Hood Steam

[Silicon 70]

My 80's hood is steaming. It has been raining for the past week, so I thought the engine just gets hot and makes the hood hot. I own 2 other cars and they don't have steam coming from the hood when its raining.

Question is... Is this normal for a LC? Oh sometimes I see steam from the hood when its not raining.

Is it really coming from the hood or the engine compartment? This only happens when the LC reaches normal operating temp. All guages read good and say there is nothing wrong.

Anyhelp would be great.

 

[RavenTai]

Oh sometimes I see steam from the hood when its not raining.

Is the coolant low? If it is boiling over you would eventually see a coolant level drop.

The 80's temp gage is built to not show temperature change from operating temp until it is overheated.

Overheating your 80 raises the chances of a head gasket failure.

Next time you see steam when it is not raining pop the hood and take look to see where ti is coming from

 

[alaskacruiser]

Some extremely obvious questions:

1. Is this a joke?

If not, read on:

2. What does your temp guage look like when this happens?

3. Ever tried opening your hood when you see this steam to locate the source? You checked your coolant level / reservior / thermostat / rad hoses / fan clutch?

 

[offroadkid]

I had "hood steam" one morning, after I raised the hood, I discovered that the seam on the plastic tank on top of the radiator had split. This was on our old 92, don't know if your's is the same?

 

[Silicon 70]

I wish it was a joke, but its not.

The coolant reservoir has a hole in it, but the reservoir is still half full. Also radiator is not losing any coolant whatsoever.

All guages read good and say there is nothing wrong. So, I don't know what else say about it.

My FJ80 is a 92'

 

[sixsracing]

Once the truck reaches operating temperature it will spill over heated coolant into the overflow container. If your container has a hole in it then presumably the reaction between cold coolant and warm coolant could be spewing steam out the hole. Pop the hood and check it out next time it happens.

Is that actually true about the coolant gauge not reading proper temperature until the engine experiences overheating? I find it hard to believe that Toyota would design something like that.

 

[fzj80kidpen]

Do you have insulation under the hood still?
I have an old cressida that does this. No insulation on the hood.
F*$ked up paint as a result.
Its a beater, 200k, thought about painting it but

 

[Landpimp]

my 92 hood steams(a bit) from the rain.......its been like that for 9 years.....

oh and nothing is wrong

 

[Silicon 70]

Insulation?? hmm never noticed it. I'll check it out.

 

[Rich]

...
Is that actually true about the coolant gauge not reading proper temperature until the engine experiences overheating? I find it hard to believe that Toyota would design something like that.

Whether it is true or not depends on you definition of overheating. Have you noticed that once warmed up your temp gauge never budges from the middle? I guarantee you that your engine temp is not that constant.

With my ac cutout activated due to engine temp (factory spec is 228 F for cutout) my temp gauge was maybe less than a needle's width higher than the middle of the gauge.

The gauge lies, at least most of the time.

 

[sixsracing]

Time to do some tests. Maybe I'll end up buying that infrared thermometer after all.

 

[Throttleman_610]

Both my cruisers, 1 V8 1 1f have "water vapor" cominig off the entire engine hood when it is raining. I figure the nice warm hood causes this pleasant display. I have calibrated analog water temp gages and they read 195. I suspect there is nothing wrong occurring.

JB

 

[Silicon 70]

Yeah i'm just puzzled to why it does that because my other 2 cars don't steam in the rain. The radiator is a double-core so it is not going to overheat.

So insulation to the hood could be the problem.