New 1st gen owner, some concerns..

Bought my 1st gen today. Previous owner told me about potential overheating but he seemed to not have an answer saying he through a lot of money and parts at it. Traded to our dealership so I technically didn’t even buy it from him. Deal was too good compared to what most of these are selling for. 192k miles. 2.7L. 1998 4WD 5spd. Reg. cab. Good bones, no rust, decent but very dirty interior.

Looks like previous owner installed new radiator and thermostat. New tires and brakes a few months back. Truck drives nice and true down the highway. Clutch seems strong. Engine too. Easily goes 75 mph. But…

Drove it home about 35 miles. The temp gauge seems to creep up above mid level, to about 5/8s. But never really higher, then right back down to middle. But then back up again. I did turn on heat to full blast to make sure I gave it all the chance to not overheat on its maiden voyage to my home. Coolant is clean but green? For some reason I thought pink was supposed to be color. No overwhelming signs of overheating (steam or crazy smell of antifreeze) or even any puddles under the truck. May be a slight smell but it is a 100 degrees out and an almost 200k mile engine. Oil looks clean. All seem full to correct level. Only real sign of overheating is temp gauge. I just don’t trust that it’s not something more major. Don’t even want to “push it” in an attempt to intentionally try to get the gauge even higher. Crazy belt squeal on every start up (3 seconds) warm or cold. Where should I start? Not sure if it is even overheating or just getting warmer than ‘normal’. Slight leak around dipstick, haven’t reached down to it to determine if it is even oil. Gonna start making this one nice over the next few years.

Truck has lots of potential. Gonna be spending lots of time on here in the future and would love some newbie advice! Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to the forum!

Some people still use the green antifreeze

My first step would be check with an infra red heat gun see what the temperatures really are.

If temperatures are in the normal range check the gauge sending unit . Might have a loose connection might be time to replace.

worse case the cooling system was neglected till complete failure might be in need of a good flushing possible who knows.

 

Belt squealing upon starting the engine? Check the tension of all 3 belts belts. If any are loose, tighten them. You might wanna examine each belt for excessive cracking and wear and replace them with Genuine Toyota Belts if they need it. Might wanna replace them even if they don't appear to you to be worn.

Consider flushing the cooling system and refilling it sometime in the near future (I use Aisin 50% premix) although that won't stop the squeal.

 

Thanks for the help guys. Bought a IR thermometer. Just did a compression leak test. All blue until the truck warmed up and coolant filled the tube. Tightened the alternator belt. Maybe just a very quick chirp on start up now! And not consistent. Much much better so far. Gonna do another test with the blue fluid when the truck isn’t nose down in the driveway. Took all the seats out and can’t move until they dry. Some much nasty cigarette tar came out of those.

 

I'd strongly consider getting a bluetooth ODBII + app or scangauge to monitor engine temps (among many other metrics). Much more accurate than an IR thermometer- save that for the pizza oven though. I mean, are you really planning on stopping to pop the hood everytime you want a vague reading of the coolant? Where are you going to take the temp from? open the radiator cap?

 

Gauge cluster is one CTS, OBDII uses another. Who's to say they aren't both broken

 

I'd still take the convenience of reading a gauge over trying to take the temperature of the fluid manually any day of the week.

 

It’s the weirdest thing. I’ll take a ride. Temp stays just below mid level for a while. Then go above halfway. I’ll turn on heat for 30 seconds or so., temp drops. Ill turn heat back off. It will stay cool for another mile or 2 then creep up. I’ll pull back in the driveway. 90 something out right now. Leave idling and temp stays cool. What could cause intermittent overheating? Clutch fan? Very little resistance when turning by hand. Supposedly has a new thermostat as the old one was in the glove box. Wouldn’t a head gasket just straight up overheat and not cool back down so quickly? Coolant still clean. Oil still clean. Hope I can figure this one out.

Probably gonna look into the OBD II scanner.

 

That is why I love my infrared heat gun fast and easy.

 

Confirmed truck is definitely over heating. Started boiling on last drive as I decided to turn on the AC. Bad move, but confirmed the issue. Passing the combustion leak test. Lots of oil on front of engine midway down. Maybe the oil leak is from the head gasket? Since it doesn’t seem to be an internal leak yet. I don’t know. May just swap out the radiator cap and get a new thermostat to see what that does. Supposedly those are both new. Radiator is definitely new though just from a visibility stand point.

 

Go with the Toyota Thermostat and radiator cap if possible .

So many poor quality products on the market these days

Air pockets ??

 

You really need to just trace the whole coolant system. If fan is working and water pump is working, and coolant is cycling, I'd say it's still the thermostat not opening fully

 

Oil leak on front lower engine could be the oil pump cover o-ring. Very common on the 2.7.

 

Toyota noob here. Although my current truck did not have these problems when I bought it, my approach is:

1. Toyota OEM parts only -- coolant, thermostat, hoses, radiator cap, as needed.
2. Drain not only the radiator, but the engine also. The block has a drain plug (my engine is different, but the factory service manual will tell you where your engine block drain plug is). May preemptively replace the thermostat with an OEM one. Flush. Use a vacuum system to refill with Toyota coolant.
3. Definitely get an OBD scanner and use any number of iOS/Android apps to read (I recommend Torque Pro).

 

Some of this sounds like air pockets in the cooling system; the PO could've not bled it correctly.

If it's overheated enough it could have a cracked head or blown head gasket. This also seems to be fairly common on the 2.7 if the PO(s) didn't take meticulous care of the cooling system.

 

Seems I recall from a couple years ago on this forum an OBDII scanner that uses a cellphone app to display info? Just a suggestion.

 

I really like the Air Pockets idea myself.

Some people just have no idea that that could be an issue .

OP did not state any Coolant Loss.

A cooling system pressure test can tell so much.

 

Sub

 

That pesky little block plug…

also, to op, without having a real time reading of the temperatures that the sensors are seeing, the thermometer in the dash is basically approximate. Between my two tacomas, they sit at slightly different temperatures, the needles on the thermometer are actually backwards. My engine that runs cooler (96 v6) actually has a “higher” needle position than my engine that runs warmer (01 v6).

As others here have suggested to you, they did to me, and I got an ultragauge2 for this exact reason. I learned that the needle gave me the impression that the engine was running warm, but it wasn’t, and actually was on the cold side which is how I ended up discovering that my thermostat failed in the open position so the coolant was always flowing and the engine was only hitting 155 at the top end, but the needle was still sitting just slightly above half (this was the 96). Anecdote for sure. et something that you can directly read the the temps the sensors are seeing.

 

Put an open bowl of vinegar in the interior with all the doors shut. It’ll absorb the nasty smells.