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2003 overheating

Discussion in '1st Gen Tundras (2000-2006)' started by AlexanderTheGreat03, Aug 7, 2020.

  1. Aug 7, 2020 at 5:57 PM
    #1
    AlexanderTheGreat03

    AlexanderTheGreat03 [OP] New Member

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    added 2020 4runner wheels
    Hey guys I'm new to the page but I came because needed some help from some real Tundra people. I got a serious head scratcher. I have a 2003 Tundra limited 4x4. I bought the truck from a private party and immediately it started overheating on me. Dropped it at the shop and they checked everything, did pressure tests, the whole 9 yards. Couldnt find anything.. They couldn't make it do it again for 2 days and when it finally did they replaced the thermostat and it ran better, which it did, but it still wanted to run hot. I took it to the Toyota dealership and they did pressure tests, burped the system, checked everything and couldn't find anything but supposedly got air out of the lines. A few days later it completely overheated when I happened to be driving by the dealership and I pulled it back in. This time the mechanic drove it home that night and back to work the next morning, put 45 miles on it, and said he couldn't get it to overheat. It was still running hot so I took it to a friend of mine. He drove it like a scalded dog just to try and replicate what I had been saying was happening and it did it to him. We get out and he looks and says the fan clutch was bad and we replaced it. That has helped a ton but it still runs hot. It idles at 185ish but running temp is 208 to 217. Going up a good size hill it'll run 230's and im stumped. We still need to check the water pump over and maybe look for pinholes in a line somewhere or we need to try and flush the radiator ourselves and try to get some trash out that might be in there. I know its a long post but the dern truck runs perfect outside of this issue. What do yall think?
     
    YardBird likes this.
  2. Aug 8, 2020 at 7:27 AM
    #2
    Professional Hand Model

    Professional Hand Model A.K.A ‘Golden Hands’

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    Could be some gunk up in there blocking the ports. Try Thermocure. I’ve never used it, but many reviews say it works well with cleaning the rust out from the iron block portion of our engines. Look it up. It is an inexpensive product at $15 a bottle and will take you some time and effort for the flushing part, but many report a cooler engine. Your previous owner may have neglected the cooling system.

    Only head scratcher is the randomness of your problem. Report back!
     
    TX-TRD1stGEN and Schcoman like this.
  3. Aug 8, 2020 at 10:27 AM
    #3
    Festerw

    Festerw New Member

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    If the fan clutch helped I'd look at just replacing the likely 17 year old radiator.
     
  4. Aug 8, 2020 at 10:39 AM
    #4
    Professional Hand Model

    Professional Hand Model A.K.A ‘Golden Hands’

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    Zerex Asian Red Fluid

    upload_2020-8-8_13-38-53.jpg
     
    YardBird likes this.
  5. Aug 8, 2020 at 10:57 AM
    #5
    frichco228

    frichco228 Valued Member

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    Ditto on fan clutch. Thermostat and fan clutch are always the first things to check.
     
  6. Aug 14, 2020 at 8:37 AM
    #6
    YardBird

    YardBird Native San Diegan

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    Welcome aboard from SoCal.
     
  7. Aug 25, 2020 at 10:08 PM
    #7
    AlexanderTheGreat03

    AlexanderTheGreat03 [OP] New Member

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    added 2020 4runner wheels
    Hey guys I appreciate all the advice. Whelp it ended up being everything literally lol It needed a new water pump for sure. When we got in there the gasket was completely rusted into mush and the bearings were shot. Went on and replaced the timing belt while we were in there and put another thermostat in also. Thought that had it fixed but no dice. It still overheated. So we checked the radiator out and it was ice cold in the middle after running at 230 degrees so we knew then we had it. We took the Sawzall aholt of it and it was completely clogged with stop leak. The guy I got it from had a leaking water pump and rather than fix it just filled it with stop leak and dumped it. But now pretty much the entire cooling system is brand new and it runs like a CHAMP!
     
  8. Aug 25, 2020 at 10:20 PM
    #8
    YardBird

    YardBird Native San Diegan

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    Thanks for the feedback on this one ~ now we all know what happened.
     
  9. Aug 25, 2020 at 10:25 PM
    #9
    TTund16

    TTund16 New Member

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    How does spark plugs look?
     

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