Water pump failed, truck overheated and blown head gasket

[MTL_4runner]

I've had quite an ordeal the last week or so with my 4runner and I might as well post it up right away so all can benefit from it.

This was from Aug 3rd:

I was on driving on vacation and about 2 hours into my trip I heard a wierd muffled squeal and then nothing. A vehicle had just passed me on the highway so I assumed it was a bad belt on the other vehicle. Then about 5-6 minutes later I looked down and saw the temp guage completely redlined!!! We lucked out and only 1 mile ahead there was an exit. We took it and lucked out again because not only was there a gas station and restaurant, but also a tow truck company (evidently I wasn't the first or last to break down on that stretch of road). I asked the tow company if they could help me out after the truck cooled down so we went in and ate a nice lunch. We also had CAA (canadian AAA) so it got towed for free to the nearest Toyota dealer. They were very nice and quite frankly being on vacation, I wasn't in the slightest mood to want to try and fix the vehicle myself so I turned it over to them (and privately prayed it wasn't a blown HG). They called me back and said the water pump seized, but I was super lucky because the bearing spun in the housing and prevented the timing belt from breaking. The mechanic said the belt was litterally ready to go. The engine got pretty hot but I think switching to the synthetic engine oil really saved my butt because it was still a nice light honey color when I checked it right after overheating (I bet the old dino oil would have been nothing but sludge). I told them to just fix it well (new WP, timing belt, thermostat, idlers) so I'm not sure what the bill for that will look like (I was guessing around $500-600 at full dealer rates). Anyway, I also found out that Toyota has their own rental car company/fleet and we just went ahead and rented a new 2007 Camry for the week (very nice car and my wife now wants one to replace the Civic.....we'll probably do a few test drives when we return the rental ). So that will add a bit to this weeks bill, but really it ended up one of those situations where we took lemons and got lemonade in the end. I'll pick up the truck at the end of the week when we head back north again.


This was from Aug 11th:

Well, the saga continues.....We dropped off our rental Camry yesterday and paid the $900 they wanted for fixing it. Then on the way back home it with the 4runner the darn thing overheated again on the highway after about 1 hr or so of driving. I think it may be time to step out of the truck and start looking at other options. This really sucks since that is the first time in over ten years that I owned the truck that it has ever broke down but to have it fixed at the dealer and the to go south again was enough to shatter my wife's confidence in the vehicle (ie even if I put a new motor in it I doubt she'd ever drive it again). We'll be vehicle shopping on monday and see what they'll give me for a trade-in on it. With small kids we just can't afford to have this type of thing happen so I'm not going to even attempt to fix it at this point. I'll let you know how I make out when the smoke clears.

[Lee]

awwww man that sucks sorry to hear that jamie. You should call that dealership and complain like mad... see if you can get SOMETHING out of it.

this would be an AWESOME truck for someone to buy, theyd just have to fix each cooling system item one at a time to see which will do the trick

[MTL_4runner]

Well, I talked it over with my wife this morning with the ability to put a bit more rational thought behind the problem at hand and I think we might change the gameplan a little bit. The 4runners up here are horribly expensive (try $40k for a 2007 V6, 4x4, SR5 and choose your color then if you want to step up to a Limited try more like $50k......that's almost 1/3 of what my house cost!!!). The other issue is that going to a dealer with a wounded vehicle is like chumming the water while trying to catch fish....very bad idea. So I think the plan now will be to keep both the 1996 4runner and the 2002 Civic and then just start looking for an 07 Camry (we'd been considering this lately anyway, this just forces us to do it sooner.....we already know we want one after renting one for the week).

The other side is that we need at least one vehicle that is good in deep snow (Camry and Civic aren't really going to cut it around these parts), so the thought is for me to repair the 4runner before winter arrives. The 4runner is still in great condition, I just bought new CV axles for it, replaced an O2 sensor a while back, got new summer tires so I now have almost new full seperate winter / summer tire sets and it now has another $900 worth of work put into it (waterpump and all this week). Then to basically give it away for a song and then watch someone else fix it and drive it locally would be like a kick in the nuts every time I passed it on the road. So I'm going to fix it as a project vehicle now (which is much better IMHO because it's no fun fixing a daily driver....I'm way too old to be doing that these days!).

[Lee]

good call! i like that plan

i want a camry/corolla for a DD so bad... i love the latest body style corolla but... talk about holding their value!! ive seen 03's and 04's with near 100K that are still around 9-12K

[MTL_4runner]

Thanks Lee, I like that plan alot better myself too.
I would get a Corolla, but with kids it's just too small on trips.

Now I just need to add 2 more tools to my collection (coolant pressure tester and cylinder leakdown tester.....I just got my borescope on my trip to Boston so that should come in handy here no doubt). Just when you think you have all the tools too. Guess it's time to start scanning eBay for tools again.

I'm going to run a cooling system pressure test to 15 psi and then a block test to make sure no combustion gasses are in the coolant (which I hope they aren't because that will mean either a HG or the heads/block are cracked......either way that probably means a used motor for me ). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's just something stupid and simple.

[Lee]

gotcha. i assume you have run down the typical radiator / thermo / fan stuff?

your rad could be clogged if its the stock one

[MTL_4runner]

Whatever this issue is, it's definately related to the waterpump going south and any subsequent repairs so I don't think it's going to be a clogged radiator or it should have shown up earlier. I do see some coolant residue (like where the cooling system might have let go) down near the lower radiator hose (where it attaches to the radiator) that the dealer just replaced. The spray pattern is just down low and not all over the reservoir and side of the radiator when the WP let loose the first time. I also had some trouble getting the top radiator hose to seal (at the raditaor) so it may be as simple as that. The thermostat was replaced at the dealer when they did the WP and the fan seems to push more than enough air (it's not doing much at highway speed anyway and that's when it overheated). It's also a good clue that whatever it was that went, it took almost 1 hour to show up and even after overheating the truck still idled and drove normally (HG issues often don't). The second time it also began to cool back down (at least to just below redline) when I lowered my speed (ie going from highway speed down to 30-40 MPH). I haven't had a chance to go out and look at it today, but hopefully this week I'll get it diagnosed and on the way to being nursed back to health.

All I have to say is thank God I switched to synthetic engine oil before the trip!

[MTL_4runner]

Well I went out and played with the motor a bit and tried to see where the issue might be. It started fine, but had a bit of a wierd noise which smoothed out after a few secs. The one thing I did notice was that the top radiator hose seemed to build pressure quite quickly and the coolant got very hot in a short period of time. I think I need to pull out the thermostat and see if the engine will still overheat (it might have gotten toasted in the 2nd overheat). I also noticed the engine would stall a bit and did shut off sporadically a few times. Something odd is definately going on and it's looking more like a HG issue. I know these motors (3.4L and esp the 3.0L) are highly suceptable to even a slight overheating so that would make sense. I'm going to pull the plugs next and use the borescope to see if any of the cylinders show signs of an HG leak.

[Lee]

yeah that plagued the 96 & 97 3.4's

[MTL_4runner]

Worst part is I already did the HG recall (and the campaign is over anyway) so it's a DIY job for me this time. As long as the block and heads aren't cracked or in need of resurfacing, then I'll be a happy camper. At least there's no time pressure to get this fixed asap anymore. We're going to look at new Camry's today.