Truck Died - Likely Cause?

[TLCObsession]

Truck Died - Likely Cause? - Pics Attached!

My friends wife just called me. She was coming down a hill and heard a pop. within about 2 miles she was losing power and noticed the truck was in the red - was not smart enough to stop right then & there. Kept going about 2 miles (with some coasting - its downhill) and the truck died - was smart enough to not restart it.

I asked if it was steaming or smoking? Steaming.
Did it smell sweet (antifreeze)? No like rubber and yucky.

I am guessing that a hose blew and the rig overheated. What are the chance that the HG blew afterwards? What are the chances the engine is seized?

The radiator is only 2 years old so that should have been fine, but hoses were original.

How much time does a HG changeout take given a reasonably equiped shop with airtools?

Any input is welcome - I will be pulling it to my shop tonight to look it over. I may try and start it if the oil is OK and I add water.

Jim

 

[Eduardo96FZJ80]

Bummer.
I would brace myself for the worst possible , a blown motor.

 

[cruiserdan]

Allow at least 2 full days possibly 3.

 

[Scamper]

Sounds like a HG. Sorry...

The yucky smell is from the antifreeze going through the combustion system/exhaust...burnt antifreeze is yucky; unburnt antifreeze is sweet.

As Dan said...it's not a quick job even assuming you have the tools. That head is heavy too.

Expect the head to be warped to some extent given the fact that it was driven a bit in the red. If it's not, all the better. But I'd even be prepared for a replacement if it was warped significantly.

 

[IdahoDoug]

What make and model truck we talking about here??

DougM

 

[landtank]

What make and model we talking about here??

DougM

I'm going with Blonde, mid to late 20s and Daddys little .

 

[robbie]

I saw the 93 FZJ at the bottom, so I am wondering how many miles on your engine? Do not know what went first , the HG or a hose. It sounds like the HG went first over heated the coolant and blew a hose. With the gal driving the vechicle in the red zone you can expect some discoloration to the cylinder wall at the least(softens the wall), scoring of the wall and piston rings at the worst (especiall if the engine died it self). If the engine turns over you are lucky, if the engine does not turn over, rebuild time or replace with a low milage engine(worst case). I believe you will be real lucky to have to just replace the head gasket and some hoses and a new radiator. Just a guess, good luck. later robbie

 

[tucker74]

My buddy heard a pop when the HG went on his '95...he made the decision to keep going as well. Mucked up #6 so bad he had to go w/ a Japanese take-out....

Bummer -

Tucker

 

[IdahoDoug]

Jim's got a '93. Not sure what his friend's wife is driving - which is the vehicle in question, right???

DougM

 

[TLCObsession]

OK here is the skinny:

The truck is a 93 almost identical to mine.

I went & ckecked it. Oil looked good and did not smell. Looked underneath and did not see any problems. Filled the radiator with 12 Q water. Crossed my fingers and turned it over -

Started right away. No extra load on the starter. No funny fumes from the tailpipe. Jumped in and drove it to my shop. No problems, everything seemed good.

The water was coming out of the engine....


Wait for it....






Under the DS intake - approxiamately where the PHH is! I could see the freeze plug so I knew that was OK (Same guy blew the block heater out of a big block - it went with a pop!)

I am guessing it is the PHH. I could not see it, but its the right spot and right amount of flow.

She may have gotten lucky. I will pull it apart this weekend, but doubt that I can get to Grainger in time for the right clamps. Once I get it fixed, I am going to change the oil and filter and run it. I'll do the overflow test to see if the HG blew. (I am hoping not - the truck idles very smoothly, no sign of rod knock).

I guess its time to build a leak down tester.

Robbie - Would you think that had the HG blown first that the PHH would be the one to blow?

One theory I have is that maybe the truck got hot enough that it stalled because of vapor lock?

Guess I need to put an order in to CDan and get all new hoses for my own rig!

More to come after I get into it.

Again - any and all advice welcomed.

I should be taking this on having a fussy 3 mo/old in the house, but the gal is a good friend of my wife's so she almost wants me to....

Jim

 

[Eduardo96FZJ80]

Sounds like you both could get lucky on this one

 

[robbie]

I would do a compression check. find out what it reads. With the cooling system purged (cycled a couple of times) do the rev little buddle test. If when the engine is reved to 3500-4000 rpm see if little bubbles will come out into the overflow tank, if so then headgasket is bad.
If your radiator is ok the little heater hose will hold some pressure, it usually leaks a little instead of blowing. If you filled it with 12 qt of coolant then none was in the system, this truck was really over heated. Then you filled it up and drove it while the truck was puking coolant, more than like draing it past the head overheating it up again. I would be real suprised if nothing is worng with the HG, let alone the engine.
How far did you drive it to the shop?
I have seen too many of these not to believe you have a problem, expecially if you had no coolant in the system after your wife drove it into the red for a few minutes and it shut it self off. This is a classic sign of the piston sizing to the cylinder for a brief instant. good luck
Do the compression test and the little bubble test. You can do the compression test with out the engine warm to get an idea if there is a bad cylinder or HG problem. Before you do all the work of replacing the LHH, it might be a time saver. Later robbie

 

[TLCObsession]

Robbie -

I hope you are wrong. If the HG is blown, I am surprised at how smooth it was running.

