carguygt500

ROMANS 567- Your situation is almost identical to mine!!!!

Please keep me posted on how you head gasket job goes and If it eliminated your issues.

carguygt500

The shop told me that they believed the cooling system to have blockage in it.

I took the truck home and took the thermostat out and ran the truck while looking down the neck of the radiator. I found there to be a large amount of black specks floating around, while confirming substantial flow from the water pump. After draining the radiator I found that these black specks were small pieces of RTV silicone which I had used liberally around many of the intake ports and cooling jacket openings.

Now after putting the thermostat back in I still have small issues like air pockets in the system but it is not pushing all of the coolant out of the overflow bottle.

There are still more black specks appearing so I will most likely take the thermostat out again and run the engine without it for a few more minutes to loosen up some more of the silicone.

I will be sure to keep everyone updated as this progresses for the rest of the night and into tomorrow.

The on thing I know for sure is that the head gasket I installed is not at fault.

BY THE WAY DOES ANYONE KNOW THE CORRECT BLEEDING PROCEDURE FOR THE COOLING SYSTEM???? IS THERE AN AIR BLEED SCREW SOMEWHERE?????

flyingbrass

That's good news, mostly.

I posted above what works for me for purging the air. There is no bleed screw. One in the right place could be handy.

carguygt500

Back to square one.......

The purging of the cooling system and trying to remove blockage was all time wasted as he truck is still pushing coolant into the over flow tank.

I'm stumped......

I don't want to throw in the towel and take it to a shop but I'm rapidly running out of options...

Any last minute advice??

95blackToy

On your thermostate you have a little whole with a piece of metal in it make sure that is on the bottom, and what was your method of bleeding it. i had the same problem i had to park it on a steep hill then pour water in it. just jack the front end up with your jack but put a couple of wood blocks under it and go as high as you can. then just start pouring it in after the thermostat opens.

95blackToy

after i did my gaskets i had the same problem. regarding it bubbling out you just got to pour it in slow and keep squeezing your upper radiator hose.

neockder

sounds like the T-stat is seized shut..

Desp

If you're getting a lot of pressure in your system after only a short time driving it, it sounds like your engine might be pressurizing it. With the cap off and engine cool, start it and hold your hand over the radiator opening and put a finger over the overflow opening. Rev it a few times and see if large amount of pressure builds.

You can also rev it and see if it blows coolant out the opening. Some coolant might bubble up just from the water pump flow, but it should only be a little bit.

flyingbrass

You could check the coolant for the presence of exhaust gasses. Test kits are available.

E-mail Ted at engnbldr.com. Describe the situation and ask what he thinks.

flyingbrass

The cap is supposed to hold until pressure in the cooling system goes above whatever the cap is rated at. Above that, the spring loaded part in the middle of the cap opens and blows out pressure/coolant into the overfill (reservoir -- whatever you want to call it) tank.

I agree that coolant running out the top of the radiator with the cap off doesn't mean anything. It's expected.

Lack of coolant, or some air pockets, won't cause coolant to blast into the overflow tank. You'll just see the motor running hot when coolant drops far engough.

Buttoned up, relatively full of coolant, with a functional radiator cap, if the coolant system is being overpressured enough to dramatically increase pressure enough to blow coolant out, combustion gasses are getting into the cooling system. What else could possibly be the cause?

romans_567

Well I finally had time to put the new Toyota head gasket on my 89 22re. I replaced the headbolts and went ahead and torqued it to 60 ft lbs. I filled it up and ran it for a little bit while topping the coolant off. Out of curiousity I pulled the dipstick and it appears to have the old chocalate milk issue. I am really hoping that this is the cause of coolant getting into the oil ports on the block when pulling my head off. It doesnt appear to be alot of coolant in the oil. Just enough to tell there is coolant in it. Has anyone else had this problem? I am keeping my fingers crossed that I didnt damage the gasket while dropping the head back on! I dont think so but my head is good and my block is good. I will go ahead and change the oil tomorrow just to check before just ripping into it again.

