Warming up My Tundra

You’ll have to look for it. Engine block, oil pan or another location. A cold weather kit on any vehicle usually consists of: heavy duty battery with battery blanket, heavy duty starter and engine block heater.

 

That’s not what the description says though, the only descriptive comment is “heavy duty” and I see no mention of a block heater in the Field Service Manual.

 

You are correct, only one way it can go in due to the 3 studded housing bolt pattern layout.

 

Did you check remove the radiator cap and check the coolant level inside the radiator?

 

That’s one of the first things that I did.

 

Have you successfully purged the system of any excess air? Meaning, on an inclined with the front of the vehicle elevated and the heater running?

And, just out of curiosity, was any work done on the truck around the time you first noticed the heating issue?

 

Purged but not on an incline, will redo tomorrow. No work done on the vehicle prior to this.

 

Is your fan clutch working properly.

 

Alright, here’s a stupid question….what is the correlation between the heater and the fan clutch?

 

It's not a stupid question, but there is a correlation between the thermostatic fan and the water pump. However, let's back up and see if we can get to the bottom of your concern. How many miles are on this truck? Have you ever replaced the radiator? Have you ever replaced the water pump? When you turn your climate control knobs for the different settings to the upper portions and lower portions of the ventilation, does it happen quickly (i.e. do you feel hot or cold air on your face or feet within seconds or not) ?

Also, if you're confident you've purged the system of excess air, I wouldn't worry about inclining it and performing the process again unnecessarily. Having it on an inclined only helps make use of gravity being your friend, but it isn't required.

 

Daaaaaaamn 235k miles on the factory water pump? And factory radiator? My man is living risky as hell! Holy shit!

I realize it’s a v6 but still, I’d be hard pressed to go past 200k on original everything knowing a single overheat can really screw your royally.

 

Didn’t buy it new, previous owners could have replaced it???

 

Ah. Context is a wonderful thing.

 

True, but it's just as possible the PO didn't. There are very limited possibilities for what you've described, including your imagination, which you admit. However, this isn't the most likely answer.

A water pump that is failing will exhibit signs of failure first. Dry, crusty coolant from the weep-hole being the most common. Do you see any dried coolant around the front of the engine? Hear any unusual sounds from the area around the pump? If not, probably ok. For now.

At this point, just based on the fact that thermostat is ruled out, no complaints or observations/statements re: water pump/dried coolant, I'm going with a failing/clogged radiator.

Or, it is your imagination and it's all fine. Again, I don't believe this is the issue though. Keep us posted.

 

Update:

Late yesterday afternoon I “re-burped” the cooling system by putting the truck on incline. To my astonishment I had to add a total of about a quart after it “burped” a couple of times.

This morning I got up to go to the deer woods, started it up so it could warm up and to my surprise it was actually blowing hot air when I went to get back in it 10 minutes later.

We will see how it goes from here.

thanks for all the replies.

 

I was running some errands yesterday and I tried to make a point of seeing how long until the heater really started heating. Temps were in the low 40s and from the engine being cold, I'd start feeling it within maybe 5 minutes starting the truck and driving.

 

That's great! Glad to hear. The principle of heat-exchange is what's most important in issues like these. Stay warm!

 

Hell yeah, make sure the res is up to the full mark so it won't suck air back in there.

 

I always had a feeling the system wasn't fully purged. Classic symptom of lack of heat/long time to heat. Heaters work through heat-exchange with coolant, not air.

 

Not sure if this is related or not…as I posted I had to add coolant to get the heater working properly. I usually park my truck on the ground but yesterday parked it on the parking pad. Warmed it up this morning and when backing out noticed what appears to be water on the pad, wasn’t bad just damp, sorta what you see when running the AC. When I got back home I looked under and saw it dripping from the small drip tube located on the firewall, couldn’t really tell if it was coolant or not but running the Toyota premix in it. Checked the passenger side carpet inside the cab and it was completely dry? Could this drip be coming from the heater coil which would explain the initial lose of coolant in the system? If the coil is leaking will it drain out the drip tube without leaking inside the cab??

TIA

 

That's the evaporator coil housing drain, it drains condensate from the evap coil.

If you pop off your blower motor resistor and carefully remove, you can look at what's inside the housing that's draining.

Was your truck HVAC controls in defrost mode or foot+defrost? If so, the A/C was on by design. I can't recall if having the cold set all the way down plus one extra bump will also engage A/C or not.

What does the liquid smell like, look like on a paper towel?

 

It was in the foot/defrost mode…didn’t know that the AC would engage with it switched off?? I’ll have to catch some on a paper towel and check it out. I actually caught a drop on my finger off the drain tube and it really didn’t have a smell or taste to it, yes I did the tongue test with it on my finger.

 

Yeah, that's just your AC drain. I didn't realize the AC comes on automatically with the defrost either until I saw it mentioned here, now I notice it more while driving with it on. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Yup, that's how I found out A/C comes on while in defrost mode. I was driving on the interstate and power was surging, RPMs dropping periodically and I thought something was wrong, then someone asked the defrost Q. Indeed, RPM/power drop happened every time the A/C compressor kicked in.

There's a hack you can do to disable this automatic function. Not recommending it, and I haven't done it, but others have.

It's just condensate, then. You were in defrost mode. The A/C was running automatically.

 

Yep, nothing to worry about. It's actually a good thing having the visual. It shows the system is working as designed.

 

Thanks, feel a lot better now. I didn’t post it but after resolving the heater issue I had a brake line that split. I didn’t have time to deal with so I took it to the Goodyear shop for repair. The ole Tundra has been dang near bulletproof for a long time….was beginning to worry about it just a little bit.

 

The condensate drain will drain any water dripping off the evaporator but it will also drain any coolant leaking from the heater core. AC condensate is clear whereas coolant is pink, feels slippery and has a distinct odor and taste if you touch your tongue to a wet finger. Be careful tasting as it is nephrotoxic.