New head gasket, now truck overheats

5vzeg engine (v6), 4 wheel drive. 1996 toyota tacoma was running fine at 200,000 miles and decided to install new head gasket. I had a friend (shade tree mechanic) replace the headgasket while I was out of town. After the installation the truck now overheats pretty quickly after start up and idling.

After interviewing, he was confident the head gasket was the right part and that it lined up correctly. No oil in coolant or vice versa, no lurching at stop signs, truck still runs great but overheats after idling for 15minutes.

I'm going to trouble shoot it in a week but I'm fishing for ideas till then. Thanks in advance.

 

Did you clean the block surfaces before install? Could be clogged passages. More likely faulty thermostat. You should be using distilled water and red coolant.

 

Thanks, thermostat is on the top of my list. I figure I'll remove it and see if there's any improvement without it. At the same time I will work on purging any residual air from the system. I can't say how good of a job was done during the replacement but I was offering to pay him handsomely for the work.

I'm running green and distilled now but only temporary. Could this be the issue?

 

I would think it would be air in the system if anything.

try a burping method.

 

This is why i dont let others work on my car anymore, let alone when im not there to supervise.

The engine is engineered to use Toyota red coolant, the chemical makeup is different from the cheap green stuff. You spent $400 or so on a rebuild kit, what was the hold up on another $20 for the proper coolant?

If you take off one of the smaller coolant lines, say to the throttle heater for example, does the coolant pump out steadily? Could be a big ass air pocket, but Tacomas are not really known for that as much as other (European) cars. Be sure you filled and bled the system with the heater on full hot to allow the heater core to circulate.

 

Raising the front of the car up about a few inches, or parking on an incline accomplishes the same thing. This shouldn't be necessary as the head is at or below the fill neck.

 

I dunno if it can be done on a Toyota but for example a ford 302 you can install the right side head gasket backwards car will run perfect but will heat up really fast. I did it once myself lol.

 

Guys who did this lived out in the sticks, probably they cracked the used manual I bought, saw the text to add toyota red and skipped it as the nearest place to get some was 40 min away. That's just my guess.

For clarification I am not happy about the repair and haven't paid any money yet, till the issue is resolved.

Thanks for the tips, I'll try what's practical for now. Just out of curiosity what happens if I try to go back to toyota red coolant?

 

Youll be removing the wrong coolant and putting in the right coolant. Thats about it. Be sure to flush it with more distilled water first.

Ill add a shameless plug for the place in LA i get all my parts, BMAauto.com in Glendale, CA. Give them a call, they will ship most orders over $75 for free. Other then that you can use Amazon Prime for getting the right stuff out to the sticks quick.

What was the reason for doing the head gasket? It shouldnt be mileage, mine is about to hit 300000 miles on the original head, and there are several here with close to 500k on theirs. Unless there is a coolant leak, loss of compression, etc, theres no reason to touch it.

In any case, anyone who calls themselves of a mechanic should of made sure the car was at 100% before returning it.

 

I noticed a coolant leak out of the engine on the passengers side. It appeared to be from the head gasket.

At the time I purchased the truck was under 97k and it still had the warranty card for head gasket replacement should it fail before 100k. While there was no good reason to change the head gasket the dealer offered to do it anyway. At the time (2003) there was a rumor going around that toyota blew headgaskets at 100k, and I drank the Kool-aid and took the dealers offer. That head gasket saw a lot of highway miles, country roads and commuting 45min up wolf creek pass in Colorado for a couple winters. So a few years later at 200k I see the coolant leak and think "time for a new head gasket".

Hind sight is twenty twenty, I should have taken it back to the dealer. I moved with the truck and have better access to parts and supplies so no more skimping. And the guy who worked on it is no longer a mechanic, he's a handyman now.

 

Sounds more like an Audi rumor. Using something other then Toyota coolant will eventually cause gasket and buildup issues. Coolant leaks from a head gasket will rarely ever be outside the engine, they will often be pulled into the engine. Doing a coolant analysis would have determined this. You can order DIY kits for this, but often collecting a sample as just looking at it for cloudiness or sediment will tell you something.

Also just because its a dealer doesn't mean they will do any better work than a private shop that specializes in Toyota. It will never be put together better than it was by the factory.

 

Yeah, I agree. I figured the dealer was my best bet for west kansas, but decided to help somebody get their business up and running.

At this point I'm hoping for a simple problem and considering a shop for repairs if I can't get it with my meager tools. I figure I can get many more miles out of it if the damage is not too severe.

Thanks again for your time, I'll check back in.

 

Dont know if its true or not but apperantly its not good to mix the red/pink with the green. So when you do the swap back to red make damn sure all the green is gone from the system... also make sure the giggle valve on the t-stat is in the...well shit...i cant rember if its supposed to be in the 12 or 6 o'clock position. The 2.7 and 3.4 call for 12 and 6 but i cant rember which is which(i feel like its the 6 o'clock position). On the 3.4 it makes a 10° difference in water temp if installed in the incorrect position. SOMEONE CHIME IN HERE WITH THE RIGHT T-STAT POSITION PLEASE??

 

It's 12 o'clock.

It wouldn't cause a 10° cooling difference once the engine is warmed up, once the thermostat is open, it's open.

 

I dont have the 3.4 but its been documented and confirmed the position of the tstat does infact make a 10° difference in running temp.

 

Wrong...
Just did a search, as i thought the 3.4 calls for the jiggle valve to be in the 6 o'clock position.

The 2.7 is to be in the 12 o'clock position.

 

I would like to know what brand of unicorns and ponies the person who confirmed that is using in their cooling system.

A less than 1/16" opening, with a jiggler pin through it mind you, is not going to do anything when there is a more than 1" opening created from a fully opened thermostat with pressurized coolant pumped through it. That tiny opening is only to allow air to pass form one side of the thermostat to the other, to prevent air pockets from being trapped in the head as we discussed before.

 

I dont know the reasoning but there is definitely a reason each motor calls for the tstat to be placed 180° from the other...

Any 3.4 guys wanna chime in on this tstat placement 10° difference thing???

 

I was told its not about the jiggler or the thermostat opening but that its about water flow caused by the orientation of the frame that holds the center pin the stat moves on. supposedly it causes turbidity and reduced flow when the stat is fully open if installed with the jiggler at 12 o'clock.

cant say for certain if there is any documented science behind it, but that's the explanation I received about why the jiggler goes at 6 o'clock instead of 12 when the whole idea a jiggler is even used, is for it to bleed air, but yet I am told repeatedly that on the 3.4 engines, it is not installed at the highest position which is contrary to common logic

 

I'd like to hear more about this as well. The pin is there to allow the fluid level to bleed from one side of the thermostat to the other and air pockets to circulate out when the engine is cold. Whatever the engine, it should be the highest point on the thermostat, which in most cases, is 12 o'clock.