Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

[Viking Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Viking]

Gday All,

After a few opinions on the source of an overheating problem experienced tonight.

3.4 V6 165000km auto is what we are dealing with.

Left work and stuck in heavy traffic shortly therafter.
Noticed temp guage nearly in the red.
Heavy traffic Eastern Distributor tunnel due to breakdown.
Switched off in traffic and nursed it for 20mins until I could pull over and let it cool properly.

Cooled for 40mins but guage still around 1/2.
Coolant blew from bottle over battery area.
Topped up radiator with 2 army canteens of straight water.

All good on way home high speed running until hit a few set of lights temp crept back up to 3/4.
Last hill before home engine under load temp up again.

I have searched this site and thinking it could be the viscious coupling , clogged radiator, or worst case a head gasket.

Had timing belt and water pump done not long ago and radiator flushed I think.

Havnt looked at again since getting home as pissing down rain now.

Being a Friday night I have to try to find a mechanic to have a squizz a.s.a.p but do you blokes have any suggestions as to what you think may be an issue.

Thanks heaps for any advice offered.

Craig

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

Gday All,

After a few opinions on the source of an overheating problem experienced tonight.

3.4 V6 165000km auto is what we are dealing with.

Left work and stuck in heavy traffic shortly therafter.
Noticed temp guage nearly in the red.
Heavy traffic Eastern Distributor tunnel due to breakdown.
Switched off in traffic and nursed it for 20mins until I could pull over and let it cool properly.

Cooled for 40mins but guage still around 1/2.
Coolant blew from bottle over battery area.
Topped up radiator with 2 army canteens of straight water.




All good on way home high speed running until hit a few set of lights temp crept back up to 3/4.
Last hill before home engine under load temp up again.

I have searched this site and thinking it could be the viscious coupling , clogged radiator, or worst case a head gasket.

Had timing belt and water pump done not long ago and radiator flushed I think.

Havnt looked at again since getting home as pissing down rain now.

Being a Friday night I have to try to find a mechanic to have a squizz a.s.a.p but do you blokes have any suggestions as to what you think may be an issue.

Thanks heaps for any advice offered.

Craig

Check the oil to see if it is grey. I had a similar thing in a Ford Telstar once and it was caused by a hole in the head, ( Not my head :P ). It was a very expensive fix.

[iggyclaw Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close iggyclaw]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

Gday All,

After a few opinions on the source of an overheating problem experienced tonight.

3.4 V6 165000km auto is what we are dealing with.

Left work and stuck in heavy traffic shortly therafter.
Noticed temp guage nearly in the red.
Heavy traffic Eastern Distributor tunnel due to breakdown.
Switched off in traffic and nursed it for 20mins until I could pull over and let it cool properly.

Cooled for 40mins but guage still around 1/2.
Coolant blew from bottle over battery area.
Topped up radiator with 2 army canteens of straight water.




All good on way home high speed running until hit a few set of lights temp crept back up to 3/4.
Last hill before home engine under load temp up again.

I have searched this site and thinking it could be the viscious coupling , clogged radiator, or worst case a head gasket.

Had timing belt and water pump done not long ago and radiator flushed I think.

Havnt looked at again since getting home as pissing down rain now.

Being a Friday night I have to try to find a mechanic to have a squizz a.s.a.p but do you blokes have any suggestions as to what you think may be an issue.

Thanks heaps for any advice offered.

Craig

Check the oil to see if it is grey. I had a similar thing in a Ford Telstar once and it was caused by a hole in the head, ( Not my head :P ). It was a very expensive fix.

Have you been driving in mud at all recently? I went up to Mt Donna Buang about a month ago and similar problems.

Pulled over next to a river and looked at the radiator front and back. Completely clogged with mud and dirt. Had to pull it out on the side of the road and wash it in the river. Never had any problems since.

That's my thought anyway.

[Prado BB Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Prado BB]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

As Mav said, first and foremost - also look for bubbles in the radiator when engine running with cap off (engine cold). It may also be a stuck thermostat or air lock. Let us know how you go.

Cheers
Andy

[Viking Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Viking]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

Thanks for the replies.

