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- #21
I may. I guess I would ask them to fix the angle on the hose and the coolant mixture... How do you prove the mixture is wrong?? I guess I could show him the picture of the temp gauge???
Now its a PHH Problem!!!
- Thread starter TJ96TLC
- Start date
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As has been stated, I'd guess the mounting tabs were definitely wrestled around too much, etc., resulting in the metal tube getting "out of whack." It's fairly easy for this to happen. I did my own PHH and had a small degree of offset due to yanking the tube around too much. Talked with Brett @ 1fzfephh.com about it and he said he had done the same thing. The by-pass approach seems to be gaining acceptance around here. Probably not a bad way to go. 
Check the coolant with a tester. I usually do my own work but had my cooling system flushed by a local shop (like you said, hard to do sometimes in a neighborhood) and they screwed up the ratio. Their ratio established a freeze point of 5 degrees ABOVE zero. We've already been down to 10 degrees BELOW zero this year and have had several sub-zero nights in a row. Glad I double-checked their work.
My offset:
Check the coolant with a tester. I usually do my own work but had my cooling system flushed by a local shop (like you said, hard to do sometimes in a neighborhood) and they screwed up the ratio. Their ratio established a freeze point of 5 degrees ABOVE zero. We've already been down to 10 degrees BELOW zero this year and have had several sub-zero nights in a row. Glad I double-checked their work.
My offset:
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No. There is no flow through the hose when the heater is not running and it runs at the same temperature.
Either the coolant is too concentrated or they inadvertently doinked up the temperature sender or wiring.
You could just push the end of the tube up with a piece of PVC pipe to reduce the offset. Try tightening the clamps if it is leaking.
I would just cut my losses with the dealer and deal with it myself. Yeah it kind of blows that they didn't deliver, but there's no telling what more damage they could do if you take it back to them. This is why a lot of us would rather work on our trucks ourselves than let someone else work on them. If you don't have the skilz then I totally understand that taking it back to them might be the only option. But you could try to get a friend to help or maybe find a mechanic you trust.
The coolant is expensive, so go back to the dealer and have them fix the ratio. They probably should use the pre-mixed gallons of Toyota red rather than mixing it themselves.
My blue silicone PHH does not look like that. Yours is offset way too much.
My blue silicone PHH does not look like that. Yours is offset way too much.
I think this has already been covered, but the PHH goes directly to the heater valve. If the heater valve is turned off, the flow just stops right there so there, so any restriction at the PHH should have no affect on engine cooling.
Here's a diagram of the heater hose system.
http://www.brian894x4.com/images/FZJ80coolingprojectx019.jpg
I don't see why the metal hose can't be pushed back up into the proper location. I'm suspecting the problem might be that the upper end of that metal tube is not fully inserted into the rubber elbow hose that goes into the heater valve and that might be what's pushing it down.
The only other thing might be the lower bracket got bent, but it would be easy to push back up if that were the case.
There's no way they installed like that inititally. It's hard enough to get it on there straight, much less with an added kink. So the kink probably happened after they installed the PHH hose, when they went back up to the top and reinstalled the elbow hose between the heater valve and the top of the PHH tube.
Did they reuse the stock elbow hose in that location or maybe they put on a different or wrong hose between the top of the PHH tube and the heater valve.
A good way to make sure there isn't air in the block or the system is to fill up the block with anti-freeze via the top of the PHH metal tube. This ensures the block is filled from the bottom up.
What I would probably do is drain out a little bit of anti-freeze from the radiator, so you can remove the top of the heater hose without losing a bunch of coolent. Then start topping off the block with anti-freeze until it starts to overflow out of that metal tube. You may get some air bubbles coming out so you might have to do this several times. Then refill the radiator as needed and see what happens.
Here's a diagram of the heater hose system.
http://www.brian894x4.com/images/FZJ80coolingprojectx019.jpg
I don't see why the metal hose can't be pushed back up into the proper location. I'm suspecting the problem might be that the upper end of that metal tube is not fully inserted into the rubber elbow hose that goes into the heater valve and that might be what's pushing it down.
The only other thing might be the lower bracket got bent, but it would be easy to push back up if that were the case.
There's no way they installed like that inititally. It's hard enough to get it on there straight, much less with an added kink. So the kink probably happened after they installed the PHH hose, when they went back up to the top and reinstalled the elbow hose between the heater valve and the top of the PHH tube.
Did they reuse the stock elbow hose in that location or maybe they put on a different or wrong hose between the top of the PHH tube and the heater valve.
A good way to make sure there isn't air in the block or the system is to fill up the block with anti-freeze via the top of the PHH metal tube. This ensures the block is filled from the bottom up.
What I would probably do is drain out a little bit of anti-freeze from the radiator, so you can remove the top of the heater hose without losing a bunch of coolent. Then start topping off the block with anti-freeze until it starts to overflow out of that metal tube. You may get some air bubbles coming out so you might have to do this several times. Then refill the radiator as needed and see what happens.
- Thread starter
- #28
I will check the elbow. I plan on getting a tester today. I know its too rich with antifreeze, the color is way darker than the red that was in it. I am gonna pull the starter and straighten up the pipe. Never take your truck to a dealer in Birmingham!!!!
I'm not sure if I remember this correctly, but I thought the premix was the newer extra long life coolant that was not compatible with our trucks. We need the regular old long life coolant.
I have had bad luck with some shops here locally, but we have been very happy with Franklin Auto. They will also recycle used antifreeze if you have some you need to get rid of fwiw.
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- #31
Its definitely the long life red and not the pink. I took a gallon out, added a gallon of water and drove it for a while. Temp seemed to stay cooler and after shutoff and restart it was still level. As an experiment, I added a gallon of water to the cold antifreeze I removed, a 50% cut, and it still tested 260 and -15. It was way too strong. I believe I actually cut the coolant in the truck by about 28%. It may need a little more water. I guess I will continue monitoring.
I couldn't get the PHH to straighten out, even after removing the top bracket bolt. I can't get to the other bolt or I would just remove both and let it be free, similar to the solid hose idea.
I couldn't get the PHH to straighten out, even after removing the top bracket bolt. I can't get to the other bolt or I would just remove both and let it be free, similar to the solid hose idea.
It floors me that mechanics struggle with the concept of a 50/50 mix. They used a fancy flush machine on mine and I'm guessing they just didn't know how to use it properly...or worse, just didn't care. I spent the following week tweaking my ratio to get it where it needed to be. I may just have them flush it next time, fill it with distilled water and do the actual 50/50 myself when I get it back home.
- Thread starter
- #33
I swore it would never visit another dealer after my last experience, this has put the nail in the coffin. I have to fix the warped pipe at some point.