My Sienna has been bulletproof, until last week. My wife drove 3 miles, the AC shut off, and warning lights turned on. She turned the car off, then drove it 1 mile to a mechanic (who is very reputable in our area). All coolant was gone and they said it was a blown head gasket. I think they are right, but how in the world did the head gasket blow at 124,000 miles?
Thanks.
I towed the car to my mechanic for a second opinion. After a week, he said it wasn't the head gasket! They replaced the water pump, thermostat, and serpentine belt. I had almost sold the car to a junkyard!
Toyotas are somewhat famous for blown head gaskets, especially the older ones that used inexpensive head bolts that were only torqued to 52 ft. lbs. Replacement ARP head studs are torqued to 80 ft. lbs.
And THAT’s why you need to find (and stick to) your honest mechanic..!
Has the vehicle overheated again, since?
No, so far so good. And it's July in the south, so it's been in the mid 90's and we're running the A/C in the car. Been running well for a week. I'll keep checking the fluid. I'm a little concerned about taking it on a long drive, but we'll see.
I'm not a mechanic, I just watch a lot of Scotty Kilmer!
Did the temperature gauge go up, too?
I think the main three ways he says you can lose coolant is a leak, you're burning it, or a loose radiator cap
As for a leak, the mechanic can do a UV dye test and blow some pressurized dye through the system to check for any leaks, big or small. If you're burning, as with a blown head gasket, especially if it's bad enough to do what happened, then he can do that head gasket colored water test SK talks about all the time. If it's a loose radiator cap then he can change out the old one and see what happens.
I do know that if it is a blown head gasket, to be wary of changing it and thinking that things are all hunky dory. A lot of times if the engine overheated it will cause a lot of other things to break so even though you spend all this money to change out the head gasket and think things are golden, it could be a lot of other things wrong too
I hope this helps!
Yes, the temperature gauge went up as the van was overheating which I believe is why the AC turned off. I'm not sure if it overheated, then cracked head gasket and then the fluid leaked out. Or if the fluid leaked out first, then caused overheating leading to cracked head gasket.