Epic Ed did your's give you any clues that it was going to go?
How many miles are on it?
Thanks!
Well, I've been having radiator issues with it since I bought it with 202,000 miles last August. My engine temp was fine around town -- even in stop & go, or parking lot conditions on the highway. The temp gauge would start to climb, however, if I did any major hill climbing (like trips up to Flagstaff). Kevin helped me check the fan clutch and that was pulling fine so we eliminated air flow as an issue and figured it was a partially block radiator. I haven't ever had the temp gauge climb high than 3/4, but I guess having even that happen a couple of times weakened the head gasket slowly. I didn't really have any symptoms of failure until Tuesday when I noticed that the engine was idling rough. Having just changed out the EGR stuff last weekend I figured a hose had come loose or some other simple explanation. Yesterday while in highway traffic I noticed the A/C had cut off and immediately looked at the temp gauge -- it was very slightly higher than normal, which we know for 80s could mean 15-30 degrees too hot.
I've been down this road too many times with my 4Runner and right away guessed it was likely the head gasket. I pulled off the highway quickly and checked for leaks -- no coolant leak anywhere, but the radiator was boiling so I knew it had lost coolant somewhere -- and if there aren't any visible leaks, well...bad news.
I hadn't observed any white smoke at this point and I decided to nurse it home. After letting it cool down at home I popped the radiator cap and added distilled water and it sucked down nearly a gallon. More tell tale was the fumes from the radiator smelled like exhaust. I started it up this morning expecting the worst and, sure enough, I had white smoke that smelled like coolant billowing from the exhuast pipe in about 20 seconds.
No need to test any further. I get it. It's hosed.
So -- my only "heads up" was the rough idle, which I incorrectly attributed to something else. Doesn't mater because at that point it was failing anyways. I don't think I have made matters much worse by driving it until yesterday because at least the oil is still clean and not a foamy chocolate milk type of goop. Needless to say, I've shut her down until I get it fixed. I called Vern this afternoon and got an estimate.
Ed
PS -- oh, and it has just under 215,000 miles on the OD, but I have no idea about previous maintenance before I bought it at 202,000.
(after hours, of course)
