My heater isn't putting out much heat and my temp gauge stays low...

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

A friend called me a while ago with that complaint.... Here's what we found:

"Hmmmm I wonder where that little rag went.....? Oh well...."

Best not to leave stuff like this in your cooling system...

 

[WristPin]

oh man!

i read the title and it said thermostat all over it, but i didnt expect your post to scream thermostat like this!!

how could a guy be that sloppy?

good thing it didnt kill the water pump, but i would be taking the whole engine down to give it a thorough flush

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Mysteries abound..... The truck's been runner fine ever since.....

 

[KLF]

That engine is a prime candidate for a Tefba coolant filter. I have one on my truck, it's really quite surprising the crap I find in it sometimes. I check it every time I change my oil, it only takes a few minutes while I wait for the oil to drain. Especially useful on an engine that was recently rebuilt, catching all the gasket schrapnel.

Tefba Coolant Filters for Classic and Performance Cars and Trucks

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Thanks for the link KLF, I like that idea!

 

[KLF]

It's a cramped tight fit on a 22RE, but it's much easier to install one on a 3VZ-E:

I wish they weren't so darned expensive.

 

[cruiser88]

Thank you!

That engine is a prime candidate for a Tefba coolant filter. I have one on my truck, it's really quite surprising the crap I find in it sometimes. I check it every time I change my oil, it only takes a few minutes while I wait for the oil to drain. Especially useful on an engine that was recently rebuilt, catching all the gasket schrapnel.

Tefba Coolant Filters for Classic and Performance Cars and Trucks

 

[WristPin]

thats cool, KLF

 

[NorCalBorn]

Thanks guys!!

This thread just made my day. I'm remembering about 2 months before the headgaskets on mine were getting funny and I had the heater hose valve start not working right, I couldn't move the lever one minute, then it was fine the next. A few days later, the temp gague got all funny, so I popped the cap to check the levels to find a nice 2"x1" w/ small halfround square piece of FIPG floating there. Excess from the waterneck install that had taken a trip through the system.

Next purchase is going to be that TEFBA.

 

[KLF]

I learned about the Tefba filters years ago from a buddy on the 3FE list ("overhanger" here on MUD), for some reason they are really popular with the Jaguar crowd. He also has a late-70's XJ-12 with a V12 engine, that car is amazing to drive but very very difficult to work on. The engine is essentially 2 inline-6 engines married together at the crank, so everything is duplicated: 2 distributors, 2 exhausts, and 2 completely seperate cooling systems (even 2 water pumps). Very weird. So he had 2 Tefbas on his car.

I installed the one of that '94 3VZ-E the day it came back from the dealer getting the HGs changed (note the fresh sticker on the fan shroud). I checked it a few days later and it was almost completely clogged with crap: bits of old gasket, FIPG/RTV shavings, etc. It took a few months to get it to stay clear.

 

[raydouble]

That rag almost made it though....

Cool product KLF