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I've scanned this forum tirelessly for any info that would point towards my issue, but am now appealing directly for some advice and insight.

Bought a '92 Winnebago Warrior in May of 2011 - 62,000 miles on it; checked the VIN on the Toyota Safety Recall and Service Information website and found no open recalls. In 20,000 miles of driving last year, we raced across California deserts in high heat, up Pennsylvania mountains and while the temperature gauge indeed climbed all the way up to just shy of red, nothing went horribly wrong, despite the fact that the floorboards get almost unbearably hot. I did have to replace the alternator and roof air (which were both on their last legs at purchase.)

In about 10,000 miles of driving since spring of this year, the radiator finally blew in Breezewood, PA and I found a new one online, had it installed and test drove it unloaded on a hot day on some grades. Of course, the needle pegged. Garage said it might be the thermostat and gasket, which was replaced the following day. Driving over the big grades on the Pennsylvania Turnpike brought the gauge back up to near-red, but fell back down to about 3/4 once over the hill and I turned the a/c off. It was a blazing hot day and the following day got even hotter in Gettysburg - 101° F - but on the level roads, the gauge kept around 3/4 with the a/c on.

Thinking maybe I'd gotten too assured with my load limit, I emptied the coach upon returning home to Florida and opened her up to about 65 on the interstate with the a/c on; within ten minutes, she was red-lining.

I know these Toys are overloaded and that the 3VZ-E engines are prone to blown head gaskets, but it would appear I've been seeing that high temperature on the gauge for over a year now under extreme heat and, besides the 20-year old radiator finally giving up the ghost, no other issues are presenting themselves. It just seems to be reading even hotter than last year and I'm wondering if they put the correct thermostat in.

If this vehicle was overheating like the gauge indicates, shouldn't I be seeing clouds of white smoke coming out of the tailpipe? The mechanics who installed the radiator said they did have some trouble getting air into the engine (something about it being "locked"), but finally worked that out and told me that compression was good, no leaks and I haven't lost any fluid since. I hope these guys would've told me if something else seemed amiss. What might the issue be here?

Thanks for any and all help!

Happy Travels,

Bing

Edited by Ritabago's Dad
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i have the v6 in central california. have driven it when 100+ with the air and have never gotten over half way. a few times, although not much over 90 climbing 6% grade did it barely go over the half way point loaded with the air on. i think i would maybe remove the thermostat and test it that way. if compression is good sounds like when it overheated there was no real damage. white smoke out the tailpipe would mean gasket problem, if just boiling over the steam would escape under the hood, via radiator cap, failed hose etc. maybe your gauge is off too. posible. when close to red line and you turn it off you should hear popping noises under the hood as an engine will warm for a bit when first turned off. if you don't notice any noises i would find someone to check your gauge, attach a different one to the sender, shouldn't be too hard. something doesn't see right for it to be getting so hot. you'll find it :o)

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Thanks for your reply! I'm gonna run it down to the Toyota service department tomorrow morning since my mechanical expertise stops at duct tape wrapping. I'll report the findings here - thanks again!

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Find a shop that does emissions testing and have them scan the radiator for HC. A leaking head gasket does not necessarily mean steam from the tail pipe or loss of fluid if it introduces combustion gasses into the cooling system it can give you overheating issues.

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Thanks for the tip, Maineah! Here's what's happened so far at Toyota:

Straight away, the mechanic noticed that the fan bearings were loose as he could spin the fan by hand. They also noticed that I was long overdue to have the timing belt and water pump replaced - all of which could lead to overheating. I also had cracks developing in the drive belt. After all of that was fixed, a test drive resulted in the engine still overheating. After checking the spark plugs, it turns out that they were aftermarket and quite fouled, which they hypothesized would lead to a loss of power while pulling all of that weight from the coach and contents, in turn leading to overheating. As I type, they are installing factory plugs and will test drive to see if that makes a difference.

On the big plus side, they tested the compression and inspected the engine, finding that compression was great; no leaks and no apparent damage to the head gasket or block. *whew*.

I'll update again in a little while, just wondering if anyone had heard of the apparent issue with the spark plugs before. Thanks for your help!

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Thanks, Derek - I've already checked out of the shop, but will look at that during the next round of fixes (I've got a few to go.) Question: is this a fairly invasive procedure, as in "I should've had this done while the timing belt was being switched out?"

The verdict is in: the spark plugs made the difference and man, what a difference. It feels like I've got two more cylinders under the hood now and on a nice, muggy hot day in central Florida, high speed travel on the interstate saw the temperature gauge hang out smack dab in the middle and stay there. Most excellent!

Thanks again for all of your help -

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Question: is this a fairly invasive procedure, as in "I should've had this done while the timing belt was being switched out?"

Unfortunately the answer is'Yes'. It seems that performing this task is not very popular at Dealers and many seem to do everything they can to avoid it.

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  • 5 months later...

I've got three threads on situations with my '92 Warrior (overheating, spark plug wires and coach leaks) and it now looks like the first two have finally been resolved. Since this thread pertains to the overheating, I wanted to post the results.

My Toy was currently in for a major power steering fluid leak (fixed) and had them also look at choppy idle (exposed spark plug wire, worn "button" on distributor cap) and check the thermostat for the ongoing overheating drama.

Well, the last time they had a look at it (July of '12), they thought it was fouled spark plugs and, because I had just had the thermostat replaced along with the radiator, they didn't even look at the thermostat as a potential issue. While looking at it today, the tech found it stuck closed. When test-driving it, it got stuck open. Switched out the thermostat and the overheating issue, they say, is gone. I'll give it a good spin down the Turnpike tomorrow and see how it holds up, but this sure sounds like a symptom that I've read about in the forums.

Will post more after I get behind the wheel - but right now, I'm feeling good about the $$ spent. I will ask about the valve clearances and see if maybe they didn't do that when the timing belt was being handled.

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