Nogarage

Did you run the engine? Is your exhaust clean looking/smelling, or oily or white? Hopefully you just need an oil change.

bend

iTrader: (1)

What kind of t-stat are you running? OEM or aftermarket?

romans_567

I am running an OEM T-stat. I changed the oil and everything looks okay. I was kinda worried because prior to replacing head gasket I was running the Toyota RED coolant and after the replacement I went with the cheaper Green coolant. The coolant in the oil looked to be Green! But anyway after the oil change everything is looking great. I am having issues with the temp gauge not working. I replaced the temp sensor (one on top near t-stat) with an aftermarket sensor today but it still is not working. I am afraid that my engine is overheating and that the cause of this is my fan clutch not working properly (can stop the fan with my hand while running). I will probably be going with an electric fan anyway. Most of the driving is on the highway (55-65 mph) so there is not much fear of overheating but I would still like for the gauge to work. Any suggestions?

carguygt500

Still having cooling systems problems same issues as stated before. I dropped the truck off at my local repair shop to pull a vacuum on the cooling system to make sure I bled the system correctly before I make any more assumptions. I agree that the only logical thing left is that combustion gasses are getting into the cooling system and that im gonna need to do my headgasket again. The shop suspects that my head is cracked which is very strange considering while it was off I had it pressure tested, but no matter. I'll have to deal with doing the job again im sure but until I know I'll keep praying. Check back for more updates as they become available.

carguygt500

Alright the mystery cause of my cooling system problems was......................

A bad TOYOTA OEM THERMOSTAT!

Replaced it and now all is almost well...

I am having a weird symptom now where everything is ok and I'll be driving with my heater on and all of the sudden I will lose heat for a few seconds then I'll get it back????? AIR POCKET??? I'm letting it cool down and I'm gonna keep topping it off and driving it until I get all the air out. Thanks guys any more input would be helpful.

Ron Helmuth

sweet! better than a head gasket or whatever was suggested..

yes when the heat comes and goes that is a air bubble passing by the temperature sensor. burp that baby and all will be well.

I went back and re-read my original answer to you and you will see I recommended just trying without a thermostat to check some results.... any thermostat can fail-even a brand new one.

It's some fun just to test them out with a almost boiling pan of water and hanging them into the water and watching them open up and close back up as you remove them.

We just went through this with our 89 Toyota MR2 and it is even more sensitive to cooling system air bubbles due to placement of the engine so far from the radiator (middle of the vehicle is where the engine is while radiator way up front)

you may want to purge at the heater hoses just to be sure and give you another means to properly flush and vent. Or not...

carguygt500

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll put them to use this week after school.

carguygt500

NOT FIXED!!!! after I start the truck up and run it down the street the idle fluctuates wildly. I go back to the house and pop the radiator cap to find that there is a ton of pressure built up in the cooling system which is all air. After I bleed all the excess pressure off I can drive it around for awhile but my heater works intermittently?? I'm pulling my hair out!!!

Defiantly not air pockets causing this because I can watch the thermostat cycle through the radiator cap and see lots of flow. No air bubbles when warm and running just big issues when its stone cold.

Oh yeah, and its very very very hard to start but after a few seconds of running crappy it runs fine and idles good. I think I'm leaning toward a major head issue like a crack or a messed up head gasket. I'm gonna go ahead and pull it back off and replace it with a new one. Any help would be appreciated.

carguygt500

On everyone's advice I replaced the head with a new aftermarket casting and the problem is GONE!!!! I love driving my truck again!!! It runs so much better ans starts and idles great. Much better gas mileage then before about 24 MPG combined but maybe that has more to do with the new exhaust system I had run (2" from the manifold through a new high flow converter back to a cherry-bomb turbo muffler) still quite and I'm legal.

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice!!! It was all a big help.