redskinman

Ok I'm pretty sure I understand you on putting the washers over the stud and getting it out.As far as fitting a drill in there,not enough room,barely enough room to fit socket wrench.Maybe if I pull radiator and some other stuff ,what a pain the arse

I think threads are already destroyed or I wouldnt be having this problem.My arms are all red and scratched from trying to fit thru rad shroud and hoses,I can get vice grip on side of bolt but cant really get any leverage to pull from the side and not enough room to turn it with vice grips on it from the side.I'm not sure what you mean about the nut and the washers. Heres video of how bolts look,it's the bolt thats closest to the top of the screen in video,I say theres the other 3 bolts but I mean 2

The thermostat housing is off,the 3 bolts are screwed into block,2 are fine.Third bolt,which came out fine the first time when taking thermostat housing off,is the problem.Could have been stripped before by PO I dont know,but when pulling nut off it had tension to it,it didnt just come off real easy.Like I said,with housing off I put thread locker on end of the 2 bolts that came out and screwed them back in,the one went in fine but this 3rd one only went in a little ways and now is in purgatory and wont frickin move.And even if PO did strip it,that doesnt explain why it just spins in place now and wont go in or out no matter if Im pulling back and turning it backwards or pushing on it while trying to screw it in.I can see its not in as far as the other 2 so if it was stripped seems like it should go in as far as other 2 then spin in place, I can wiggle the crap out of it back and forth but it will not twist out. I have to take it back to storage, just going to go ahead and put it back together with housing being held on by 2 bolts, thats all I can do for now.

Tried replacing my thermostat today. Thermostat housing slides onto 3 bolts,the bolts have threads on each end.2 of the bolts screwed completely out when taking off nuts. Put some thread locker on ends of 2 bolts and screwed them back into engine block. One went back in fine and tightened up, the other I was turning and turning forever and it wasn't going anywhere or getting tight, so tried unscrewing it, it's just spinning in place and will not come out. It will wiggle back and forth pretty good, It's hard to get my arm down where its at, but I can grab the end and put some leverage on it by pulling back as I'm trying to unscrew it and it will not screw out, WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so pissed off right now, been jacking with this bolt for 2 hrs and can't get it to move.

Well it sounds like they are wanting to sell it now as is.As a prospective buyer I wouldnt want to pay more then 4500 for it not knowing whats wrong with the engine,but thats me.Nicole,how many miles are on it? Any signs of water damage? How old are tires? All appliances work? Hot water heater work? All those things add up on how much to ask for it,and it not running would scare me off of it unless I thought the price was low enough to cover my butt,but I"m not a mechanic so any engine problems scare me,another prospective might think differently.

1st Mechanic with us: 1. Installation of a new Fuel Pump 2. Tank drained of bad fuel Previous Owner: Going to have to see pics to give any opinion.What mechanics did you bring it to in Houston?

Ok after getting back from 20 minute ride and letting engine cool for 3 hours I tried testing the thermostat.I've read 3 or 4 things to try but the only thing I was able to try was this:Took radiator cap off and let truck idle with a/c on for at least 20 minutes.Temp gauge got up to the 1/2 mark.From what I've read after motor gets to operating temp antifreeze should not be sitting stagnant in radiator that you should see it flowing,well if thats the case then mine failed that test,never saw any movement.But another way to test was if one of the hoses were cool and 1 was hot,both my hoses were hot so it passed that test. So Im going to take it back to storage tonight.dont know when I'll get a chance to mess with it again.

What your saying makes a lot of sense,but,and I could be wrong,but I'm pretty sure it wasnt doing it before.And to go all the way up almost to the red mark seems extreme.It didnt do it on the 7 hr trip home from when I bought it{granted it was cooler then,50-60's}but on a 6 hr trip I would think engine would get plenty hot enough,wouldnt it? I've driven it on hr long trips before 3 or 4 times to work,but never stopped anywhere on the way so I wouldnt have noticed if it was doing it then.All other trips were just short trips around the house.Like I said ,first time to notice it was on 2 hr trip mem day weekend,with stops in between.Just for it to rise up almost to the red is what freaks me out,I've never seen any of my other vehicles I've owned do this,it certainly does it do it in my newer vehicles even after driving 24 hours straight. When taking the temp with harbor freight temp gauge,after 20 minute drive top of radiator is reading 200 degrees and motor is reading 250 around spark plug area,is that normal?

Ok this is what I think I know now about the fan clutch.To tell if its not working when cold,with engine off,if you turn it and it keeps spinning after you let go its broke,if it stops it's ok.When engine is running{and testing this on my new truck and the Toyo,it didnt matter if engine was hot or cold}if you stick a rolled up newspaper against fan and it stops,it's broke.At least that was my result on initial startup of cold engines. Also from what I can gather,correct me if I'm wrong,even though fan is spinning,doesnt mean fan clutch is fully engaged.As engine gets hotter fan clutch will engage and spin fan faster,is that correct? So I'm convinced now it/s not my fan clutch causing my overheating problem,and also thinking back on the last 3 trips I drove it over an hour it has been running hotter then normal.My daughter noticed on its maiden camping trip voyage Memorial Day weekend.But again once they started driving it cooled back down,and this was driving with A/C on on flat roads,outside temps running around 85-90 degrees.But this last time was the worst,temp gauge almost going into red. On the return trip home from Galveston last week temp gauge stayed normal for the most part,except when stopping.It was a 2 hr drive home,we stopped 3 times for bathroom ,gas,and coffee.And this was all highway driving with no sitting in traffic,just stopping at gas stations.But at each subsequent stop engine got hotter while sitting. After 1st stop,temp gauge was at 1/4 mark when engine was turned off to fill up.After sitting 5 minutes and turning engine back on to leave,temp gauge shot up to 3/4 mark upon initial startup but came back down to 1/4 once started driving.It did this every stop except after the next 2 stops it would come back down but not back down to 1/4 level.After 2nd stop it came back down to slightly below 1/2,and after 3rd stop slightly above 1/2. This cant be normal and its freaking me out.Before I was convinced it was fan clutch but now I dont.I'm seeing no loss of coolant,I dont think its the thermostat but will try and test that today.Also I'm concerned about what damage has been done to the motor from it getting to those temp levels when stopped.I figure I'm going to be on another quest to try and figure out my problem like I was with misfire,or like deadflo has undergone with his overheating story in similar thead Mark Krueger,sorry for hijacking your thread,at least I hope my problems help you figure out yours.

