[93 FZJ80] Heater control valve hose blew, drained all coolant while driving on highway. (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 22, 2020
Threads
1
Messages
5
Location
wisconsin
Hey all,

Yesterday when I was driving home from work, I heard some abnormal clicking noise coming from behind the passenger dash (maybe it was the faulty heater control valve), and I noticed I had accidentally kneed the rear heater to High. I switched off the rear heater. And I did not pay more attention to it until 5 minutes later (I had only been driving for 7 minutes), the red oil warning light came on, and smoke came from under the hood, I pulled over on the highway right away, and when I opened the hood, the heater control valve hose is completely burnt and detached from the heater control valve, which is also burnt badly.

There is a puddle of oil underneath (maybe half a quart) the truck and there is oil on almost everything, there is a layer of powder like burnt substance I can not identify near the heater control valve (looks to me like some kind of burnt coolant seal, but last time I checked, the radiator was full of clear red Toyota coolant, which is odd). I am praying to god its not a blown head gasket or a bad bearing in the engine as I have just purchased this clean rust free rig from Texas (drove 3000miles so far with no problems at all), and I would not have the resources to have it fixed at a shop (I am pretty mechanically inclined but have never done anything big like gasket). I paid $170 to have it towed 20 miles (I don't know if it is a rip off but it seem so expensive to me). I test drove it around the block this morning, it drove fine (Idles rough, starts rough, has leaky vacuum and without coolant), and no weird engine noises. I checked the oil dip stick multiple times and the oil looks new and full, no milky coolant mixture. The radiator is empty.

I was going to baseline my baby and replace everything, but this incident caught me off guard, now I am dedicated to doing everything and do everything myself. I still have two months before the brutal Wisconsin winter hits (do you think I have enough time?).

My questions are:
1. Where is the oil coming from? What went?
2. What is the powder like substance near heater control valve?
3. What can I do? Do I have enough time to fix it before winter?

Moral of the story is, replace your dry rotted hoses (vacuum and coolant) ASAP. Hope this helps, and any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I am located in southern Wisconsin if anyone is around and wanting to go explore around the area also!

Thanks again,
Yang

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Man, sorry it happened but it does look like you have the original hoses and possibly the original HCV. Should have replaced them before, maintenance is key with these Land Cruisers. Good luck
 
The oil appears to be ATF judging by its reddish color. Probably cut a cooler line into the radiator. No idea on the substance on the firewall. But with the lack of coolant, and ATF everywhere, I think your truck is going to need some extensive work.
 
It appears the powdery substance came from the hood insulator from what I can tell from the pictures. The disconnected hose from the heater control valve may have sprayed a high pressure stream of coolant against it. There would have been an extreme amount of coolant lost most likely significantly overheating the engine. There is so much oil covering everything that it is impossible to tell from the pictures what failed. Get the hose reconnected, refill the radiator, start the engine and let it idle. Try to see where oil is dripping to the ground. Otherwise you will need to clean off all the oil residue so you can trace the leak. Do not drive the vehicle as that will just spray oil and cover everything.
 
Thanks so much guys!!

I might have been wrong, I went back and checked there might have just been the total coolant loss, because I see red coolant dripping everywhere, and in some places there are diluted oil, I suspect those are just old dirty oil built up mixed with coolant, but I am not sure, I hope I didn’t bust anything major since I stopped as soon as it happened. Also I forgot to mention that the truck won’t go past 60mph even if I floor the gas right before this all happened, if that tells you anything?
 
Man sorry this happened to you.. I almost had this happen luckily I noticed it right when pulling into my driveway and it was just a little stream. I was able to replace that valve before it totally blew like yours. It is a shame they did not make these in brass it would have most likely prevented this problem. I would take a hose and try to clean up everything best that I could. Replace the valve, fill up the radiator, and fire it up. I would also check for a head gasket leak with one of those rentable test kits you can get from your local parts store. I would be pretty concerned that the HG might have failed if overheated. These engines are pretty particular when it comes to overheating. When I replaced my HG I installed a mechanical temp gauge so I can keep an eye on the real temp at all times. Might be something to think about. Good luck.. Hoping for the best for ya!
 
I forgot to mention that the truck won’t go past 60mph even if I floor the gas right before this all happened, if that tells you anything?

Very significant piece of information. First comes into mind is a restriction in the exhaust system which plugged catalytic converters would be the most likely cause. That most definitely would cause poor performance and overheating which could have overpressured the cooling system popping off the heater control valve hose. A defective radiator cap would allow the overpressure.

I also saw in one of your photos that the EGR Regulator is missing a hose, another sign that there might be excessive back pressure in the exhaust system.

EGR Modulator.png
 
looks like possible coolant bypass pipe leak too. 3 seals to replace. just above tstat.
might as well do that while you have all the coolant out.
 
I find what PPC is saying very interesting. The hoses don't look old and the fact that it's not the OEM connector on the PHH and the ECM wire is heat wrapped tells me someone probably replaced the heater control valve and hoses on this.

DON'T DRIVE IT AROUND IN THE CURRENT STATE

Reconnect the hoses, refill with coolant, clean it all off and see what you have. Take the converters off and see if they're plugged.
 
Heater control valve looks broken. Rest of the valve end is probably still in the hose w the hose clamp.

Probably just an old valve and the plastic broke.

Just replace the heater valve and a few o rings, and it should be fine.

Oil is probably from changing the filter and front oil pump seal leaking.
 

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