Damn Toyota cheapass radiator!

[Snag]

Damn thing only lasted 344.800 miles ! Of course I don't know for sure if it was the original , I've only had this 1999 4Runner for about

100.000 of those miles ... there's a new one and a couple gallons of antifreeze awaiting installation . Anyway , the top tank cracked on our way home today , I managed to nurse it the last 10 miles home without putting the temp gauge into the red zone . We went to a nearby larger city for lunch and to pick up a birthday present for my wife (her b'day is today and still hotter'n original sin (we've been married almost 50 years)) . She's been eying those yard art tin roosters at that flea market for a couple of years now , so today I did what she's often done for me - bought her something more expensive than than she'd buy for herself . It was an awesome day right up until the last 10 miles home . I was lucky , the local O'Really (a great bunch of guys work there and they all know me by name - when I walked in the door this afternoon Marty told me he hadn't had time to pull the radiator) had one in stock , and a neighbor drove me to town to pick it up . No doubt about what I'll be doing tomorrow ! If I have time I'll figure out why my truck is overheating (fresh built motor & trans) - it's either a bad t-stat(new one too!) , a worn out water pump , or there's a possibility rodents built nests in the radiator while it was layin' out awaiting re-installation . The cats (feral/semi-feral) do a pretty good job but they occasionally miss one .

[Ed Pawlowski]

Check with the dealer. I think the warranty on them is 345,000 miles. They've cheapened stuff and just not to last much now.

[Snag]

Thanks Ed , I needed that laugh !

[Jim Joyce]

I had a similar thing happen to my 1984 Toyota Celica with about 230,000 miles. Climbing the mountains as I headed west on I-70 out of Denver on my way to Las Vegas, the temp gauge suddenly shot up into the red. I turned on the heater full blast, which sucked because it was a hot day in July, but that quickly pulled the temp back down to normal. I added water a few times throughout the day, but I continued my trip and didn't replace the radiator until I got to Vegas.

That was a good car, despite the crappy radiator. I had it for 4 years and sold it for more than I paid.

[micky]

I had something similar to that. It started little, worked its way up.

Transmission went clunk a little bit, when decelerating from 60 to 59 or

10 to 9. Took it to a place that would check xmission codes, for free no less.

In the waiting room, look where he took the car, the car is gone!! Didn't come back for 30 minutes. He took it for a testdrive, in the rain, without asking me or telling me.

Then he claims to have checked the whole car. I did't ask for that.

Motor mounts Left tie rod end, One thing I forget.

Even if I were going to pay, it wouldn't be there because I can't walk home. I try to replace right motor mount but I should have bought from Chrysler. The new one doesn't fit. So I try to replace the front one, but can't do that either, and in the process I scratch the radiator

Later I decide I didn't need a motor mount anyhow.

I do replace my tie rod end. Not too hard and I'm careful and don't ruin alignment.

Now radiator leaks. Add one or two stop-leaks, the little brown balls. It helps and everything is pretty good until my brother rents a vacation house for a week near Dolly Parton and Gatlinburg. Climbing up the moutain one of the short heater hoses starts spurting. I cut off an inch and reattach it. 2 days later a different hose spurts, I do the same thing. By this time I'm carrying 4 gallons of water in my car. Going home, over the peak of the mountain, another spurt at tthe top and now and I'm adding a half gallon every 5 or 10 miles. It only overheats once and I'm parked on the highway when I taxi stops. No I didn't call him but I took his number in case I needed it. Crawl into Ashville NC.

Oil in the antifreeze. Buy a new car while I'm in Ashland.

All because I took the word of that shop that I needed motor mounts and then didn't do it right.

This all took several months and during that time, the clunk went away!

[Jim Joyce]

That's quite an ordeal!

[Ralph Mowery]

Sure glad I got rid of my 1991 Camry with only 195,000 ,miles on it before a major break down. Only spent about $ 600 for one sensor during that time other than standard service items.

[Snag]

This SUV has been mostly free of major problems . Of course your idea of major and mine may not coincide . Here's a rundown : Blew a spark plug out of the head . Probably cross threaded at some point prior to our ownership . Shop (estimated) cost to repair around

1500 to 2500 bucks . I spent a hundred bucks and some time in the machine shop making tooling . Dropped a lower ball joint at around 325000 miles while out of town visiting family . Don't remember how much it cost , but it was about a quarter of having it done by a shop . My son still had enough tools to get'r'done . This radiator replacement - no idea how much a shop would have charged to replace it , but you can bet your sweet ass it would have been more than the less than 300 bucks I spent on parts . Right now it has 344,800+ mile on the clock , burns no oil but leaks a tiny bit , gets 16-20 MPG depending on winter vs summer gas and type of driving . And it can't be hacked ... though an EMP would likely take it out . Note to self - get that points setup for the '86 GMC !

