Installed free engine but its runnin' hot

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xirdneh
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Posts: 2121
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:38 am
My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Installed free engine but its runnin' hot

Post by xirdneh »

The engine runs great but after warming up, the temp gauge starts climbing about a mile down the road.
It has a good water pump, new thermostat and radiator. I pressurized each cylinder while radiator was full of water with cap off and there was no water movement or bubbles so I know the head gasket is OK.
Started removing cooling system. Pulled radiator, water pump and the related fittings and metal tubing.
Coolant looked OK, it was not dirty.
Everything looked OK until I looked in the tubing. the short by-pass pipe (under TVSV valve fitting) was filled with 7 hemlock tree cones about 3/4" long by 3/8" diameter. The engine was stored outside under a tarp for several years so a mouse must have done it.
My problem now is "What if the block has some more in there?)
I hate the idea of having to remove the head to find out.
There was none in the radiator or any of the hoses, just in the by-pass tube.
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Installed free engine but its runnin' hot

Post by Petros »

that sounds bad: it must have gone up the coolant outlet while it was sitting under the tarp. He found a nice dry place to store food. Likely there is a lot more up in the head. A blocked by pass tube should not even cause it to overheat, that is there to allow some coolant circulate before the t-stat opens, so when it does the engine is not schocked with icy cold coolant. It should not cause it to overheat.

who knows how deep the little guy went inside to store his winter food supply. I do not think they could get below the headgasket, but the water jacket in the head might be full of them. small rodents can fit into some tiny spaces.

Did you find any in the top of the radiator? they should be circulated out the top hose into the radiator if there are any loose ones.

if they are jambed in the head you run the risk of uneven cooling, damaging the head gasket. It may not even show up on the temp gauge, that just measures outgoing coolant temp.

you might experiment with some of those cones, see what might dissolve them (vinegar, ammonia, ethanol, hydroden peroxide, or whatever else caustic liquid you can think of). by putting a few in jars of everything you can think of you can see if any get soft and/or decompose best. once you find which works fastest, fill block with the good liquid for however long it takes, than back flush block and head. Flush it into a bucket see what you get. If you find a lot, might consider pulling the head.

You also might pull a few of the freeze plugs and take a look inside with a strong flash light, to see if you find any more. That is, after it is well drained. the freeze plugs do not cost much and are a lot faster to take out and install than pulling the head.

It seems to me the habit of these little creature is to wedge them tight into places to keep them "safe", where they will not be stolen by other critters, or fall free.

heck of a problem. OTOH, if you are reasonably sure you got the bulk of them out, it would not be a bad idea to check the radiator regularly to see if any more float free. Eventually they will all fall apart and come out, if you can keep it going long enough before it warps and damaged the head gasket from uneven cooling.

Good luck
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
xirdneh
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Posts: 2121
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:38 am
My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Installed free engine but its runnin' hot

Post by xirdneh »

what a deal
theres no debris in radiator
who knows what else might be in there
i will probably have to remove head
but first i will look over a spare head and try to figure out just how far in there he could have went
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
xirdneh
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 2121
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:38 am
My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Installed free engine but its runnin' hot

Post by xirdneh »

Well, I removed the head and found no hemlock cones in the block and head. Damn. Though I guess that's a good thing.
On a related note, I watched a YouTube vid today where a guy removed the head from a lawn mower. He cut a nasty hole in the head with an angle grinder and patched the hole with JBWeld. Put the head back on and fired it up. He ran the engine for around 30 minutes. Then he removed the head and the patch looked great. While engine was running he checked temperature of head with laser thermo. At 300 degrees.
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
xirdneh
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 2121
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:38 am
My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Installed free engine but its runnin' hot

Post by xirdneh »

update
i finally got the head back on and made another youtube video on my "Farmer " style method of flattening it
figured i had better remove the heat control valve (mounted on pass side firewall) and its hoses just in case some of those hemlock cones were in there somewhere
the hose coming out of the bottom of the valve was clogged with about 7 or 8 cones
one was in the valve itself, wedged in there pretty good
there is no way it could go any further than the valve because the clearance when valve is open is pretty small
that should solve the lack of heat inside the car
but i will be back blowing out the heater core anyway

still not sure why engine was runnin' hot
after having to replace headgasket because of this pinecone thing i am hoping all is well now
probably be another month before i get it back together
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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