Need Mechanic in Hyattsville/Silver Spring or in between

[jmvar]

Hi guys, my friend has a 2004 4runner with the V8. For some reason yet to be determined it overheated 3 weeks ago. The truck got towed to a shop where they replaced the radiator and told him it was good to go. Truck is only driven on the weekends and was driven 2 times after that.

Fast forward to this weekend when he was driving from Hyattsville to Germantown and when he got to Germantown he told me his heat was working intermittently.

We tried to drive it to my house to diagnose but it kept overheating. I drove out there to try and diagnose on the road and found that coolant was not flowing, the radiator hoses were very uneven in temp. I took out the thermostat hoping it was stuck shut but no luck. Since it was snowing and we were freezing he had it towed to Darcars Toyota in Silver Spring. They quoted him $8,000 + for a remanufactured engine without any explanation as to what diagnosis they did to reach that conclusion.

My advice to him is to have it towed to an independent mechanic that can do a complete diagnosis to confirm it needs a new engine, or figure out why it's overheating. I don't think the engine is toast. It was driving, had power, it would just overheat. I think there is a blockage due to mixing red and green coolant or the waterpump is toast...or both. I unfortunately didn't get a chance to do a block test to see if it popped a headgasket(s) since we were diagnosing on the side of the road in the snow.

So we need an honest mechanic to diagnose and fix, or possible replace with a replacement engine. I already found a couple engines locally using car-parts.com

Wow, that is long...cliffnotes:

- 2004 4runner overheated, taken to dealer and they say it needs new engine
- need a good independent mechanic to confirm and replace, or hopefully just fix the current engine
- Friend lives in hyattsville and truck is in silver spring.

 

[Von Hayek]

For what it's worth, when an 80 of mine blew its head gasket it was overheating but had no heat. Something to check. I think the air bubble created by the leak is the cause of some kind of lockup on the coolant system.

Before it is towed, I would also get a detailed explanation as to why they think the engine is gone -- they could be right.

 

[jmvar]

For what it's worth, when an 80 of mine blew its head gasket it was overheating but had no heat. Something to check. I think the air bubble created by the leak is the cause of some kind of lockup on the coolant system.

Before it is towed, I would also get a detailed explanation as to why they think the engine is gone -- they could be right.

Thanks, I agree that it could be a headgasket that is causing that lock in the cooling system. What makes me skeptical is that the truck ran fine and had power but I guess you never know. I didn't mean to disparage Darcars or their diagnosis, I just wish they would be more specific. I am going to call them now to see what they did exactly and report back.

Either way, the truck will need a new mechanic so if anyone has a lead please let me know. Until then I am going to call a couple shops in that area that have good ratings on Angie's list. I hate to do it that way because I feel like most of the issues the general public has with mechanics is that they don't understand what is going on with their cars and that they actually need to spend money to maintain them so give them a voice and the will complain about everything.

The other issue is that this truck needs to be in a container on a ship to Ethiopia at the end of Dec. It has to be 100% due to lack of support and parts over there.

Thanks for the input.

 

[John Smith]

Hi guys, my friend has a 2004 4runner with the V8. For some reason yet to be determined it overheated 3 weeks ago. The truck got towed to a shop where they replaced the radiator and told him it was good to go. Truck is only driven on the weekends and was driven 2 times after that.

Fast forward to this weekend when he was driving from Hyattsville to Germantown and when he got to Germantown he told me his heat was working intermittently.

We tried to drive it to my house to diagnose but it kept overheating. I drove out there to try and diagnose on the road and found that coolant was not flowing, the radiator hoses were very uneven in temp. I took out the thermostat hoping it was stuck shut but no luck. Since it was snowing and we were freezing he had it towed to Darcars Toyota in Silver Spring. They quoted him $8,000 + for a remanufactured engine without any explanation as to what diagnosis they did to reach that conclusion.

My advice to him is to have it towed to an independent mechanic that can do a complete diagnosis to confirm it needs a new engine, or figure out why it's overheating. I don't think the engine is toast. It was driving, had power, it would just overheat. I think there is a blockage due to mixing red and green coolant or the waterpump is toast...or both. I unfortunately didn't get a chance to do a block test to see if it popped a headgasket(s) since we were diagnosing on the side of the road in the snow.

So we need an honest mechanic to diagnose and fix, or possible replace with a replacement engine. I already found a couple engines locally using car-parts.com

Wow, that is long...cliffnotes:

- 2004 4runner overheated, taken to dealer and they say it needs new engine
- need a good independent mechanic to confirm and replace, or hopefully just fix the current engine
- Friend lives in hyattsville and truck is in silver spring.

You can walk from Darcars to this shop around the corner. I would trust this shop. http://www.murraysautoclinics.com/

 

[jmvar]

You can walk from Darcars to this shop around the corner. I would trust this shop. http://www.murraysautoclinics.com/

Thanks, that is what I got from Angie's list too. Actually called them before I saw your post and they seem knowledgable and upfront.

Darcars seems to have the right diagnosis, they said they see misfires in 3 out of 4 cylinders on one bank, constant bubbles in radiator neck, and steam at start up. I wish they had done a test to check for combustion gasses in the coolant but it is leaving there anyways so it's pointless.

Murray's said they will see what is going on and see if they can fix the headgasket or if everything got hot enough to merit a replacement engine.

Hopefully my friend will have a solid truck by the time it needs to be shipped.

To add insult to injury, he came up to Germantown to ride mountainbikes with me on Sun. when the truck overheated again. While riding the rear hub on his bike gave out for the 2nd time this month and he couldn't pedal. He had to walk his bike up all the hills in the snow back to the truck. He got back to an overheating truck with no heat.

 

[bkfj40]

It is a way of preparing him for all the s*** that go wrong in the middle of nowhere while in Ethiopia.


I hope the truck can be fixed with only a head gasket. He might want to do water pump, starter contacts and timing belt depending on the mikeage

 

[jmvar]

It is a way of preparing him for all the s*** that go wrong in the middle of nowhere while in Ethiopia.


I hope the truck can be fixed with only a head gasket. He might want to do water pump, starter contacts and timing belt depending on the mikeage

Thanks for the reminder, I completely forgot about the "while you are in there" stuff. I will look into the starter contacts and alternator brushes for the 4.7.

I did both of those on my 80 and they were really easy things that provide peace of mind.