zack188

Ok so to begin with I just recently purchased a 1984 toyota pickup sr5 ex cab 5speed for a daily driver. My father had a 85 in his younger days and kinda coxed me into buying one with the storys of how tough these things are. So anyways to my problem. My truck DOES NOT OVERHEAT but will pump out the radiator fluid\water from the hose on top of the over flow tank , I have replaced the radiator cap. I also tried just plugging the hose on the resevoir and that causes it to pop the plastic lid off the resevoir and bubble out. I am not sure if I should just replace the radiator or if the thermostat is bad or worse. This is my first problem.

My second problem is when comming to a fast stop while in neutral OR holding the clutch in the truck dies unless I keep giving it gas while brakeing. Any idea what this could be? I have a new fuel mehcanical fuel pump and I will be replaceing the fuel filter as soon as i can get one. Any help will be appreciated. I know nothing about carb'd motors and i am trying to learn\diagnose on my own as I go.

smurphy

First problem sounds like a faulty thermostat to me.

Second is low float in the bowl. Check the sight glass set into the front of the carb when facing it from the radiator. I had this same problem and I rebuilt my carb after I replaced the floats which fixed that problem.

Good luck and great truck.

mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

Check the radiator for combustion gasses. Sounds like you might be getting combustion past the head gasket and it's pushing your coolant past the cap. What does it mean if there are combustion gasses in the radiator? head gasket or cracked head. Get a tester or rent one from your local auto parts store.

zack188

Well..lets hope its not the headgasket\head. I drained my radiator today and found out it has acorns , yes thats right....acorns in it. So obviously this radiator hasnt been taken care of. Im going to get another radiator with a new cap and a thermostat and see if that fixes it. And for the float issue....i guess i need to rebuild the carb..considering i have NO expeirence this should be interesting...bummer.

Edit- just out of curosity....I drove this truck 80 miles to get it home and it doesnt lose any water until i shut the truck OFF, this is when it seems it builds pressure and shoots the coolant\water out the overflow tank. So i dont think its the head gasket...but could it still be?

swampfox

If it is blowing the cap off the burp bottle, it may have the wrong thermostat , one without a relief valve on it.

XtraSlow_XtraCab

Problem 1:

Replace the radiator and thermostat. Double check the water pump. First off I'd like to remind everyone that, like most materials, fluids expand with heat. When a cooling system is topped off while an engine is cold, there will be coolant exiting when heat takes effect. Now if your bottle started empty, and after a cruise it was overflowing, then yeah... unusual "fluid expansion". Acorns in the radiator will have clogged the cooling tubes, but not ALL of them. Which is probably why your temp gauge didn't rocket up. Had you had oversized tires, climbing a steep grade on a hot July afternoon, and that gauge mighta said something. So the extremely hot coolant that never made it down the cooling tubes built an extreme amount of pressure in the top of the radiator, and the cap performed its job of releasing this pressure/really-hot-fluid at a pre-adjusted 14 or 17 PSI and it dove down into the bottle. Now that the really-hot-fluid is out of the radiator, the process restarts.

If your system is working correctly OTHERWISE, meaning it is still a closed system, then you will NOT have lost noticeable amounts of water. When the engine and cooling system reduce temperature overnight, fluid retracts with the pressure drop/temperature all the way back into the radiator from your bottle. Not just an overflow bottle, but a "recovery bottle".

Problem 2:

Not trying to put smurphy's post down, but I believe your truck would have this same problem just cruising down an inclined road if it were misadjusted floats.

The fact that you bring up BRAKING is of particular interest to me. These trucks are equipped with a vacuum operated diaphragm booster, ala "power brakes". A known symptom with a faulty brake booster is poor engine performance/stalling while braking the vehicle. A ruptured booster diaphragm turns a closed vacuum system into an open one... thus a vacuum leak occurs.

Engines can run (not healthy) with some leaking vacuum pressure, but a leak at the brake booster is an incredible amount and will display the symptoms you refer to now.

smurphy

That is more likely it. When I was having the problem, I had lots of work done on the truck at once. One of the items that was replaces was the booster. (Mechanic leaned on it and had to replace it. Dunno how he broke it, but he did.)

Don't worry about putting my post down. I make educated guess from what little I have done with my truck.

All is good.

zack188

Well today I put in a new thermostat , radiator and fuel filter. Drove it for 10 mins , got home and the radiator was smoking , as well as doing the "bubbleing" noise i described after i shut off the engine. So i let the bubbleing stop and released the cap to let the pressure out , topped it off with distilled water and started it. Now it will NOT idle without me giving it gas. Before it would idle fine in the driveway but when brakeing hard it would die. Now I HAVE to hold the gas pedal just a tad to keep it running. This as well as the top of my oil fill cap being milky and a tiny spec of milk about middle of my dipstick makes me think its a blown head gasket....And since im not a mechanic NOR do i have access to a torq wrench i guess im selling it for whatever i can get ....its a bummer really. Guess its a lesson learned.

