Overheating? Boiling Overflow

What is the condition of the coolant? If it is over 2 years old, replace it.

What is the condition of the radiator, hoses, and heater core? If any of these need attention, get them taken care of.

When the heater temperature is set to hot, does the interior of the car warm up?

To fill the radiator: With the car cold, fill the radiator to the bottom of the neck and fill the overflow bottle to the "cold" mark. With the radiator cap off, start the engine, set the heater control to max heat. As the engine warms up and the coolant level in the radiator starts to drop, slowly add fluid to the neck until it no longer drops, then replace the radiator cap.

If all that doesn't cure it then get a gas test done on the header tank to check that the head gasket has gone, (this would actually be the first test I would do, after reading the symptoms)

mrcheerful

Hakaider wrote in news:1_507277 snipped-for-privacy@autoforumz.com:

Your head gasket is probably a goner.

A pressure test will confirm (NOT a "compression" test).

Don't drive this thing around any more than absolutely necessary.

first

Would I have water in the oil if this was the case because I did check the oil and it was dark but not milky so I figured it would be fine?

Would a liquid head gasket repair work for this problem? Is there something you would recommend? Thanks

Sorry - when a head gasket goes, there is no magic potion you can pour in that's going to "make it all better" - and anyone who tries to sell it to you is simply looking for a sucker to bilk. (If you bite, make sure they throw in the deed to the Brooklyn Bridge, too.)

The only real cure is to take it apart and put in a new gasket and repair whatever else is needed. If you do it as soon as you notice the symptoms, you may get away with just buying a gasket kit and the R&R labor.

The longer you stall and keep driving the car with a blown head gasket, the higher the odds of needing far more extensive (and expensive) repairs. Stuff that makes 'buy a rebuilt or used engine and swap it in' look good in a financial comparison.

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Hakaider wrote in news:1_507667 snipped-for-privacy@autoforumz.com:

No way. Don't put that shit in your engine.

Absolutely: You need a new head gasket.

Magical Mystery Goop, bubble gum, Scotch tape, Druidic chants, none of that will help here.

High-tail it straight to your trusted friendly local garage before you cook the motor even worse than it's already cooked.

Depends how it has blown, some gasket blows allow oil and coolant to mix, some oil and combustion gases, and some coolant and combustion gasses, and some a combination of all three.

If it is the latter you will have an overpressurised system and be losing coolant with overheating and steam. It may not even show on the gauge as overheated initially, but the coolant will be hot and being forced out by the combustion gasses, will eventualkly get too hot and lead to a full on overheat.

Thanks very much for your help, everyone. Very much appreciated. I left her at the shop yesterday, and they ran a bunch of tests and there was no overheating.

*No leaks *Cap replaced (couple of weeks ago) *New Thermostat (couple of weeks ago) *Water pump is good *Fan & switch both funtioning *No water in the oil (not necessary if entering the cylinder) The suggestion was to change to coolant as I was running with water (faulty cap was losing water under pressure and there are cats around the house and I would get the blame if anything happened to them) and the coolant has a higher boiling point (in case you didn?t know ) I am just going to check on a price for getting a head gasket installed this week because I am sure you folks are right and it is starting to go. Thanks again!

Did they check for combustion gases in the cooling system? You didn't say, and that's a simple and 100% sure pass or fail test for a head gasket blown between the combustion chamber and a cooling water passage. They don't pop between oil and water nearly as often.

There are two ways to do it - the simple one is if they have an exhaust gas analyzer machine used for smog checks - you hold the tailpipe probe over the radiator cap and collect the gases building up. If the readout indicates hydrocarbons, it's the head gasket. (DO NOT get any liquid coolant in the exhaust analyzer probe, or you can seriously damage the machine.)

Or they put a special cap on the radiator with an air trap, filled with an indicating liquid. The gases building up in the radiator bubble out through the indicating liquid - if the liquid changes color, you've got head gasket problems... ;-)

Either way they test it, you want to put the engine under load during the test to make sure that you catch it - if the gasket is going to leak, it might not leak at curb idle but it will under a full load. For an automatic car it's easy, just put it in drive and load the torque converter. Sticks will require a dynamometer load.

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One more technique is to us an electronic AC leak detector, just hold the probe over the radiator neck like you would with the exhaust gas analyzer.

Did this boiling over start before or after fitting the new cap?

Even if it started after, the pressure cap may still be faulty.

Is it a genuine Toyota cap, a standard parts store replacement or an ebay "TRD"/"Toms" one?

Problem is, some of the generic parts ones aren't made to the same tolerance, and the Ebay TRD and Toms fakes are just downright wrong pressure and can cause the problem you've described because the system doesn't pressurise properly.

Hmmm, this is something I am unsure they checked. I know that earlier in the thread someone mentioned a sure way test to determine if it was head gasket problems, so I figured I would get a definitive answer at the automotive place, but they mostly confirmed what I already knew.

I am not overheating during the commute to work which is about 25min on flat ground. The car started to blow major steam at about an hour drive after going up a fairly steep hill. The automotive tech said they let the car run for an hour and a half but there was no sign of overheating. I?ll take it in on Saturday and see if they can do a test as I am taking the same driving route that morning and it might start to overheat again. Changing from straight water to coolant this evening. Thanks again, you folks are the best!

The old cap was letting water spray out when it was overheating, and I was losing major fluid but the new cap seems to keep the pressure according to the auto shop. It isn?t a genuine Toyota cap, though, so perhaps that could be the case.