JL Rockies
Binders Fulla Expo
- Location
- Draper
As many of you know, I've been on extended campaign on the US Peninsula. Since arriving, there have been some issues that were not apparent in UT, and for the most part, I learned to live with them. Things have become more serious in the last few days. I'm no mechanic, I will do my best to describe.
D.A.V.e 1997 4Runner 3.4 liters of awesome, 248k miles
When the truck gets rained on overnight (sitting in the rain, not driving in the rain), D.A.V.e runs like poop until the engine is operating temp. I assumed it was some condensation on something electrical that burns off with the heat of the engine. It never threw a code and it was not a huge deal. Until about two weeks ago, it became bad enough to get a multiple cylinder misfire code. I cleared the codes and they haven't come back.
Out of nowhere, D.A.V.e became hard to start when the engine was warm, had to flutter the gas pedal like my old Ford Grenada to start it. This went on for about a week or two, and has effed off.
Last week, I was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and noticed the engine chugging to the point I thought it would stall, I kept my foot on the gas to keep the RPMs up and got to where I needed to go. Ten minutes later, I was heading back to work in the same traffic, the chugging started and I noticed the temp gauge was off the scale. I immediately put the heat on full blast, but no heat came out. I managed to make it back to work and checked under the hood, I heard no boiling and the overflow bottle was bone dry. Not wanting to open a hot radiator I filled the overflow bottle with water and started the engine again. No issues at idle, drove home that night without incident, no issues for the rest of the week. No clue why no heat came out, seems to work now.
Monday was the first day I could look under the hood since the overheating event. The overflow bottle was empty, I pulled the oil dipstick, wiped it, put it back in, pulled up a clean dipstick. I'm pretty sure that is an indicator of NO OIL IN THE EFFING ENGINE. My last oil change was August 4k miles ago and I had it filled with synthetic oil. The tech showed me the dipstick after the oil change so I know it had 5.5 quarts in it 4 months ago, I've no idea how long it has been going with no oil in it. It's been a known issue that the valve cover gaskets leak, but I had no idea it's been 5.5 quarts worth of leaking gaskets. When I worked at the dealership I changed my own oil at the same interval and it was never empty. No oil light came on. I want to Vato Zone and filled the engine with oil and had no issues.
This morning, I drove to work, and as I pulled in to the parking lot, D.A.V.e stalled. It's the first time it's stalled in the almost 4 years I've owned it. I wasn't like a sputtering, it was like the key was turned off. It started right up again, but with everything else going on, it's given me pause.
Whats been done since I've owned it:
Timing belt and associated parts 3/11
Passenger side valve cover gasket 5/11 (driver side is hard)
Radiator, hoses and related cooling parts 12/12
When the cooling system was replaced, my tech friends did an exhaust gas test in the radiator to check the head gasket and it passed.
Things that I'm pretty sure I'll need:
tune up
valve cover gaskets done
have someone look to see where the coolant and oil is going
no more synthetic oil
It runs smooth, makes no funny sounds ('cept for an exhaust leak), no white or black smoke coming out the pipe. I would love to get a few more years out of this truck, but it looks like I'm going to have to invest some coin to make that happen. I'd like to go into this armed with as much information as possible. There is quite a talent vacuum going on here and very few people can be trusted. Please share your thoughts and experiences on this issue.
D.A.V.e 1997 4Runner 3.4 liters of awesome, 248k miles
When the truck gets rained on overnight (sitting in the rain, not driving in the rain), D.A.V.e runs like poop until the engine is operating temp. I assumed it was some condensation on something electrical that burns off with the heat of the engine. It never threw a code and it was not a huge deal. Until about two weeks ago, it became bad enough to get a multiple cylinder misfire code. I cleared the codes and they haven't come back.
Out of nowhere, D.A.V.e became hard to start when the engine was warm, had to flutter the gas pedal like my old Ford Grenada to start it. This went on for about a week or two, and has effed off.
Last week, I was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and noticed the engine chugging to the point I thought it would stall, I kept my foot on the gas to keep the RPMs up and got to where I needed to go. Ten minutes later, I was heading back to work in the same traffic, the chugging started and I noticed the temp gauge was off the scale. I immediately put the heat on full blast, but no heat came out. I managed to make it back to work and checked under the hood, I heard no boiling and the overflow bottle was bone dry. Not wanting to open a hot radiator I filled the overflow bottle with water and started the engine again. No issues at idle, drove home that night without incident, no issues for the rest of the week. No clue why no heat came out, seems to work now.
Monday was the first day I could look under the hood since the overheating event. The overflow bottle was empty, I pulled the oil dipstick, wiped it, put it back in, pulled up a clean dipstick. I'm pretty sure that is an indicator of NO OIL IN THE EFFING ENGINE. My last oil change was August 4k miles ago and I had it filled with synthetic oil. The tech showed me the dipstick after the oil change so I know it had 5.5 quarts in it 4 months ago, I've no idea how long it has been going with no oil in it. It's been a known issue that the valve cover gaskets leak, but I had no idea it's been 5.5 quarts worth of leaking gaskets. When I worked at the dealership I changed my own oil at the same interval and it was never empty. No oil light came on. I want to Vato Zone and filled the engine with oil and had no issues.
This morning, I drove to work, and as I pulled in to the parking lot, D.A.V.e stalled. It's the first time it's stalled in the almost 4 years I've owned it. I wasn't like a sputtering, it was like the key was turned off. It started right up again, but with everything else going on, it's given me pause.
Whats been done since I've owned it:
Timing belt and associated parts 3/11
Passenger side valve cover gasket 5/11 (driver side is hard)
Radiator, hoses and related cooling parts 12/12
When the cooling system was replaced, my tech friends did an exhaust gas test in the radiator to check the head gasket and it passed.
Things that I'm pretty sure I'll need:
tune up
valve cover gaskets done
have someone look to see where the coolant and oil is going
no more synthetic oil
It runs smooth, makes no funny sounds ('cept for an exhaust leak), no white or black smoke coming out the pipe. I would love to get a few more years out of this truck, but it looks like I'm going to have to invest some coin to make that happen. I'd like to go into this armed with as much information as possible. There is quite a talent vacuum going on here and very few people can be trusted. Please share your thoughts and experiences on this issue.
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