TRD/ Magnuson 4.0 Supercharger Tips, Tricks, and Mods

Swapped out the 170 motorad for the 180 toyota on my lunch break and took it out on the hwy. After driving about 6-7 miles i pulled off at a gas station and video'd this while idling. Would this indicate a bad head gasket or a rad blockage?

https://youtu.be/Igm5LF9Op8Q

 

Head gasket would only present itself in the exhaust smoke and loss of fluid, also white milky oil. There is a blockage somewhere. Radiator pressure test should determine if there is blockage. Did you use any RTV on the new therostat anywhere? I am trying to discern where a blockage may have occurred.

 

No sir, didnt use any rtv, only replaced the thermostat gasket for the seal. Im not sure where the blockage could have come from besides something caused by old age

 

Good find.

 

Havent had any exhaust smoke or loss of fluid.. The oil also looked normal, just changed it 2k miles ago. No oil in the coolant either, it's nice and pink

 

Could still be air in the system , being purged. Did you turn your cabin heater on high?

 

Yes i did, heater was cold at first, but quickly started getting warmed up until it was blowing hot before jumping on the hwy. Also, the reservoir was filling up again after driving on the hwy. I filled it to the full level, and after driving 6-7 miles on the hwy, it was to the level in the video

 

I wouldn't think your blockage would be anywhere else, but the smallest point of passage inside the radiator itself. You can remove the T-stat altogether to confirm nothing wonky there, but other than that, the cap is holding pressure obviously. You cleared the heater core. Did you dump the coolant out of the block at all? Or just the radiator when you changed out the T-stat and water pump? I have my stock radiator if that helps for you to have if a 4.0L one would fit.

 

Sounds to me like a head gasket. Next time you have it idling, film it again, with you revving the engine. The bubbles increasing speed will be indicative of more combustion gasses leaking out of the chamber.

 

put an indicator light on it. cheap safe measures.

 

Drained the coolant only out of the rad whenever i did the water pump and t-stat. Had done a coolant flush just about 15k miles prior where i drained the block too, and so i just did a swap and refill. Not sure the radiator would change anything now, but thank you very much for your offer! That is very generous of you. Im gonna do a few more things to troubleshoot and we will see where that ends up.

Well hell, thats not good. I will try to get another video later today. Sounds like were about to have this narrowed down at least..

 

This may be a dumb question but i just realized i may have botched the t-stat install.

The post below says that the jiggle valve must be installed upward or within 10* of the center of the top. If i messed up and had this on the bottom, could that cause this issue? I didnt check this during the 170* install or the 180* install but just found it while researching. Gonna pull the t-stat again when i get home to see if that fixes it but now im curious
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...stat-2-gaskets-required.434165/#post-12540354

 

Interesting for sure. I don't believe there is any point of entry in the bottom of the reservoir for combustion gases to cause the bubbling though. It would appear to me that the fluid is at its boiling point.

 

Pull it out altogether and that should answer this question for you.

 

Not having the jiggle valve within 20 degrees or between 11 and 1 o'clock roughly can cause vapor lock and induce air into the system for sure.

 

You mean like take the tstat out and then reinstall the piping and see what happens? Sorry a little confused here

What does this little jiggle valve do? I never even realized it had one

Lol really hoping this turns out to be caused by a stupid mistake i made

 

The jiggle valve simply creates an opening for any air in the system to bypass the thermostat and maintain complete cooling system fluid immersion on the metal thermostat. A bubble will form in front of the thermostat without it and give a false air reading instead of fluid when not properly aligned.

You can take the thermostat out altogether and reattach the piping. This will run a wide open system and completely burp any air in the system and confirm the blockage was/is at your thermostat. If the engine runs cool like this then the problem resides at your thermostat. The thermostat or stats are probably fine and just need to be oriented properly. If not at the top when installed then they won't bleed air past them.


Not a Toyota image, but should give you an idea of what to look for. It will be on the outermost ring and should be positioned at the top.

 

Yep, reinstall the thermostat entirely. It will rule out thermostat botched install or defectiveness entirely.

If it persists you have a bad HG.

One way of making a quick and dirty check AFTER you have ruled out an incorrect or defective t stat is to remove the cap and have someone start the vehicle while the engine is cold. If coolant come rushing out or starts rising quickly, it's a pretty high indication that you have a bad HG.

 

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the info/explanation! Sounds like i may just not be getting all of the air out of the system since i messed up the install. Will keep yall updated on what i find.. fingers crossed

 

Good deal, will do some more troubleshooting when i get off work. Thanks for all yalls help!!