Will keep u updated

Craig

[MDS69 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MDS69]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

All good on way home high speed running until hit a few set of lights temp crept back up to 3/4.



Craig

I thought I had heard/read before that if it is cool at higher speeds ie around 90 and above then the radiator is not the issue.

[fishfinder Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishfinder]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

Sounds like the Viscous hub . whilst stationary the fan is not pulling air through the radiator .

[Viking Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Viking]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

Well....... got it in to a radiator joint and found "supposedly" the radiator was about 65% blocked.
Didnt have a great deal of choice but to throw a new unit in it.
$803 fitted...new thermostat etc... feel like I may have been ripped a tad but I am stuck.
Missus picked it up and when I got home idled it for a while until up to normal temp.
Seemed Ok. I will drive it to work tomorrow and see how it goes.

Hopefully that was the problem and the otherwise the viscious hub in the fan may be the culprit but it was getting hot whilst travelling as well under load ???.

Gotta love cars dont ya !!

CB

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

I bought a 1998 model Prado 3.4L V6 2 years ago with 132,000km on the clock. I've now racked up 201,000km. I first had heating issues just like you when sitting in traffic on the way home from work about 1 year ago. I just glanced at the tacometer & noticed the car was boiling hot with the needle above the red line. I panicked and pulled into the first driveway on the left in a small shopping centre carpark and shut the engine off immediately. Steam was jetting out everywhere & coolant was boiling & spewing out of the overflow bottle. I grabbed a towel and soaked it with water before carefully removing the radiator cap and putting more water in it over the coarse of 30 mins, and drove home. I inspected the radiator the next day (being a Saturday) and found that the radiator was leaking approx halfway up on the L.H.S from what must have been a thermal crack, but not where I could actually see it. I did the wrong thing and added Bar's Stop Leak to the radiator. I added the recommended dose which was a whole bottle full of stop leak pellets for a 6/8 cyl engine. It stopped the leak alright, but also did more expensive damage. It partially blocked the radiator which was fine for road driving, no overheating at all, but when I took the car off-road (sand) or up a steep mountain range where the radiator had to work harder, she overheated almost instantly. I bandaid fixed the problem with stop leak which ended up costing me a couple of hundred dollars more. It clogged the radiator and also around the heads. The radiator had to be replaced anyway due to the crack. I did that myself for nearly $600 over 2 days (brand new radiator bought online). I then ran radiator flush from Supercheap Auto through the radiator and it didn't unblock anything. I took the car to a radiator place and they charged a further $200 to fix the blockage near the cylinder head. If I let the radiator place change just the radiator over they would've charged $1000 easy.

The problem with the Prado radiators is that they're plastic, which means you'll only get 10 years on overage out of them before they create thermal cracks from constantly expanding and then shrinking from heating & cooling. So it's really not a good idea to drive these car with hot engines into cold creeks where the radiator will get partially submerged. I've got to hand it to the cylinder heads through. My car has overheated probably a total of 7 or 8 times to the point of where coolant was bubbling out of the washer bottle, before I eventually got it fixed, and the heads still haven't warped and let any coolant into the engine block. I think I was very lucky, but if you did that with a 4 cyl sedan just once you can guarantee you'd be up for a cylinder head machining at the very least for sure ($500 minimum). The cyl heads on the Prado are very tough.

[The Silver Beast Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close The Silver Beast]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

Hey guys - Is it possible to get an alloy or similar radiator rather than the plastic one??

Cheers, Ben!!!

[fishfinder Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishfinder]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

Hey guys - Is it possible to get an alloy or similar radiator rather than the plastic one??

Cheers, Ben!!!

yes it is but at a cost as you will need it to be customly built

[The Silver Beast Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close The Silver Beast]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

Cheers Fishfinder!!! Will have to go down that way then. Will post some pics and advise on pricing when I get it done.

Cheers, Ben!!

[fishfinder Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishfinder]

Re: Help Please !!!... Overheating issue 3.4 V6

Cheers Fishfinder!!! Will have to go down that way then. Will post some pics and advise on pricing when I get it done.

Cheers, Ben!!

Best place to go is a company that does industrial radiators as just about all their work is measure and build from scratch but like I said it will be expensive