hot 4runner yesterday

[andycook]

Took 4runner for its first long trip,
about 1300 miles down to yorkshire from Aberdeen.
It did well,
but on way back up north yesterday, on a long climb up dual carriageway coming upto Perth I smelt coolant and then saw temp needle just touching into red, so slowed down to 30mph and put heater on full heat and needle dropped straightaway.
I stopped a bit futher on, and the coolant had comeout of the over-spill pipe on the expansion tank

I was doing about 75-80 up this 2-3 mile hill, and it was about 20-25 degrees outside. Its a 3ltr TD Manual, it had a lot of kit in the back and 2 bikes on a bike carrier on the back - but NOT towing anything
I have read stories of 2.4's overheating and 3.0's overheating when towing,
should I be worried as I wasnt towing and it still got hot,
I reckon that becuase it was a long hill, and going pretty fast, it was just because of the circumstances and I will just have to go a bit slower in future on these hills

[crazybitch]

After a long discussion with myself, i reckon your heads gone! you don t need to be towing, once that needle passes normal and fluid is expelled you can kiss your head goodbye!! YOu might want to check your radiator aswell, mine was not leaking but had lost a number of the cooling fins which meant less heat dissipation! I think this was what saw off my head, new head new radiator and a huge overdraft later it works

[Koi]

Would check the basics first, stat, rad cap. hose to expansion bottle, viscous fan etc etc. Was coolant level low when you checked it may be a leak somewhere.

[da SLUG man]

did you take a wrong turn? it's never 1300 miles from yorkshire to aberdeen!!

it's not that far from lands end to john o'groats!... hehehe!!... i'm thinking you added the 1 by mistake!

did you check the coolant level before you left?
the towing thing is more to do with autos as the have the trans oil cooler combined with the main rad

[Linda]

Dont panic just yet... you may have been low on coolant anyway, going up the hill in that heat would allow what coolant there is to drain out of the rad, thus heating her up more...I'd check everything out then take her for a spin again under similar circumstances and see what happens.

The 3.0 doesnt have the same tendancy to blow heads as the 2.4, and I've never had a problem towing with mine at all.

The only thing I managed to do was blow a gasket (the original factory one from 1984!!) which was probably due to the octane rich diesel here, plus running octane boosters.
New gasket a few months back and she's been fine ever since (just run 600 miles to Isle of Man and back no probs!!

So fingers crossed for you tht it was just low coolant!!

[andycook]

thanks for replies folks

yes it was a total of 1300 miles, but that was with a lot of driving around over the week I was in yorkshire

on the way down, on a very very hot day and after going up that hill on the A1 past the 'Angel of the North' at 70 mph ish, i noticed fluid under the car at the services near Newcastle, I investigated thinking there was a split hose and it was fluid from the expansion tank overspill -
I hadnt noticed the temp needle creep up,
so i had lost fluid there, and could explain it overheating on the way north

I guess i will keep an eye on things, as it only seems to be on really big hills and at higher speeds that there has been a problem

[da SLUG man]

thanks for replies folks

yes it was a total of 1300 miles, but that was with a lot of driving around over the week I was in yorkshire

on the way down, on a very very hot day and after going up that hill on the A1 past the 'Angel of the North' at 70 mph ish, i noticed fluid under the car at the services near Newcastle, I investigated thinking there was a split hose and it was fluid from the expansion tank overspill -
I hadnt noticed the temp needle creep up,
so i had lost fluid there, and could explain it overheating on the way north

I guess i will keep an eye on things, as it only seems to be on really big hills and at higher speeds that there has been a problem

more than likely the air con giving the fluid under the car... it's just water, nothing to worry about... could just be that you did have a lot of weight and were accellerating hard up the hill... could be nothing, but make sure, just to put your mind at rest.

[andycook]

havent got the luxury of air-con - its a UK model
and the fluid on ground and wheel was greenish - same colour as in the radiator

[rusty]

havent got the luxury of air-con - its a UK model
and the fluid on ground and wheel was greenish - same colour as in the radiator

Sounds like a leak to me.........