Over heating

Start cold and monitor temp. Around 170-190* see if u see the temp suddenly drop. That'll tell you if the thermostat is working / opening. The cooling system is cyclical. Opens to let colder fluid in from radiator, colder fluid closes thermostat, engines heats up fluid, thermostat re-opens etc.

 

Damn looks like you already did.

 

Yeah I followed the procedure posted earlier in the thread, pretty much walking back and forth from squeezing the coolant hoses to checking the temp in the cab. Occasionally i was able to get a few tiny bubbles, but once it was hot, no bubbles were coming out

 

I did not see a significant decrease in coolant temp when the thermostat finally opened, but since I was feeling the hose every few seconds, when the temp was around 195, all of the sudden the hose flowing from tstat to radiator was hot so I knew it finally opened

 

Not 100% sure but I think I remember reading thru something that listed it at 189.

 

Didju leave the funnel in the rad when the t-stat opened? My gut says it's air. Could be the fins were clogged causing it to overheat, then pulling the rad introduced air into the sys

 

Yes the funnel was left in and open the whole time until I shut it off and it had cooled to around 170, then I capped the funnel and walked away. Came back and it was around 100 degrees so I took the funnel out and replaced the cap, the level of fluid in the funnel had not gone down a noticeable amount, and the reservoir was still at the max line.

Ok so presumably that's close enough that in all likelihood I just didn't notice it open right away, but it kept heating up after instead of cooling off

 

So u went wheeling, got muddy, truck was getting hot, pulled rad, cleaned, installed w/o bleeding, still hot, got a coolant funnel and still running hot?

 

That's the extremely short hand version. First i simple greened and washed the engine bay as much as possible, including the rad and condenser. Then pulled the radiator to clean it. After first being told there is likely air in the system, I was able to burp a significant amount of air out of the system, but that did not solve the over heating issue. I got s coolant funnel and jacked the front end up as per suggestions, and was not really able to extract any more air from the system, which has led me to believe there might be another issue here

 

Sorry I was just starting from scratch to see if any new ideas popped into our heads. Wasn't meant to be undermining. I honestly think you got all the air out of the radiator and hoses but there is still some lurking behind the t-stat or in the block. The fins themselves are clean in the radiator? Air flow is able to pass freely?

 

no worries, yes the fins are nice and clean, was able to see some light through the radiator prior to mounting it back up. I spent some time crawling around trying to find the bleeder on the back of the block, but wasn't able to identify it. My hope was that keeping the coolant flowing would pull any air in the tstat or block out to the hoses, but I am not sure that worked. I have an appointment at toyota on friday morning, so basically I have until then to get the air out and hope thats the problem, anything else, and I am hoping to have it warrantied, because if it is the tstat or fan clutch, that shouldnt be a problem at 45k even though its been through mud

 

When those t-stat housings were failing and coolant was leaking from them, I remember someone saying you could see that housing from the passengers side wheel well area. Set a flash light on the center of the engine, aiming down between the engine and firewall, pop the passengers splash guard off and look for the heater houses that go to that housing. If the bleeders on there it'll be a pain in the dick to get to.

 

I'll have to give that a shot tomorrow, every time I try to find anything in this engine bay I immediately miss my 94 4runner and its simplicity

 

.

 

I feel ya man. The whole plenum has to come off to change plugs.

 

I don't know what the thermostat temp is set at for this vehicle, but engines running around 200F is pretty common as it helps ensure more complete combustion.

 

240 seems a little high.... have you tried comparing to another 3rd Gen under the same conditions?

 

Unfortunately I don't have access to another one. However, my stock coolant temp gauge does not move past the middle until it is over 210, and by 240 it is pretty much in the red. Before these issues started I did not have my scan gauge, but driving the same hills with AC on (my truck now its 240 with the heat on) the stock gauge never went past its normal vertical position, so I assume it was staying in sub 210 temperatures

 

Any idea how to find the thread you're talking about? I still can't see anything that resembles a bleeder

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/check-your-3-5l-coolant-pipe.531758/

Search for crossover and coolant etc. Post 9 shows it with the engine torn apart.