1994 22RE True Temperature

Please Advise, i just replaced my head on a 22re engine in a 94 toyota pickup (4x4) due to a defectively machined ramanufactured head. the machine shop said that the heat plug was popped, meaning that it had overheated but even after the head gasket was blown it never overheated according to the temp guage. the guage seems to work fine with one exception, occasionally the needle would fluctuate between cold and normal (from normal to cold and back in about a second, over and over) then just stop doing that, all the time running fine and never going past the normal postion. the coolant level was fine during that time. any ideas what could have caused the fluctuation and how i can make sure the temp guage is always working properly since it usually seems to work fine? i know the first thing anybody says with a overheating problem is to change the thermostat, but at this point i don't think it's overheating, i just need to make sure i can see it on the guage if it does overheat since the machine shop says the heat plug was popped. I have a chilton's manual but no real help for this problem and, of course, the parts dealers at toyota are rude and don't try to offer any help.

shane

Reply to
sspndrby
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Almost sounds like air trapped in the cooling system. You will often see the temp gauge drop to or below normal when the coolant is low. The reason for that is that there isn't any liquid to transfer the heat to the sensor. That happened when the head gasket blew on my 22r.

I was driving home from work when I noticed the heater temperature was getting warmer, then, all of a sudden it became very cool. I pulled over and saw steam comming from under the hood. I sat there for about half an hour to let it cool. I didn't have any water, but since I was only a half a mile from home I drove it the rest of the way.

I left it sit for at least two hours then filled the radiator with water. I started the engine and it sputtered but ran. I saw steam coming out of the tailpipe and knew what had happened. I let it sit until the weekend. I knew better than to try and start it because there would be water in at least one combustion chamber so I pulled the plugs and cranked it over. Water shot out of the number 3 cylinder. I then put the plugs in and steamed my way to the garage (about two miles distance)...

Tom - Vista, CA

Reply to
TOM

Dont go to Randys Foreign Car Clinic in San Diego. He will totally ream you. He will want to rebuild your engine and send the parts to the machine shop where they will remachine the parts over and over again till there is nothing left and take 2 months to do it... and the engine will berely last 1 year then they will charge you a percentage to have it rebuilt again...

there is a place in Miramar/San Diego that only does engines. Buy a new or rebuilt longblock from them.

If you dont want to wait 3 months and spend thousands of dollars.... dont go to Randys ....

Reply to
diespammer

Thanks for the tip. Information like that is always appreciated...

Tom - Vista, CA

Reply to
TOM

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