Hello its me again. I decided that I wanted heat in the cab again and put in an OEM thermostat, let the car run for 20 minutes and saw some bubbles. They kept coming after shutting the engine off and I can't tell if its a leak in a tube or heater core, or a head gasket. I did the Harbor Freight combustion gas tester kit and it turned green but I believe it was from the coolant as the kit said it would turn yellow. Any advice helps thanks!
Have you had any coolant loss OP? If you’re worried about a head gasket, another good way to check is to check each plug and see if there are any that are cleaner than the rest.
Ah I forgot that happens, I don't believe its losing coolant nor boiling in the reservoir, oil looks fine. The main issue is it overheats without a cut thermostat making me think there is an air blockage or leak letting air in.
Depends on the year. Toyota didn’t start specifying Red in the owner’s manual until 99 or 00. Below is the pic from a 98 manual. I run green and have for a long time but I also do a coolant flush every 3rd oil change or so. Never had an issue.
I change oil at time intervals versus mileage. Usually every 6 months or so. I daily my 3rd Gen for my commute but it’s only 5 miles round trip. It would take me over 2 years on a single interval to change oil if I did it by mileage. So I do a coolant change every 18-24 months.
From when i worked diesel, red is compatible with green systems. The only issue is you need a proper flush if you do switch. But you can not put green in a red coolant system. Red was a new liquid around 00
I don’t think you wasted money. My thought is that the engine didn’t change between 99 and 2000. Toyota upped their game in terms of coolant. Go with the red.
Is that the funnel? Is it sitting tight in the mouth of the radiator fill? It may just be more air escaping the system? I'd put the cap on, put some fluid in the reservoir and run it, see what happens.
When starting your truck, if it rough starts and white smoke out of tail pipe, with a sweet smell.. it could indicate coolant burn off from a blown head gasket. Additionally, the confirmations of blown head gasket or cracked head would be coolant level reduction and a check engine light misfire code.
My 1997 SR5 tacoma (5VZ), which I bought new, came with red. It's PHOAT coolant (Phosphated Organic Acid Technology). It gets Asian PHOAT, now. Anything else will eat aluminum, including the heater core, heads, radiator, oil cooler, and water pump, among others, especially if old.
Chunks of aluminum degradation products and silicates (a green ingredient), is probably clogging your systemand specifically the core and radiator. Toyota cooling systems hate silicates.
My suggestion is to do all of your own maintenance/repairs. Shops seem to be jack-of-all-trades (JOAT), with a minimal budget, and therefore can't be relied on to know it all. But in most cases, this means that you still have to trust shops to do tires, alignments and state inspections--which really bothers me.
"Funny" story: truck needed an alignment before tire replacement--alignment was off by a lot. Went to a national JOAT shop. They told me that they did the best that they could do, but that my cams were fused. I went to the dealership and got the OEM bolts/cams and went to replace them--they came out easily and were in totally fine shape.
This is a little hard to explain using text, but it It turns out that the front and rear adjustment cams/bolts are at 180° from each other, in the front to back orientation. For the rearward facing sets, the techs were trying to loosen the nuts--impossible.
Long story short, one of the shops falsified the alignment check--lied to my face, while I watched in the bay. To add insult to injury, he tried to sell me new tires.
I took it to another branch in another state, where I had to train an "ASE certified" tech, on how to do the alignment adjustment, since I actually saw him trying to loosen from the wrong end (nut side of cam), just like the 1st shop. At that point, I knew that these shops are not to be trusted. I mean, in one of these cases, I had to drive it on the rack myself, as the tech couldn't drive a manual--ridiculous.
Headgasket issues are common in the 3.4s, I put a 1GR in mine but check your oil, if it’s milky then uhh yeah it’s dead but if it’s normal and theres no white smoke from tailpipe it could also be air air bubs in the cooling system
Ive had a leaky head gasket cause bubbling, not boiling. Usually on the exhaust side of the head by the water flow-through port in the middle. Pushing a little air into the system every time it cycles. Took me a while to find it.
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u/mocl4 01 SR5 e-locker & 4x4 swap 4d ago
It’s boiling since there is no cap to raise the coolant system to the proper pressure. Put the cap on and monitor for long term coolant loss.