[Dean Hoffman]

Never have radiator trouble again.

[micky]

As luck would have it. my 2005 Toyota (Camry) Solara just set a code yesterday, P0157 02 Sensor Circuit, Low Voltage, bank 2 sensor 2

Just started reading what it means.

Car still runs fine, power seemed normal in easy city driving, but tomorrow I try accelerating etc. No exhaust odor noticed, but I'll do some active sniffing. No more noise than usual so exhaust leak unlikely. CEL on.

Possible causes, it says: Faulty 02 sensor (most common, it says) Short on voltage to 02 circuit. (How to measure this? Have to get under the car?) Exhaust leaks -- before the sensor. iirc easy enough to check Fuel Pressure low (Is this a good excuse to buy a fuel pressure gauge, or should I just check how fast it accelerates?) Engine running lean. (That would likely be an air-input leak, which should affect both banks.)

fixdapp.com/blog/p0157-code/ says to check the live data. Oh, goodie, a chance to use the code reader's live data.

About 150,000 miles.

My priviuos Solara, 2000, they in S. Carolina told me at the dealership (not Toyota) tha tthey were selling a Toyota because it belonged to the boss's mother, who lived in Florida most of the time, and had the car garaged when she wasn't using it. A likely story, but I did find some evidence it was true. I forget what that was. But the car was as good as they said.

I don't know about you guys, but I have that problem with the people I know in RL. Major problems I don't like but medium are an opportunity to fix something.

What kind of tooling? Did you need to insert a wachamacallit? Threaded insert with a clever name.

Money spent on tools is better than money spent to hire labor at a shop.

EMP?

[Clare Snyder]

Those jap engineere aren't as good as the American engineers. The Americans are so good they can design failure to within 0 tp plus 3 months or 0 to +500 miles nine times out of ten!!!

Seems I got one of those 1 in ten where they royally screwed up. At

27 years come may and 382000Km (237400 miles) my '96 Ranger is over 90% original. Replaced rad, water pump and alternator within the last 2 years and about 5 other minor parts in the lat ten, not counting brakes and tires.

[Clare Snyder]

Back in the early eighties when they (Toyota) switched from copper rads to aluminym with plastic tanks the aluminum fingers that crimped over the plastic tanks to compress the o-rings had a bad habit of relaxing and letting go. Then they switched to mild steel crimp rings

- and after about a year or so they rusted and swelled - with the same reult. The fix for both was a redesigned stainless steel crimp ring. I must have installed several hundred of those - after having re-crimped at least as many aluminum anf steel ones.

[Clare Snyder]

Those are the only causes other than a bad cat - the #2 sensor has NOTHING to do with the operationof the engine - it just monitors the catalytic converter. Ift the #2 sensor tracks the #1 sensor the cat is tired. The P0157 code is just monitoring the health of the sensor -

Most likely cause is a corroded connection somewhere. The only time an air leak, fuel pressure, or any other lean condition will trigger a

157 is along with a P0174 code. If you have a 157 without a 174 it is either a bad sensor or an electrical problem - better than 99 times out of 100.

equivalent on bank 1 is 171 and 137

[Snag]

Mickey - I machined some alignment bushings to make sure the reamer/threading tap went into the hole correctly aligned .

Bob - I used a combo reamer/tap kit . Coated the end with grease to catch the chips , pulled it out often to clean and recoat . Worked out swell . The insert I used is a solid threaded sleeve , has a cannelure kinda on the top end and a special punch to expand it into the surrounding metal . Once it's locked it doesn't come out .

[Snag]

On 2/11/2023 11:33 AM, Clare Snyder wrote

Electromagnetic pulse weapon . Blows up solid state electronics with a current surge - but you probably already knew that .

[Snag]

This one has a crack across the front of the top tank about 8" long . A relaxed crimp ring would have been easier to fix . Turns out the truck wasn't actually overheating but the sensor was sending bad signal , I think it was because of a lousy connection to the sensor . The little plug thingy is damaged and might not have been making a good connection .

[micky]

174 wasn't even pending. Should have said that there were no pending codes. Good.

Thanks. This should speed up my troubleshooting.

and thanks, Bob and Snag.

[micky]

That would mean it's just a false code, right? Not even an air pollution problem.

The page I loooked at said to have it fixed or eventually you'd ruin your engine, but wasn't that warning left over from other pages where it's true.

Even a bad cat would only cause pollution, but no damage to the engine.

(That doesn't mean I won't fix it, but I won't feel so rushed to do so either.)

That's all I hae, a 157.

Nope. (For other readers, there are two cats, so there could be a cat problem on one bank but not on the other. They are small. I think there's a bigger one downstream.