bubbles+coolant =???

[LCHJ60]

Hi guys, wierd thing happend today...

I was driving home from work when I got to a traffic jam, before the jam the cruiser had been warmed up and I felt warm air from the vents. But after about 30-60seconds i started to feel cold air from the vents and I looked at the temp meter which had dropped almost all the way till the "cool" mark. Pulled into a parkinglot and popped the hood, I noticed that there was coolant in the bottle but I also noted it was making bubbles... Started driving home again and after a few minutes the vents were blowing warm air again!

When I got to my garage I popped the hood again and felt across the radiator and it was warm on the driver side but colder on the passenger side??? There were still bubbles in the coolant bottle. I turned the car off and the bubbles keept on coming and I heard there was air coming from the overflow hose of the bottle so I put my finger on it and after a few seconds I felt preassure building up and so I released and it went "swooosh"

No oil in the water and no water in the oil and no white smoke out the tailpipe so I don´t think its the head but maybe the gasket....what do you think??

Could it be as simple as a bad radiator cap?

please help me out!

 

[roscoFJ73]

I think your thermostat didnt open but I would do the cap as well. The bubbles could be from coolant trying to squeeze through the closed TS
It could still be a blown head gasket in the early stages.

Is drivers side L or R

 

[LCHJ60]

Thanks for the reply rosco, my car is LHD.

I didn´t drive the car today but on my way home I´m gonna go to toyota and buy a thermostat, a gasket for the thermostat and a new cap and try that first.

A friend of mine has one of those things you test the coolant with to see if theres exhaust gasses there, I´m gonna borrow that and test that to when he gets new chemicals for it.

Also, whats the easiest way to fill the 3B with coolant?? Since the cap isn´t on the rad you can´t park it uphill and burp it?? What to do to get the air out? When I fill it I only get very little in there at a time then I have to put the cap on,start and stop, take the cap of and in with alittle moore...

 

[roscoFJ73]

Thanks for the reply rosco, my car is LHD.

I didn´t drive the car today but on my way home I´m gonna go to toyota and buy a thermostat, a gasket for the thermostat and a new cap and try that first.

A friend of mine has one of those things you test the coolant with to see if theres exhaust gasses there, I´m gonna borrow that and test that to when he gets new chemicals for it.

Also, whats the easiest way to fill the 3B with coolant?? Since the cap isn´t on the rad you can´t park it uphill and burp it?? What to do to get the air out? When I fill it I only get very little in there at a time then I have to put the cap on,start and stop, take the cap of and in with alittle moore...

Well,Ive never had problems with air being trapped. I fill them real slow with the engine idling,take em for a short drive and then check the coolant level again befor ethe pressure builds up.

You can take the heater hose off at the firewall and fill through there if you want to make sure. Have the heater ON when you do it. You can back flush the heater core while your there as they clog up and blow cool air.

 

[Canuck]

Since you have the thermostat housing open, you can pour coolant directly into the engine there before placing the thermostat. Then take the large hose coming from the rad that goes into the thermostat housing, disconnect it from the housing and pour coolant into the rad from there. Once the rad is full replace the hose and finsh filling at the rad cap. Done it that way a number of times and I get very little air in the system.

 

[LCHJ60]

Toyota was closed when I got there today so I´m gonna try that again tomorrow...

I thougt I would try roscos method of filling with the car idling, took the cap off and went in the cab and started it up. Seconds after she started the coolant started to flow out of the thermostat housing so I turned it off and put the cap back on. This is telling me either the head or headgasket is f**ked since its building up preassure that fast...

Still gonna buy a new ts and cap, if its new its new...

Any other thougts? I´m going to start to tear her down next week if no one knows anything else that will create these symptoms.

 

[prado t]

Park it uphill and let it pass the gass (air) Before tearing it down I would presurize the coolent system( or see if it can hold presure)

 

[LCHJ60]

Prado t, how does parking it uphill help when the cap is on the thermostat housing and not on the radiator?? Won´t the air just get trapped in the radiator?

Earlier tonight I filled the system up like canuck said before so now I´m positive its full of coolant. I also coocked the thermostat to make sure it opened and at the right temp, and it did. So I started the egine up and let it run at idle for a few minutes, at first there was no bubbles in the reservoir but after a couple of minutes the bubbles were there again...Is there anything else that can make bubbles in the coolant that I should check??

Thanks for the help so far guys, you´re awesome!

 

[roscoFJ73]

...Is there anything else that can make bubbles in the coolant that I should check??

Thanks for the help so far guys, you´re awesome!

Do the bubbles speed up when you increase the RPM? If so,you got head/head gasket problems

 

[LCHJ60]

Yeah they do speed up alittle. I´ve ordered a new cap and a gasket kit for the head so I will probably look in to it sometime this week. I´ll keep you posted on how it goes...