Help, cooling system not circulating

[tom4bren]

J,

It's not uncommon for the radiator reservoir to boil when an engine overheats. That's probably what you're seeing (not trapped air in your cooling system). Even if there is another problem with your cooling system, you need to replace your thermostat. If your engine overheated to the point of boiling your antifreeze, your thermostat is almost certainly cooked.

My recommendation is to get your radiator professionally flushed, replace the thermostat (or better yet, removed from OEM location and put in one of those inline thermostats that deermagnet posted about). Try running the engine again & if it still overheats, then it may be time to replace your waterpump.

[FenderBender]

I have heard of people installing thermostats upside down. Not sure if one can on a VX? Just throwing it out there.

[mcs3675]

Its the headgaskets

[Y33TREKker]

Well, it sucks that you had to tear it down that far, but it's always a good feeling when you definitely determine what the problem was. Hopefully it'll be good to go for at least another 100k once it's all back together.

[mcs3675]

Well ive had it for less than a month, but as soon as its back together it going on crraigslist, ive had my share of isuzu

[HeckaTrebeka]

Well ive had it for less than a month, but as soon as its back together it going on crraigslist, ive had my share of isuzu

No offense meant here, but you really shouldn't base your opinion on all Isuzus or even Vehicrosses just from one bad experience on a vehicle you've had for only a month and don't know the whole history on. That shows short-sightedness and a narrow view.

All car manufacturers have vehicles that go bad, especially if people haven't serviced them within manufacturer specifications. So, to say that you're done with all Isuzu vehicles - or even just the vehicross - because the head gasket needs to be replaced, shows that you aren't willing to work on any vehicle at the slightest inconvenience to you.

Maybe you got a lemon or just a badly beat up car. If you want to stick with it, then we're here to help. If not, go ahead and sell the VX. Either way, this is a forum about the capability and awesomeness that is the Isuzu Vehicross and we don't really appreciate when people come into the forum and start bashing on a vehicle that we all think is cool.

Again, this isn't meant to make you angry or to bash on you personally. I just want this to be a chill forum where we can all help each other out.

[mcs3675]

Well finally got it back together, id say its fixed, no overheating! The problem wasnt entirely headgaskest, but warped heads, had them checked and they did need milled! So if your doing headgaskets save yourself some headaches and have your heads checked

[bigblock8396375]

Thanks for the "heads up" no pun intended! I'm in the same boat,I was just going to do gaskets, but now I'll check the heads. What brand of gaskets did you use? Thanks bigblock

[VxSport]

I am glad to hear that you solved your problem. Hopefully, you will take a few weeks and drive it. You may have purchased a project vehicle, however I am one to tell you they (Isuzu's & VX) are very reliable vehicles.

I have owned 7 Isuzu's since the first one purchased in '93, add up all the mileage and I am over 700k in a Zu. And yes I have a Vx in the garage (Daily driver) and a restore vx next to it, and a chevy and toyota in the driveway.
Give it some time, if you can. Something drew you to your vx. Many members have gone to the extreme to aquire their Vx's. We are all here to help, this forum is truely like no other.

Well finally got it back together, id say its fixed, no overheating! The problem wasnt entirely headgaskest, but warped heads, had them checked and they did need milled! So if your doing headgaskets save yourself some headaches and have your heads checked

[Dmitrikr]

Just my thoughts - overheating sometimes cause by poor t-belt tensioner. waterpump has smooth pulley and if there is not enough tension - pulley/belt slips mostly when system build up pressure. happens on one 3.2 rodeo I was working on, happens on couple audi's v8 a6 've working on. after replacement tbelt and tensioner(OEM) everything was working fine.

[Chopper]

too bad mate.....mine's been a loyal companion for 11 years now. Never a hiccup.
You had to know any 13yr old vehicle (likely owned by multiple people) is not a good or likely candidate for trouble free daily driving....not straight outta the box anyway. Or you do now..... 13yrs= hobby car
Sort 'em out a bit....they go a couple hundred thousand miles, no sweat
Like the ads say....your results may differ

[mcs3675]

Well my 1996 toyota tacoma comes to mind, 222k miles and i had to replace a starter, and it wasnt a 3 hour job

[evillecutter]

Well my 1996 toyota tacoma comes to mind, 222k miles and i had to replace a starter, and it wasnt a 3 hour job

my starter has been going out on my vx - have to take the friggin exhaust off to get to the damn thing p.i.t.a. - in 9 months ive put over $2k into my proton (bought it for 6k) but when i look at my other options in that price range even after all the fixin i still want to keep my vx - hard to find any decent used car 13 years old for less than 10k that doesnt need a few grand in repairs - ...then again if it wasnt for this site and all the help and suggestions of its members i probably would have sold it long ago

[Chopper]

There very well may be another old Toyota in your future then, my man.
Good luck.....whatever way you go

[Y33TREKker]

Yeah, just when a person starts to consider Japanese engineers as thorough and forward thinking in their design processes, they then develop vehicles that either need to have the exhaust removed to change a starter, or part of the intake removed to change the back three spark plugs (late model Toyota Avalon I've recently experienced).