2017 tacoma OVERHEAT!

Yes, in a 1984 Buick Century. Overheated, I immediately pulled over, popped hood to cool. Talked to my father by payphone (remember when those existed?) and first thing I asked him was "could it be the thermostat?" He said, "They always fail open, get it towed to the dealer." (I was in LA, he was in San Diego).

AAA towed to dealer. Dealer said they wanted to do $2500 of work on it based on almost no diagnosis at all. Took car away from sleazy dealer. We ended up dollying it down to San Diego. Father decided he wanted to get into it. Replaced water pump (a total pain in the ass). No change. Finally decides to check the thermostat. It was stuck closed. Five dollars and a few screws later the car was back in business.

If he hadn't cut me off with "always fail open" I could have checked and then replaced the thing with almost no effort at all. Instead cost of renting dolly, round trip from SD to LA, hours fighting with water pump and so on.

So yeah - they almost always fail open. But for an overheating engine on many vehicles they are just about the easiest damn thing to check. So always worth checking lest you make the same painful mistake my father did.

 

B

Basically...

The advisor just told me to pull the radiator out and take it to the steamer or a self service car wash.

I thought my fins were all clean but after a real look it wasn’t, I felt like an idiot paying $130

 

Just as a counter point on the tstat 'fail open' conversation.

I've had several t stats fail over many years.

Always closed.

On the road, first step in an over heat situation is turn the heater on full blast. It's a baby radiator after all.

2nd step is to check coolant level, look for burst/leaking hoses or radiator cap, then remove Tstat.

Only time this didn't get me out of a jamb was when the distributor hold down bolt was loose and timing was way advanced.

 

I doubt seriously you have to pull it.

Use a wand with a 90* tip and work from the back side.

Or loosen the mounts and lean it back gently. All you need it room between the condensor and radiator face.

And redo the condensor while you are in there. I'm betting there is still some of that sludge in it too.

 

I drove a car from san Francisco to fort worth tx one time with a blown head gasket. The heater truck worked fine when I had to get off the freeway for gas. Made the trip in like 24 hours considering the time zone change too. That trick helps for sure.

 

I’m getting to that tomorrow. Thanks for the advise y’all!

 

I’ve had 3 fail on me, and each time they have failed closed. I have never known one to fail open from any personal experience on any of my or my friends vehicles. Just look at the standard design, it’s impossible to fail open.
Read the fail part of this, towards the bottom
http://www.stant.com/index.php/english/products/consumer-products/thermostats/faqs/

 

Good luck man. How did I know the problem after seeing your truck? Because when I was young and dumb the same thing happened to me. On the trail. Miles from nowhere. Closest water was about a half mile. We had two coca cola bottles...
I drive around mud now, or go real slow through it. Once is enough.

 

I didn’t know that. So my gmc is gonna loose a head gasket?? What should I use instead? And then back on topic of course....

 

I am no expert on the stuff but every single friend or family that had a GM product with Dexcool suffered Intake or Head Gasket failures. I do think newer gaskets have been reengineered to survive that junk and I imagine if you flushed it completely from your vehicle you could replace it with traditional antifreeze but not sure.

 

Mine’s an 07. Is that “newer”?

 

Good question, when I was searching for replacement gaskets for the Aztek I came across ones that said something like redesigned or resistant to Dexcool.

 

On the (fwd) 3.1/3.4/3.8 liter engines it was the plastic intake gaskets that would break down. The redesigned gaskets were rubber/ metal.

Also the aluminum cyl heads on cast iron blocks was a big part of all those headgasket failures

 

Hi guys, new member with a problem, i purshace a 2018 tacoma 3.5, to make a long story short, standing in line the truck overheated on me, 662 miles!!! 3/4 the needle, took it to the dealer and they install a "electric a/c fan" according with the dealer that was the fix..... 1464 miles on the truck and overheated again.... took to the dealer again, told me to call an 800 number to open a case... this dealer guys didn't think that it was over heating, so i left it on D with a/c on and E-brake up, 50min leiter the needle was at 3/4... 1614 miles on the truck, the guy at the dealer didn't know what to say, i dovumented the problem again so this is the 2nd time i take it to the dealer, know, what do you guys recommend, make it a lemon or stik to the truck until is good?
Unfortunatly I'm a mechanic.... how does the problem occurs, turn it on, a/c on and put it on D and leave it running for almost en hour, you'll see that needle go up.
This guys put the same radiator on the 4 cylinder and the 6, so if the dealer gives me another tacoma it will be the same case, i don't know if i'll make it a lemon.

 

Definitely something wrong, I drove my 17' dcsb in 118 deg. temps a couple months ago, with the ac cranked, some stop and go, some sitting in one place, some moving along, truck never got even close to being hot, ac still blew cold.

 

It only happens when is not moving, on D, a/c on, as soon as it moves or you put it on N or P and increse the rpm's.to 1500 for a couple it starts going.down, i don't know if towing on a hill will race the temp

 

in what situation would someone have their truck in D and not moving for anywhere near 50 minutes? Is P not an option for you?

 

In a trafic jam, bearly moving, like .2 miles per hr

 

I would open up a case and try to get a new truck. The second option is, someone with the same model can try this for you?

I found out my truck overheated due to a radiator full of dry mud. My needle always runs right at 50%.