Coolant vanishing

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

J

jgranthevagrant

10 Year
Joined
Sep 11, 2012
Threads
66
Messages
815
Location
Rossland, B.C.
Truck is a 1990 with 22re. Has 250+kms on this motor. About 70k on a head gasket.

Truck stalled 2 or 3 times on the way home from work. Coolant was way down. No white smoke. Has good power up hills and everywhere else.

Refilled coolant, test drove. After about 30 mins of driving, it started to drop revs at idle to about 500rpm. Temperature is steady and doesn't misfire or anything.

I can't see any foam or problem in the crankcase oil. There is some foam on the underside of the oil filler cap. Coolant was way down again.

Water pump is about 3 weeks old.

Doesn't seem like the HG, because I've blown those quite a few times. I could be kidding myself.

Is it possible that the water pump is sending/leaking coolant into the timing cover area? Possible to overtorque, undertorque the waterpump bolts? esp that big one that is in the centre of the water pump. I will pull plugs tomorrow and have a look at them.
 
I would pop off the valve cover, get a bright flashlight and take a look at the chain guides. If they look ok, then next step would be a leakdown test.
 
Just checked oil this morning. Dipstick reads double what it should. I will pull plugs, look at guides, and then proceed to compression and leakdown, hopefully tonight after work. If it is the guides, I suspect it is better to pull the head off anyways and do a lot at once.

thanks KLF.

Looks like I'm cycling to work for a while.
 
If there are coolant issues, my first step is always a coolant pressure test. If the leak is external, then you will see bubbles where the leak is. If the leak is internal, you will loose pressure but nothing else. Then you will have to do a compression test to see if your HG is holding pressure.
 
True, but if there is a problem in one cylinder where the HG is not holding pressure...then I know the HG is done. I don't need 4 bad cylindars to tell me the HG is done.

Either way, you will get the answers you need with either test. Spliting hairs is spliting hairs...
 
I might not even do the compression test. I pulled the valve cover tonight and looked at the "guides". Right hand guide was completely absent. Only the bolts left. Chain has worn grooves into the timing cover, at least as bad as when this happened to me on another engine. I kept the old timing cover from a few years ago, and you can see light through the holes quite easily. Under pressure, the coolant would pour through there. It loses about 2 litres per half hour of operating time. No oil in coolant, presumably because there is not much oil pressure that far up in the timing cover.

I pulled the plugs for a look. All normal tan colour. A bit of oil residue on the number 2 plug. It has been that way for about 2 years.
 
My plan now would be to pull the head. have it gone over by a shop for flatness, pressure tested, new valve guides, etc.

New HG. Shim or different thickness? I used a shim once and did not like working with it.

New cover. New chain and gears? Probably. I think I will have the injectors cleaned at the same time. New camshaft? Fuel consumption is key because gas is about $5 gallon in Vancouver. I used metal chain guides once before. Timing chain broke about 4 months later. I think Toyota used plastic chain guides for a reason. I will post photos tomorrow.
 
A couple of pix of wear in the timing cover. Sorry for the photo quality.

DSCN0506.webp


DSCN0507.webp
 
once you add an aftermarket cam you will wonder why it doesn't run/idle like it should then you will read online to cut open the AFM and adjust a tooth or two or add a header or bore out the throttle body then it won't pass smog etc etc. I would either fix it with factory parts to factory specs or do the 3rz swap. I got caught up in all that stuff and have learned my lesson.
 
oh I see, when you said "new camshaft" you meant a factory replacement. Sorry, I thought you meant aftermarket/performance cam. Good luck with the rebuild. I figured your gas at $5.29 a gallon (US meas). I'm sure it will be that much here in California in the near future. It's around $1.07 per litre now.
 
I will definitely stick with a stock camshaft. "new" parts will be things like HG, timing chain, sprockets, chain tensioner, timing chain cover, head bolts.

Gas is $1.40 per litre and expected to go higher in the summer.
 
Head is now off and at a machine shop being cleaned and checked out. Cleaning all mating surfaces with gasket remover, scraper, etc. Anybody have any preferred chemicals for final cleaning?
 
Depends on what you are cleaning.

Top of block: razor scraper, then final polish with 3M biscuit in die grinder. Same with timing cover surfaces.

Top of pistons: water only, brass wire brush (scratches can cause pre-detonation!)

Everything else: Super Clean, then brake cleaner.
 
Thanks KLF. I will try that Super Clean. I spend hours cleaning surfaces. It does not seem to get easier. I was thinking of re-using my Toyota Cam and crank sprockets, because they look like better quality than the aftermarket ones. Any thoughts? I will get a new tensioner from Toyota because mine is missing a chink and it looks pretty worn.
 
I don't ever recall hearing of someone having a chain sprocket fail, so if they look OK and the teeth profile looks OK, then sure use them.
 
About 4 weeks of working part-time in the street when it wasn't raining and it is back running again. New head and timing cover from ENGBLDR. All new gaskets from Toyota. New chain, tensioner and guides from toyota. New water pump, spark plugs, fuel injector o-rings. Fuel injectors cleaned by RC engineering in California. Giant hassle to get them shipped down and back, but I can't find a Canadian company that does fuel injector cleaning. Seems to be running well. No coolant issues so far, and not using oil. Just need to pass Aircare. On to the next project. New bed, and then suspension.
 
So the original head was bad? I just went through the same job on mine... but I used metal guides. Do people have trouble with them commonly?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom