On the way home from the Ditch ride with Chris and Root, my temperature gauge went up toward the “red” zone. At home, the reservoir hose was bubbling furiously into the tank. I let it cool overnight then checked around. There was a small puddle under the front axle. Orange coolant was dripping from somewhere mid-block. Oh no! Head gasket! The coolant was clear and the oil was not milky. Whew. A careful examination revealed a leak from a small hose section between the block-mounted oil cooler and the coolant pipe from the water pump (Land Cruisers have integrated oil-to-water oil coolers, not those sissy add-on mini radiators).
Hopefully I can get it fixed today. I dropped by Toyota Parts and Clyde got a new thermostat and associated gaskets rolling – I figure I’d just as well change those since the last time I had an overheating problem it was that component. It was not readily apparent if the thermo was dead and the overheating blew the hose, or the leaky hose dropped the coolant level to the point where the truck overheated. The FJ80 is 17-years old, so the current thermo is about 10-years old. I’ll spin by the generic car parts store and get some hose – the bad section is just straight, so I don’t need a proprietary Toyota part.
Oh, and Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
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