The truck was running for less than 2 minutes to get it to my shop. I am fairly sure that the coolant was all gone. I ran it for another minute or two with the hose running into the rad.

I guess I will run a compression test this weekend. I was thinking a leakdown would tell me more, but if the only issue is the HG I know the compression tester will tell me all I need to know.

Since the HG failure mode does seem to be in the #6 can, is there a relationship to the PHH? IOW does the coolant flow from the rear of the engine to the front through the PHH?

FYI - The radiator in this truck was about 1 year old.




BTW- It was my buddies wife, but I have no doubt that my wife would have done the same.

Jim

 

[treerootCO]

meteors did it....that'll be twenty dollars.

A few will get this reference I am sure

 

[robbie]

When I got my 94 cruiser well over 4 years ago I was driving back from buying it. i got it in tampa bay fl and drove it back to santa fe Nm. I also went through big bend NP tX. I got to Belen nm about 100 mi from Santa fe. I was driving along listening to the music box and the next thing I know is that the truck is runging rough and runing in the red, I pulled over right away and the truck shut it self down. I walked to the nearest wal mart(2-3 miles) got some hose and coolant. took a cab back to the truck. Installed the LHH hose beside the highway, filled the coolant and drove into belen and spent the night (it was dark by the time I fixed the truck). the next morning I check for coolant in the oil by changing the oil there. I then drove into Alberquerque, nm. The truck ran great, real smooooooth, just like before the LHH went. So I was going along and the truck started to over heat again. ( around 45-50 MPH) so I slowed way down and drove 25-30 mph on the secondary roads to a friends house and did a head gasket job under a trap for a couple of days. What I found was the head gasket was burnt in a couple of places, the cylinders were browned, not blued or slivery. I had one cylinder where scratches had devolped, minor but still damage. When I got this truck it had no signs of HG stuff (stuff outside the head, I call goobers), compression when I got it was 175 psi straight across. after the HG job I had 155 straight across, I lost some compression. I also developed some minor piston slap. All I did is a HG at that time, ran castrol 5w50 for 4 years 100k miles until I could not stand the piston slap any more. and I built the engine I wanted.
Yea I was hoping I did not hurt the engine when it poped the LHH hose but that was before any body was reporting any problems with the 1fz and LHH, radiators, melted pistions etc.
I wish I was off base, but I have seen lots over the last 4-almost 5 years I have been working on the 80 series Landcruiser. good luck robbie
still loving my cruiser

 

[cruiserdan]

That engine was missing 3/4ths of it's coolant. I can't believe that it escaped un-harmed.

 

[semlin]

this sounds like the story a mechanic told me about an 80 I was looking at long ago. First a hose blew and the owner limped it to the shop then 2 days after the hose was fixed it started missing and it was time for the HG. mechanic had warned the owner to pull over and shut down if that happened so he felt that it was caught in time and the engine was fine. I still bought a different truck.

the moral is, if all you do this time is fix the hose, make sure she knows to check the overfill daily for a few days, and to pull over next time it misses or the temp gauge moves!

 

[TLCObsession]

Robbie -

If the HG is going to go because of this incident will I see it with the compression test?

Are there any online writeups on R&R ing the HG? I have a manual, but ssing how someone did it on a real vehicle with mileage and age is always helpful.

Again, Thanks!

 

[robbie]

There might be a couple of write up here on IH8Mud, May be some one has them book mark and will speak up.
I would think you will see something with a compression check(two cylinders talking, one low the next high, you may even hear a compression blast in another cylinder, etc), Do it and if you have questions after post them in a new thread and I will look at them and tell you what I think. If you have the LHH hose back in and do the Little bubble test I am sure you would see tiny bubbles that will make your heart sink.
My story is only one of several that I could tell you, I have customers that have done less and gotten HG problem and some that have done worse, some still driving with HG problems and ingoring it. The whole range of stuff. good luck. later robbie

 

[Scamper]

I think a lot of us ignore the symptoms--either out of ignorance, or becuase we don't want to belive what we're seeing. In my case it was ignorace. I was driving along towing my camper in the Poconos, and noticed the needle moving up--not in the red yet, but heading that way. I didn't now about the HG issue then, but thougt I could nurse it along until I got to some water, or got home. I managed to get it home while keeping it from going into the red.

Took it to the dealer the next day and they replaced the water pump (I could see where coolant was being slinged along the axis of the fan belts, so this was reasonable). All went fine for several months, but then the wife was driving it somewhere when I was at work, and all of a sudden, it started to run really rough and stink like heck. She pulled over immediately (which luckily was right accross the road from the Toyota dealer here) and called me. Of course, it was the HG which had to be replaced.


Bottom line is...had I been as informed as I am now from having been on this site for a while, I would have hauled that truck to the side of the road and called AAA as soon as the needle started moving past mid-way. Maybe even have it towed home.

Now I have the "new" HG and am comfortable with the truck; I don't worry about it. Though I will admit that I do keep a sharp eye on the guages while driveing...but then I always did that anyway, maybe just a tad more now.