Aldiggy

car overheated this morning while warming up first time I have ever seen the guage go so high into the red for a few seconds shut down the motor the other symptoms are
1 system under high pressure after venting pressure gurgling and then cough like sound and upper radiator hose moving to the rythem of the cough sound I suspect t-stat and or pump
2 metal flakes and white to clear grit in antifreeze that shows itself on the reservoir black plastic edges as antifreeze flows and drips over it from leakage
3 when adding water the cough sound got louder is it possible if the water pumps impeller got loose from its bearing it could get stuck or temporarily bound or stuck
4 could not hear any sound indicating scraping of metal from the motor interior ie. water pump area any one had similar experience please advise

RA40

iTrader: (6)

When was the last time the cooling system was serviced? When was the timing belt service?

Aldiggy

I did water pump, timing belt, fan pulley, alternator. power steering pump thermostat and radiator after I bought the car in summer of 2017. posted pics of this work here https://www.clublexus.com/g/album/7731476
today I replaced the thermostat and antifreeze. ran the car for twenty minutes then added cardboard damper between radiator and condenser got the electric fan to kick in removed the cardboard and then pinned the throttle to hang on 2000 rpm for 10 minutes while bleeding and filling till system full with heat lever in up position to fill heater core path. continued test by waiting a furthermore 30 minutes at idle and air conditioner running results temperature gauge stays at top of second mark on dial. Repairs so far look good however still concerned about water pump impeller symptoms of the car while overheating
like like the sound of the cough from lower radiator hose thought the pump got stuck during that, the metal flakes in the antifreeze present at boil over from reservoir, tomorrow will be driving it to be final test on the open road local and highway the car has around 174,000 miles currently 20,000 are my driving miles.......

9/4/ 2019 10:00 pm
Update after today's driving I drove from hollis queens ny to perth amboy new jersey worked for 5 hours and went back to hollis the distance one way is 43 miles the trip to perth amboy was ok, gauge steady at second mark third if you count "C" mark smelled a little sweet smell once during the trip. On the way back she overheated again about half way to my destination. I stopped the car and engine vented cooling system after waiting a few minutes she was still hot and under pressure she spit for a while she was in full boil after waiting added water with motor running topped off maybe and got to my destination with gauge readings normal. apparently the thermostat was not the real problem I may have mixed different types of antifreeze in my car recently the white to clear nodules that came up at boilover probably meant something. I guess tomorrow I will flush and reverse flush motor and radiator and heater core. with garden hose water then refill system with fresh toyota red antifreeze I wonder if there is a solvent I should use when or before I flush systems to make sure pathways are clean or clear of clogging materials. I am interested in your opinion on this thanks in advance ///...///...

sdls

Your car has mechanical problems related to either the motor or the water pump. Either way stop driving it until the issue is resolved

Aldiggy

what is reason you think this ? If its water pump total failure ( impeller broken or bearing races cocked) related I would think overheating would occur rapidly would not be able to get 45 miles of distance with no symptoms.
which leads to head gasket or worse but I noticed yesterday reservoir cap not holding pressure constant drip while engine running when working on it yesterday going to close the system and pressure test it see if it holds intend to isolate the reservoir from the system for testing and then test with reservoir included with new cap installed. this should tell me more if the system wont hold pressure for short term I have a large leak ie water pump weep hole or radiator cap if pressure slowly dissapates likely to be head gasket would you agree with that ? thanks in advance for your input

Yamae

So the problem was started after you replaced the thermostat and antifreeze. Sounds like it was the turning point. I worry that your bleeding method was not OK to remove the trapped air completely. I have never heard of the way to use a cardboard. The manual doesn't show that way. Slowly rising water temperature might be needed to bleed the trapped air since it can provide longer time to escape the air while the temperature is not high yet.

Aldiggy

the cardboard is to impeed air flow so the thermostat will open reducing waiting time the ambient temperature that day was only 55 degrees I have had this car for a few years I do all the work personally my bleeding method is sound I get all the air out for sure the first time it broke down on me a couple of years ago I did the water pump and timing belt and tensioners and successfully finished, using the car as my daily driver since I went nearly two years without problems of overheating. The draincock on the right side of the motor opens but does not let ant water pass thru its clogged I want to remove it and clear the blockage do you know if its threaded path is straight path into engine block or does it have a right angle after straight threads area my thinking was that I could clear debris from the drain by putting drift or wire hanger thru its opening to release the trash blocking it this is a new issue I am looking at the drain was working previously

Aldiggy

also the problem started before the changing of thermostat recently in fact the previous overheating event triggered the new thermostat and flush fill procedure then overheated again after trip to work in new jersey which is 100 miles round trip overheated on the return leg of trip about 75 miles driven.

peterls

That right there explains it. You have no idea how important it is to use ONLY Toyota antifreeze - the red one, diluted to 50-50.
When I bought my car, it had green antifreeze in it, and it ran like a pig. I flushed it, and refilled with distilled water and added one bottle of Prestone "Flush + cleaner", drove like that for a day or two, and then dumped that and replaced it with Toyota coolant. The distilled water came out brown like mud! The difference was like day and night. Even A/T worked way better.
So, start from that, and you probably will have to replace that water pump too.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

I have not time to read all your "answers", but when my 99 LS started running hot we LOOKED at everything and worried for a week and out of desperation, replaced the radiator and it was fixed something somehow clogged half of it up and it was not cooling the water down before it reintered the engine....