Water pump gone?

[Trevor]

Took the 70 out today and had a squealing/rattling from somewhere in the engine, sounded a bit like a loose belt but that is nice and tight. Temp gauge is all over the place and noises seem worse when lifting off the throttle.

I'm guessing water pump so will probably take it off and see what condition it's in, wanted to do a coolant flush anyway. Anyone had similar symptoms?

 

[Trevor]

Well it seems that the cambelt tensioner might be the culprit of the squealing noise.

I have taken the water pump off and it's in great condition, drained and flushed the rad. The green water was very very clean when I drained the system and I have a new looking thermostat too. Bothered about the sudden overheating the other day, checked for oil in water and the other way round but looks totally fine. Should I consider changing the temp sender?

Milners are doing a cam tensioner for £19-80 and Roughtrax for £39-60, any advice on which one I should go for?

http://www.roughtrax4x4.com/?doc=16&cid=1135&vid=874

http://www.milneroffroad.com/toyota-uk/ ... ner-pulley

 

[Ben]

bloody hell that doesnt look good Trev.

i fitted a milners belt and tensioners on my 2.4, and as far as i know its still going strong.

id advise you to also change the front camshaft oil seal. mine started leaking after id fitted a new cambelt and water pump, and then it all had to be stripped back down.

 

[Trevor]

Opposite situation for me Ben, I did the cam oil seal before Oct Lincomb last year and changed the timing belt while everything was off. Should have done the tensioner at the ame time D'oh

The weird stuff hanging off the tensioner is a mixture of plastic from the inside of the timing cover and some metal shards which I think must have rubbed off the tensioner pulley.

Still baffled about the overheating situation though.

 

[Ben]

so did you fit a new belt, but re-used the old tensioner?

im pretty sure they should always be changed together.

i think your very lucky. could have been quite expensive if the belt had snapped or jumper some teeth.

 

[Trevor]

It was one of those situations where I was running out of time (remember the rear half shaft bearings and seals fiasco) and thought "it'll be alright". Lesson learnt and wrists duly slapped

 

[Trevor]

Okay, probably a dumb question but.....I'm going to change the temp sender but looking at the thermostat housing I appear to have 2 of them, 1 above and 1 below the thermostat. Does it make any difference which one I should be changing/connecting the gauge to?

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

can't help you with which sender, having 2 is just greedy Is it overheating, or is it just the gauge telling you that?

 

[Crushers]

run a "T" to which ever has the room you need and run your after market gauge from that.

 

[Trevor]

Good question Jon, the gauge has always run just under the red (on the white max line) when getting hot. Otherwise its sits about 10mm below that. When climbing a gradient on the motorway at 60mph I have had to back the speed off to 50 to not let it run into the red zone but sometimes this hasn't helped, I always have the manual fan running as well.

From time to time it will suddenly jump to the top of red and 30 or 60 seconds later jump back down to the max mark, On Saturday it jumped into the red and would not come back down, I had to stop 3 times on an 8 mile journey to let the engine cool for about 15 minutes before trying again.

This combined with the squealing I heard made me think the water pump was U/S but after stripping down I found the water pump to be in great condition, coolant drained very clear and no crud when I backflushed the rad.

I'm now thinking either a defective sender or possibly an airlock, I'm going to replace the sender, thermostat and rad cap as a precuation and refill with Toyo Red. I also got to thinking if the 50mm body lift might have had any effect (not sure how yet) as the rad and expansion tank are now 50mm above their original position but that could be a red herring.

Something is odd as the symptoms on Saturday where out of character, I can find no evidence of head gasket failure but did think I heard the rad kettling, but after finding a stray bolt laying on top of one of the engine mounts it could have been that rattling.

Finally the cab heater works fine and the top hose appears to get hot after the thermostat has opened. Once the rad gets clogged with mud after wading (especially Lincomb) it struggles to keep cool. I'm a bit baffled.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

That's a nice reliable gauge then I think I'd go for an aftermarket one and stick the sender in the top hole, at least that way you'll see a quantified temperature instead of normal / not normal! Good catch on the idler pulley, that would have turned nasty before long I'm sure!

 

[Trevor]

Any recommendations for an aftermarket gauge?

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I tend to use Demon Tweaks - http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/performan ... -dial-kits - have had gauges, senders, adapters and inserts off them in the past but I'm sure there are many other places to get them. VDO have always worked well for me - http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/performan ... electrical for a gauge and http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorspor ... -vdo-gauge for a sender. Just one possibilty of many

EDIT: some adapters here as well http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorspor ... t-adaptors

 

[andyw]

One of those senders will be the gauge, and the other is for the electric fan on the air con rad, well it is like that on Surfs.

 

[Ben]

ive been very impressed with the digital temp gauge/controller i bought for my truck.

less than £10 delivered and works great.

once youve fitted one you will realise how grossly inaccurate the standard gauge is.

my original gauge is up to half way at about 35degrees, it then doesnt move up towards hot until the engine gets up to 85+ degrees!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-12V-BLUE-D ... 5870wt_882

 

[ModelMakerMan]

Ben keeps his willhi stuck in a hole in his truck! I suppose thats what having a girlfriend on the other side of the world drives you to!

 

[Ben]

 

[Trevor]

Hahaha brilliant.

Ben, please save me from trawling through your build thread, did you have to put the probe in a custom made thingamebob or did it fit into the normal sender hole with an aftermarket adapter?

At what temperature would the system be considered running at it highest permissible level without going into the red, i.e. at what temp should I consider being into the danger level?

 

[Ben]

i put the temp sensor inside one of these connectors:-

after crimping it, and wrapping loads of electrical tape around the connector and wire, i undid one of the bolts that bolt the rocker cover down onto the head, and then put the bolt throught the connector/temp probe, and did the bolt back up.

the advantage of doing it this way it that even if you burst a rad pipe/put a hole in your rad and loose all your coolant, you will see the engine getting hot instantly!

if you loose all your coolant with the standard temp sensor and gauge, you wont know about it as the gauge wont go up!

on mine, i like to keep it between 65-80 degrees. anything above 85 and my original gauge starts climbing rapidly, but below this the original gauge wont move above halfway.

with the temp gauge/controller you can set it to switch a relay controlling an electric fan on and off at different temps.

so you could set it to switch the fan on if the engine gets to say 80 degrees, and then switch the fan off at say 70. you could also link up a buzzer/alarm.

i tend to keep an eye on my gauge, which is what i do with all the gauges. id say every 30-60 seconds i have a quick glance at all the gauges, i dont even think about it anymore, its just habbit.

 

[Trevor]

Makes a lot of sense, I like it.............and ordered it already. Well I can't really play with another mans' Willhi, people will talk