Hi All,
I've owned my 97 FJ80 for about 5 years now (mainly in Texas), and recently moved to Illinois. We unfortunately just went through some extreme cold and I'm afraid it has caused some damage to my car. It was around -25F last Thursday when I went to start it. It started fine all things considered, and I left it running in the driveway to warm up for about 20 minutes before attempting to drive it. When I got in the car, all gauges looked good. Less than 1/8th mile down the road and I noticed the temp gauge starting to shoot up. I got it back to the house immediately and shut it off. The gauge had gotten all the way into the red by that point, and I was pushing fluid out of the radiator cap.
I let the car sit as there was no way I was troubleshooting anything in that weather.
I checked it again 2 days later when it was only around 0F outside. I inspected the engine bay and couldn't find any obvious signs of damage. I started the car back up and let it run for a bit with the hood open. There was no major leaks other than a couple hairline cracks in the radiator. The car did not overheat and seemed to almost "fix" itself. Now I'm stuck wondering what I need to replace other than the radiator.
If the thermostat had gotten frozen closed, then why would it have been pushing fluid out of the cap initially? My moderate knowledge of the cooling system can't seem to wrap my head around what could have failed in extreme cold that would cause the car to overheat and push fluid from the radiator cap at the same time.
Any advice is much appreciated!
Jon
I've owned my 97 FJ80 for about 5 years now (mainly in Texas), and recently moved to Illinois. We unfortunately just went through some extreme cold and I'm afraid it has caused some damage to my car. It was around -25F last Thursday when I went to start it. It started fine all things considered, and I left it running in the driveway to warm up for about 20 minutes before attempting to drive it. When I got in the car, all gauges looked good. Less than 1/8th mile down the road and I noticed the temp gauge starting to shoot up. I got it back to the house immediately and shut it off. The gauge had gotten all the way into the red by that point, and I was pushing fluid out of the radiator cap.
I let the car sit as there was no way I was troubleshooting anything in that weather.
I checked it again 2 days later when it was only around 0F outside. I inspected the engine bay and couldn't find any obvious signs of damage. I started the car back up and let it run for a bit with the hood open. There was no major leaks other than a couple hairline cracks in the radiator. The car did not overheat and seemed to almost "fix" itself. Now I'm stuck wondering what I need to replace other than the radiator.
If the thermostat had gotten frozen closed, then why would it have been pushing fluid out of the cap initially? My moderate knowledge of the cooling system can't seem to wrap my head around what could have failed in extreme cold that would cause the car to overheat and push fluid from the radiator cap at the same time.
Any advice is much appreciated!
Jon