the engine's filler neck? There needs to be a vacuum before the recovery system can suck coolant back to the engine. If you have a leak somewhere it could be sucking air in through that spot instead of coolant from the recovery tank. For it to overheat so quickly you would almost need to be out of or very low on coolant. Tim

[llamavan]

Heater blowing cool/cold while the needle heads red is a classic sign of seriously low coolant.

Gwen

[User1]

I have never really seen good hot air blowing out of the vents on the van. I would say not even mediocre warm air. I tried to add coolant and some water to the system just now and there's a leak around the back of the engine block. Round the block and trans area. Can't really see much without crawling under it. I'll do that tomorrow.

Anything on a diagram?

[skibum]

+1 to Tim and Gwen's statement(s) regarding "seriously low coolant". That is a universal statement, not TV specific.

You mentioned antifreeze around the rear of the engine, by the transmission. That sounds like a "hose-of-death" symptom (my '87 had little drops of antifreeze hanging off the bell housing, when looking underneath the engine/tranny).

My '87 had the hose-of-death problem, and would suck the overflow (or, in the case of the leaking hose-of-death, the supplemental ) tank dry. My '88 had bad compression in one of the cylinders, so I took the head off and had it surfaced and valves ground. I haven't completed putting it back together, but assuming that that fixes the problem, and it was a blown head gasket, that presented some of your symptoms, such as: when I topped off the antifreeze it would blow warm air out of the heater and eventually (50 - 150 miles down the road, depending on how hard I was pushing it) blow cold air and the temp guage would start rising. This left the overflow tank full (even additional antifreeze in it, if I remember).

Now, it's possible that you have a combination of bad hoses. You could have a blown hose-of-death and a vacuum leak between the overflow tank and filler neck. That would explain the reserve in the tank. It might be worth doing a compression test and ensure that your cylinders are within 10% of each other. You can get a compression tester for about $20 - $30.

[skibum]

I thought it might be worth adding the hose-of-death thread link to the discussion, just in case that does end up being the problem. http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...ght=hose+death .

I can only take credit for looking up the link. Tim's pictures were very helpful in cutting an access hatch. I didn't end up with quite the re-assembly quality, as I just cut a "flap" and bent it out of the way and then bent it back in place when I was done. I used the "layout" picture to figure out where it was safe to cut. I cut top, bottom and passenger side of the hole, bent it out of the way, reached in and verified where the vacuum line was.

I can't remember who to credit, but someone here, or at TVP used a Roto-Zip. I thought about using my sawzall, but being unsure how much clearance I had between firewall and engine, opted for the former. Plus it gave me an excuse to buy a Roto-Zip .

[timsrv]

Read this: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/c...ng-Head-Gasket

A blown head gasket may not be your problem, but this article is informative and has links in it to many other valuable threads that will help you through this. If nothing else just click on the threads it links to. Everything you ever wanted to know (and more) is there at your fingertips. Tim

[User1]

+1 to Tim and Gwen's statement(s) regarding "seriously low coolant". That is a universal statement, not TV specific.

You mentioned antifreeze around the rear of the engine, by the transmission. That sounds like a "hose-of-death" symptom (my '87 had little drops of antifreeze hanging off the bell housing, when looking underneath the engine/tranny).

Thanks for the reply skibum,

My hose of death is actually in fairly good shape, as of last week.



I do plan on cutting the hole to be able to deal with it. Maybe I'll go ahead and deal with it BEFORE I have to deal with it.

@Tim, I've read that thread and followed the links. I'll do it again since I'm not really doing anything now. I went back and took a look at the online manual and really there ain't much on there for the cooling system.

[User1]

Well that water leak was one of the heater hoses around the oil filter giving out. I went ahead and replaced both of those hoses. Good thing it went out a mile or two from my house. I feel like I'm getting to be quite the expert at flushing my radiator system too . I gota feeling it will be such an embarrassment if I was ever caught with a dirty cooling system now .

Anyone got a connection or a source for the upper and lower radiator hoses? I'm thinking I might as well replace those before flushing the system again. I got a feeling the ones on it are ok. I might keep those for spares.

[llamavan]

I always get OEM Toyota radiator hoses. I've seen some of the aftermarket ones that allegedly fit the vans, and ... well, at least some of what's out there doesn't even come close to fitting.

Gwen