OBII Temp Before/After Radiator Swap findings
I figured I should post my findings for those who may have an over heating problem with there trucks. I’m not that technical so I will do my best in this post to explain my situation and ultimate outcome.
I have a 1997 FZJ80 with 151k on its clock, I’m the second owner purchased with 142k, cooling system serviced about every other year by previous owner (have receipts that show they were done by Toyota dealer) and its been in the mid-west (Missouri) all of its life. Shortly after I purchased the truck I was going through all of the fluids and found that the radiator had Green antifreeze in it! Knowing that this was not a good thing I looked at the service records and found that yes the Toyota dealer in St. Louis did a full cooling system flush at 139k miles. So I called the dealership up, spoke to the service manager and explained this issue and he said it was fine to mix the two and they must have been out of the Toyota red and just used Prestone Green. Amazed by this I suggested that they pay my local dealer here in Kansas City to do a complete power flush and swap out to the correct coolant and they did so with little haggling.
Shortly after the power flush my A/C shut down 2 different times on a really hot 90 degree days. Note: the temp gauge never moved…. I read all the threads on this issue and replaced the Fan Clutch. My A/C shut down again so this obviously did not resolve the problem, so a local club member and I hooked up his OBD2 reader to my truck and we drove around for a while. Outside temp was about 90, Flat ground and driving both in town and on the highway. We found that while on the highway my truck was averaging around 208 and got as hot as 210. When we slowed down to drive in town after the highway, it would cool down a little to around 203. This was a bit strange as my friends’ truck did the opposite as would be expected. His would run cooler on the highway and hotter in town, but never got above 195.
After looking at the data I determined my heating issue must be due to restricted flow. I took a large flat head screwdriver and carefully inserted it into the filler neck of my radiator and it felt like I was pushing it into mud! I scooped some out and it was the gritty, mucky sludge people have talked about. My assumption is that this was caused by the mixing of red and green over time. Who knows how many time this dealer did this as it was always done at the same place. Replace my radiator this weekend with a 3 core brass radiator, replaced large hoses, PHH as well as the thermostat. Took my time and back flushed my heaters as well as the block several times and the used distilled water and finally filled with 50/50 distilled water/ red Toyota coolant.
Ran the OBD2 reader today, outside temp in the mid 80’s, again in town and on the highway. My friend ran it on his rig first and he had the same results as he had seen on the 90 degree day. Then we put it on mine. On the highway it stayed at 189 and when I slowed down to drive in town it would go up to about 192. I shaved about 20 degrees off of my coolant temp by replacing my clogged radiator and I'm sure I've solved my over heating issue.
Hope this helps someone….
I figured I should post my findings for those who may have an over heating problem with there trucks. I’m not that technical so I will do my best in this post to explain my situation and ultimate outcome.
I have a 1997 FZJ80 with 151k on its clock, I’m the second owner purchased with 142k, cooling system serviced about every other year by previous owner (have receipts that show they were done by Toyota dealer) and its been in the mid-west (Missouri) all of its life. Shortly after I purchased the truck I was going through all of the fluids and found that the radiator had Green antifreeze in it! Knowing that this was not a good thing I looked at the service records and found that yes the Toyota dealer in St. Louis did a full cooling system flush at 139k miles. So I called the dealership up, spoke to the service manager and explained this issue and he said it was fine to mix the two and they must have been out of the Toyota red and just used Prestone Green. Amazed by this I suggested that they pay my local dealer here in Kansas City to do a complete power flush and swap out to the correct coolant and they did so with little haggling.
Shortly after the power flush my A/C shut down 2 different times on a really hot 90 degree days. Note: the temp gauge never moved…. I read all the threads on this issue and replaced the Fan Clutch. My A/C shut down again so this obviously did not resolve the problem, so a local club member and I hooked up his OBD2 reader to my truck and we drove around for a while. Outside temp was about 90, Flat ground and driving both in town and on the highway. We found that while on the highway my truck was averaging around 208 and got as hot as 210. When we slowed down to drive in town after the highway, it would cool down a little to around 203. This was a bit strange as my friends’ truck did the opposite as would be expected. His would run cooler on the highway and hotter in town, but never got above 195.
After looking at the data I determined my heating issue must be due to restricted flow. I took a large flat head screwdriver and carefully inserted it into the filler neck of my radiator and it felt like I was pushing it into mud! I scooped some out and it was the gritty, mucky sludge people have talked about. My assumption is that this was caused by the mixing of red and green over time. Who knows how many time this dealer did this as it was always done at the same place. Replace my radiator this weekend with a 3 core brass radiator, replaced large hoses, PHH as well as the thermostat. Took my time and back flushed my heaters as well as the block several times and the used distilled water and finally filled with 50/50 distilled water/ red Toyota coolant.
Ran the OBD2 reader today, outside temp in the mid 80’s, again in town and on the highway. My friend ran it on his rig first and he had the same results as he had seen on the 90 degree day. Then we put it on mine. On the highway it stayed at 189 and when I slowed down to drive in town it would go up to about 192. I shaved about 20 degrees off of my coolant temp by replacing my clogged radiator and I'm sure I've solved my over heating issue.
Hope this helps someone….
