Little road trip help COOLANT bottle pukeing (1 Viewer)

[mrsleeve]

Ok I need some more expierance LC guys thoughts.

I have 97 that I have had since last summer, and have 2 long road trips on, and has been running really great. We pulled out of Tucson AZ today and after about an hour and 40 mins had the A/C cut out for about 2 miles..... Granted it was 85+ degrees out an been running 75+ and loaded fairly heavy but not overland trip heavy.

PO had the H/G done, new rad, new t-stat, new hoses, bypassed the rear heat, and new cap and blue fan clutch,just before I got it. I have put a new oem water pump in it. DDing around in stop and go city traffic in Tucson the last 2 months (read 80 temps most days) the overflow bottle is always spot on cold or hot and the temp gauge is always dead on center, with very very little variation.

Well after tha A/C cutout we slowed and pulled it over to have a look see. The over flow bottle was full, puked out about a 1/2 pint, and still boiling a little bit, after idling for a few mins it dropped back to just below normal hot line. So we got back on the road and slowed the pace and got though phoenix, and stopped for fuel about 1/2 way to flagstaff, it had puked all the over flow bottle, as there was evidence of dried coolant all over that corner of the engine bay. So I topped it off and when we stopped for the night in Flagstaff it had done it again I think up the long grade just south of flag. After the A/C cut I wateched the temp needle like a hawk, and it only just slightly raised on the long hills, and as soon as the grade eased the temp needle moved just slightly back down.....


Lastly I have checked for water/oil contamination in the oil cap, NOTHING, and oil was just changed a week ago, and no milkshake going on there......


Anyone run across this kinda thing before Its a long ways to northern Montana and we were planing on hitting some national parks on the way home

 

[Alleycats]

Maybe try upgrading your fluid coupling fluid, like 30,000 cst silicone. Easily done in a parking lot. Fluid can be found at R/C hobby store.

Best of luck.

 

[sbman]

You need to get the cap on the radiator open and add coolant there, make sure it is 100% full. You can't really do that when hot of course. Start the engine with the radiator cap off and look for bubbles, not a couple or a few, but a lot. If you see tons of bubbles or foaming you've got HG issues.

If all is still, top off, set the overflow bottle to the right level and try again. Could have just been low which caused overheating which caused boiling, etc... If it was low, there must be a leak somewhere that needs to be found and fixed. If it were me I'd use a scangauge or a $10 OBD tool with my phone to find out what the temps are actually doing. The gauge on the dash lies to you. Overheating warps heads on these engines.

 

[mrsleeve]

Ok

Thanks guys I just walked back into the room, after pulling the cap ( I was waiting for it to cool off) and it was down about 1/2 - 5/8 of an inch I topped it off and watched for a bubbles and didnt see any .... But I have it idling for a few to see if it happens when warmed up

When I was at my brothers I was chasing an intermittent P0136 (resolved) and never saw actual coolant temps over 197 in city traffic

 

[sbman]

Run it with a bit of RPM and look for bubbles. None is a great sign. Pinhole leaks can cause the coolant to get low without you noticing while on a long drive which makes it overheat which makes it boil over.

 

[Whileemptyheadsdream]

Check your rear heater pipes where they turn at the bottom of the firewall. Stones chip off the paint and dent the metal and they rust slow. The hole can be so small that only under higher rpm will they leak. Just One Possibility, Good Luck..!

 

[mrsleeve]

Well after letting idle for a bit at op temp (on dash warmed back up in 3 1/2 mins at 1800rpm then let idle cap off) no bubbles at idle, just nice and easy coolant flow, had the wife rev to 2200-2300 and it surged a little, burped just a little and filled up the rad neck bounced a small amount but seemed to stabilize and surge just a little every 8-10 seconds or so......

Edit have good HOT heat at the dash

Thanks for all the help guys, I dont want to be stuck for a week someplace even more remote and hard to get parts than where I am at

 

[sbman]

That all sounds positive. Hopefully just a small leak somewhere letting the coolant out. Those can be hard to find though.

 

[mrsleeve]

Well good news its not going to be nearly as hot ambient temp wise now
lol


PHH looks like its in good shape, and no real evidence of dried coolant anywhere that I can see that is, and no sweet smelling coolant infused exhaust

 

[Alleycats]

So was the temp gauge in the red?

 

[mrsleeve]

NEVER in the red Only degree or 2 of angle above horizontal on the factory gauge, no erratic bouncing, like its getting air/steam pockets past it, and I was watching it like a hawk after the A/C cut off and it was the 1st thing I looked at when it cut out and it was just slightly above horizontal

 

[4G63 POWER]

How fast were you driving when this first happened? And you're not using toyota coolant?

 

[mrsleeve]

75ish and no running all green, its been that way since I bought it, all nice new and bright too

 

[MikeB]

The temperature gauge is nearly useless. It would be worthwhile to get a ScanGauge or similar OBD-II display to keep an eye on the temperature until you get the overheating solved.

Toyota red coolant leaves a residue when it dries that makes it easy to spot even small or intermittent leaks. I'm not trying to argue that red cools or protects better than green. Just that it is much easier to find leaks with red.

 

[ARB777]

Had the same symptoms as you. At first i thought it was the fan clutch. Changed my eaton fan clutch to 15k cst fluid. That did not work. Checked my water pump. It was good. Changed my thermostat. It wasnt that either. I checked the radiator last because its just 2 yrs old. It wasnt streaming like it should. Replaced it with my old radiator. Problem solved. So far.

 

[mrsleeve]

I am thinking it might be the fan clutch as I dont recall the fan dragging things down..... But I did grab hold of it and its has some resistance on it, more than free spool, but not like an old GM viscous fan clutch.... Going to get a newspaper in the am and see if I can stop the fan when its warmed up. This thought coupled with an ARB Winch and lights in front of the rad might have something to do with it .... as well now that I get to thinking more about it.

I am going to go pick up a scan tool from vatozone in the am and watch things a little better

 

[Dave 2000]

As MikeB said, the OE gauge is actually 'dumbed down', it will not show the engine getting hot until it is REALLY hot.

Temp Gauge deadspot - How serious?

I did this > 93-97 Coolant Temperature Gauge Modification

Many fit the scan gauge which uses the OBD info which your 97 has. Mine is diesel and 94 so pre OBD but, I prefer the stock look so did the mod and would not have gone scan gauge anyway. I also calibrated my oil pressure and fuel gauges as well.

regards

Dave

 

[SmokingRocks]

I did that mod too but needed more data so I added the Koso Gauge.

Your fan shroud is still intact and in-place?
Did the PO install a genuine Toyota Thermostat?
Is the radiator cap OEM? it is possible that the cap is not making a seal and therefore not holding pressure. If thats the case when the system gets hot and tries to pressurize its just pushing coolant into the overflow.

I would investigate the cap seal and the area on the tank where it seals against. If its not an OEM cap get an OEM cap. Oh and get a scangauge!

 

[kyle coker]

Sounds to me like a radiator cap. You can grab one at any parts store.

 

[bloc]

If the new cap OP mentioned wasn't OEM, I'd try another cap from a parts store.

Also second the suggestion to try thicker/more fluid in the fan clutch, and especially check belt tension. They fan feel "tight enough" but not actually be in spec when you get the tool to check. The lights, winch, and ARB are definitely going to impact high-speed airflow through the radiator so it is up to the fan/clutch/shroud/belt system to take up the slack of drawing enough air through the radiator to cool high-speed HP requirements.

I'd even consider temporarily moving the lights, or maybe removing the grill.