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Another note : It’s BEST that it’s a head gasket. That is a lot better then a cracked head or block.
89' FJ62 Overheating Issue, Daily Driver...
- Thread starter Avery60
- Start date
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Matt is right...lol THANKYOU. It’s hard, this is my daily driver. I don’t want to be driving anything else but I also can afford the time and money it would take at this time. I have a vision of where I want the landcruiser to be but realistically I know it’s not going to happen right now. Leak in the gas tank? Slapped on some JB Weld. It is what it is and I’m constantly combatting criticism amongst friends and family to get something “reasonable”. I just can’t part with it, I’ve lived out of this truck before. Drives me crazy that I can’t do what’s always best but I try to give myself some grace. I’ll definitely consider liquid head gasket and will probably be reaching out for more questions about it.
Thanks for your reply
Before I did anything, i verified that i had a bad head gasket, leaking exhaust into the coolant, using one of these.
Then I verified with 100% certainty that I did not have any coolant or water in the oil. Even then it was a huge (stupid) gamble. If any of this stuff gets in your motor oil, that motor will seize up 100%.
It's not something to do lightly, do your research, and verify the problem is the one that it fixes, you can totally hose your engine using a liquid head gasket when the problem is not -the exact one- that it can fix.... I'm serious about doing your research. Perform tests to identify the problem.
It's not a magic bullet bandaid fairy wand.
I spent a couple of weeks researching & Googling & performing tests, to find out when it's worth the risk and when it is not, you have to do your homework and do all the tests to know exactly what's going on before you dump it in. Even then it's a dumb gamble. But one that paid off for me.
Even then I had to accept, that there was a non-zero chance I was going to ruin my motor. I got lucky. I'm not talking about normal sane people's research, I dug into this very deeply, I'm an obsessive person.
I've sort of wanted a SBC swap anyway (My brother put an LS into my old one after he got it), so it was a gamble I was willing to risk. But I admit to being in a very fatalistic place at the time. Please don't just dump it in and hope. This is not that kind of solution. I ruined a perfectly good cluthc with my first 60, by guessing at the problem, wound up paying to replacing the rear seal and putting new clutch disk in... all out of pocket (the lucas leaked out the rear main, and saturated the clutch disk)
You can 100% ruin an engine doing this liquid headgasket stuff, all the rest is just moving the odds in your direction somewhat.
Thes serious mechanic dudes are not joking around telling you not to just jump in and do it willy nilly.
THAT SAID....
I love my 60, and after 3-4 years of futzing with it, I've finally been using it as my DD... but having an 40-year-old truck , especially one the PO let go... even a Toyota as your ONLY vehicle will break your heart. This one has broken down on me 4 or 5 times already, leaving me stranded away from home....
Not to mention the times stuff went wrong in the driveway and I had to walk away for a while before going back to it, just because it was so depressing.
Save up, buy a cheap Toyota, that's reliable. Drive that while you work on this thing... unless you are a pro mechanic, Having a reliable backup vehicle is the only way I know to restore an old poorly maintained cruiser into a DD without breaking your heart.
If you are 100% reliant on it, it will let you down, until you fix all the problems one by one. It will never let you down when it's convenient.
I own a Tundra and a Yaris, as well as the trucks listed in my Sig... I ALWAYS had a backup car. You can love your 60, but you have to work it up to being a trustworthy DD. Even now 90min is the longest trip it's been on.
As someone who bought a 60 off a guy with a bad head gasket... I guarantee there is more wrong with it... If it was cheap an easy, the last guy would have done it. The head gasket wasn't even the only cause of overheating, I had a blockage I had to fix, and a ton of rust to flush out before I went down this route. I'm not kidding when I say I flushed it 5 or 6 times. The kind of flush where you have a hose hooked up to the heater hose and you run it till the water runs clear. Then flush it again. 5-6 times.
I never did fix my FJ40, I can't drive it over 50 without it over heating. It acts like a bad head gasket, but failed exhaust into the coolant test above, so I never even tried, because I'm not sure what the problem is.
I put in a aluminum racing radiator that took a custom rad mount just barely fits between the headlights...and a tarus fan with a custom shroud.... still over heats.
It lives at the ranch now.
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IMHO, Get one of these (there are cheaper ones, this is just the type I used)
use it to verify your temp gauge.
Amazon has them for as little as $10. That's a pretty cheap test to verify that your gague is accurate.
use it to verify your temp gauge.
Amazon has them for as little as $10. That's a pretty cheap test to verify that your gague is accurate.
You'd better check for a leak in the tranny cooler tube in the bottom of the radiator.
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- Thread starter
- #25
Okay, the A.T. Temp light is on when I start the vehicle. I’ll report back with temps
I chased this one when baselining my 62, turned out to be the transmission "computer" that controls that dummy light down in the passenger footwell. However only replaced that after cleaning out the trans filter and replacing the trans pan gasket, replacing the AT light sensor, installing an external trans cooler, doing a Rodney flush, and replacing the neutral safety switch didn't clear up the light. Hasn't come back on since.
Regarding your spiking temps, good advice here so far. Temp gauge spiking in the cluster (and the problem is actually with the shared ground through the gas gauge) would not account for loss of coolant, though. Good luck!
First get something to drive while you work on the truck. A 35 year old truck is not the best daily driver if not in perfect shape.
Baseline the cooling system. Flush the system, new thermostat , new radiator cap, new fan clutch , new hoses. Pressure test the system for leaks.
Laser temp sensors are inexpensive , use one to check temps .
Baseline the cooling system. Flush the system, new thermostat , new radiator cap, new fan clutch , new hoses. Pressure test the system for leaks.
Laser temp sensors are inexpensive , use one to check temps .
this is the one i used, like $15
Hammer45
SILVER Star
Well it’s been a month and we are eagerly awaiting further information! Primarily cuz my coolant is going down as well and I smell coolant and can’t for the life of me figure where it’s going.
Hammer45
SILVER Star
Did you get mad and sell the truck?! Found my leak and bet $100 yours is the same. I pressure tested the cooling system w dye in the radiator. No pressure loss over 30 min. Started it up and this is what I got out back. Gotta be the head gasket. See pic. On another note, I also have a no start (CEL won’t come on when I turn the key to give me an ok to start condition). I jumper the two thicker wires in the EFI MAIN RELAY by the passenger wheel well under the hood. Gotta remove it when I stop or it runs the battery down. Still gotta chase it down. I’ve heard of an under the hood wiring problem that can cause this.