Still no update?

You have misunderstood what I was asking.But to answer your statement,when I did my little 15 minute test,fan started as soon as I started the engine and never shut off during that 15 minutes of idling.I tried the newspaper in the fan trick as soon as I started the engine.

And what was the reason it wouldnt be covered? Seems like if you have a package called RV Plus it would seem thats what the heck its for!

At what point do you think engine would be hot enough for the fan not to move when you turn off engine? I drove down to storage facility and started it up and let it idle 15 minutes with A/C on.After turning off engine fan still moved freely and was not locked up.Temp gauge was at 1/4 tank.It did pass the newspaper in the fan trick,used a rolled up harbor freight flyer and it was not slowing down the fan. Edit: Since watched some videos on bad fan clutches,I would say mine is not bad,it is not freewheeling as shown in videos

Well crap,I wasnt told that,I tried it when it was cold.It's at storage unit so I cant test it again till Sunday.Now I'm worried its not the clutch fan and something more serious,thanks a lot lol.

Yes that is one of the videos I am referring to.I was not going over any hills like you,probably makes a difference like Linda said, but it's an easy thing to check to see if yours is working right.Also I was told while engine is running to stick a small roll of newspaper into fan{very carefully of course}and if it stops the fan its the fan clutch.I didnt try that,I assume mine would be stopped by the paper since I can turn it by hand when engines not running.

You ever rebuilt a Toyota fan clutch? Going to attempt it this weekend

Autotechtronic Auto Repair Robert Gruener 5330 E. Fifth Street 281-391-7617

I just experienced same thing last weekend in my V-6.When Stopped temp gauge was almost getting to the red but within a mile or so of driving it would come back down.I was told to check my fan clutch,that if I could turn my fan by hand with engine off then fan clutch was bad,well I can turn it.Then I was told not to but aftermarket fan clutch,that mine can probably be fixed by adding new silicone oil,who knew? I was told to buy Toyota oil but that stuff is 30 bucks a bottle and it's supposed to take 2 bottles,so I bought this stuff off ebay instead:http://www.ebay.com/itm/KYOSIL6000-Kyosho-Silicone-Differential-Oil-40cc-6-000cst/401106424721?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 It has enough in it as 2 bottles of the Toyota oil.The toyota oil come in 3 kinds,3000,6000,and 10,000 cst,I was told to get the 6000. Theres some youtube videos on how to do it,I'll probably attempt it this weekend.

and how did you discover it was doing this,what was the process? Thanks

Any update?

Well to update this on my rig,took my first camping trip in it,packing lightly just for 1 night.Drove from cypress to galveston{86 miles}used 1/2 tank of gas.had OD on,High speed of 62 most of the time going between 50-60 because it was raining most of the way.Got not quite 12 mpg on that run.After filling it up put 148 miles on it till tank was near empty,average of 10.5 mpg{but I did run generator for about 4 hrs,not sure how much gas gen drinks}A little better then before but still disappointing numbers to me. Love my toyhome but looks like I should have done a lot more research,like jjrbus said,when these are being sold the mpg numbers are inflated and I bought into the hype.If I would have known actual mpgs on these rigs I would have tried to get a smaller motorhome with a v-8 so I could pull what I needed behind it.

Aint that the truth!!!

Well good luck to you I hope he can figure it out,bad news is your still going to be out the money for the rebuild that it looks like it didnt need{I dont see no way shop will eat it}but good news is if you figure out the overheating problem your engine should be something you dont have to worry about for a few years.

Man I feel your pain,sorry your going thru this.Just bought mine in December and it had a misfire and I went thru heck trying to figure it out replacing parts etc.I know your feeling sick to your stomach after spending that money on a rebuild and it not fixing the problem,I'm sure you feel like its the shops fault and they are just like oh well my bad but in the meantime they got their money and your damn problems not fixed and you cant do shit about it and your feeling very disheartened about the whole situation. I pray you find a resolution to your problem quickly.

Ok thanks.It was my first overnight trip in it and I"m always expecting something to go wrong,hopefully I'm just being paranoid about it. On the dipstick,yeah its a bugger.I checked fluid when I first bought it and had a hell of a time getting it back in.This time I checked it cold and got it back in fairly easy twice.Took it for a spin so I could check it while its hot when I got back and I could not get that damn thing back in.Tried for about 5 minutes with engine running and couldnt do it,had to turn truck off and try some more and finally got it,and yes all these times i'm trying I am using 2 hands because like you said 1 handed is damn near impossible.Reason I had to turn truck off is because of the heat!! Which brings up another point,even though my temp gauge 95% of the time is at the 1/4 position I can feel the heat coming off this engine like no other vehicle I've ever owned,is yours like that? I took it for a 10 minute drive to check the fluid hot and when I got back and started fooling with that dipstick I had to turn engine off because of the fan blowing that hot hot heat on me.