Edit- just curious....How would i go about getting the acorns out of my cooling tubes?

mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

where you located? The head gasket job is not that hard. Do some reading and do the test like i said and make sure it's a head gasket job before you send your yota to it's grave. The fsm can walk you through it and trust me there are plenty of guys on this site that have done a head gasket job just through advice from here you can as well.

zack188

Im located in panama city fl. And considering it was my daily drive and now that I cant get to work im probably going to lose my job....I just dont have the $$$. Sure a headgasket kit is 40-100$ depending on which brand you get BUT chance's are i warped the head or cracked it and itll need decking or a whole nother head which is 100's... Idk man... im pretty bummed....just got it like 4 days ago. What a rip off. guess thats what happens these days.

edit - and by testing do you mean a compression test?

mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

Love your home town by the way. I visit it every year and fish out of there at least once a year. Any ways a compression test is always good but not what i was referring to. The test i was referring to is the test you use for the radiator to test for combustion gasses in the coolant. It would give you a good idea if the head gasket is gone. Do me a favor and pull the spark plugs, take some pics and post em up maybe we can get you a good idea of whats going on and like i said the head gasket job isn't that bad and not too costly if you do it right. We just need to make damn sure it's the head gasket before we decide to take the motor apart. Could be other stuff too. (not likely) but you can hope right.

zack188

Just replaced the plugs on tuesday...And wires so i doubt they have anything on em but ill pull em and try to post pictures i guess.

Not to mention I have no idea how i would get my block to a shop to be sure the block was straight\not cracked. =\...ug such a bummer.

And the trucks a rust bucket honestly...I mean...I kinda fell in love the 4 days ive had it and i havent even been in the woods yet. Nothing like the old timey casset played and a dash gauge that doesnt work as well as worn out seats....it was a POS to be honest but its MY POS that i paid for type thing...Was the first vehicle i purchased myself...bluh

mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

Zack, keep it, fix it, trust me you'll be happy you did as the 84/85 toyota is getting harder and harder to find. Best solid front axle and a great rig to start off with. Start weeding out the bs and fixing it as you do it will get more and more reliable. This motor issue will be the first hick up to over come. You said the motor never over heated so the block warping is unlikely and the head will in most cases need to be resurfaced. So head gasket kit is ball p[ark 200.00 depending where you get it from. another 50-100 for the head work if there is any and bam your motor is back and reliable as all get out. If you choose to you could do the timing chain while you're at it and not touch the motor for another 100,000 miles. Post some pics of that rust bucket i bet it's worth it and you're just feeling down about it.

zack188

My local auto parts store said 45.00 for a complete headgasket kit. And I got pics of the plugs i pulled on tuesday "it was doing the same thing as now, bubbleing coolant etc" , also took a pic of the oil cap since its coverd in that milky junk. As far as the rust bucket go's....the bed has typical rust inside and out , its white...the drive door had to be replaced so its black and the inside is shot...dash is torn up and drive seat is toast.

As far as weeding out the bs ive replaced the fuel pump , fuel filter , spark plugs , wires , air filter , radiator and thermostat. The carb and motor are really all thats left to be worked on...besides body which i was going to grind all the rust off\out and bondo it. hmph.... OO and its got 31x10.50 all terrains on it...

mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

if i could afford to take off of work i'd let you fly me down for a few days just to see the beach and fix your truck. You should fix it but the head gasket is an induvidual part that costs 45.00 but the kit (which is what you need) will cost more. Look at engbldr.com for a quality head gasket kit. Use every piece from that kit and get the actual head gasket from a dealer as the toyota oem head gaskets are the best in my opinion. Start researching you can do it and rent the tools you don't have. Bet you have some friends down there as well that have tools and wouldn't mind helping if you offer them some beer or food. If you break anything let me know as i have a great line on used parts for toyotas. http://www.engnbldr.com/

zack188

I have plenty of tools , around three sets plus my dads and plenty of extensions , etc. But i dont have a torq wrench, thats the only thing id need to rent or borrow. I have a picture of the spark plugs as well as the oil cap with the residue. But i cant seem to figure out how to post them.

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mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

use photobucket and post the image code. Its free and easy.

zack188

it wont let me post the pic of the spark plugs....bluh

[IMG][/IMG]

The top and bottom are black and the other two are a clay\whitesh color.

sebastianholmes

if you sell that now and get something else youll end up spending way more than if you just fix it. not to mention i would kill to have that truck, i almost had one, but another buddy of mine got it and now its on 10 inches of lift with 5.71's and 36 inch Iroks.

zack188

my truck is identical to urs sebastian....minus the fender wells and door. Same whip , color , etc. lol about the same hieght to as your avatar.