overheating

[vokesyuk]

Hello im going on saturday to look at a hilux surf 2.4d turbo , its very cheep it has had some overheating problems in its history and had its headgasket changed recently , i am a fully qualified mechanic of some 20 years , but with no experence in 4x4's , is there anything i should look for ? other than bubbles in the water ? do the hilux's suffer overheating problems or is this just a jellous rumer?

[robnw67]

Dodgy Heads

Hi

If I were you I would definately take a look down the threads of the mechanical forum here on the website. It seems that Surfs (particularly the 2.4td) have a design flaw in the head resulting in damage to the head. If it has had a recent gasket blow, I would make sure it has a new, redesigned head on it. It seems that there's quite a history to be learned before you buy.

Mine has had a new head on it and seems to run fine, but I am seriously considering selling it given the level of unease on these pages.

[rockey]

I suggest you do a search on 'cylinder head' and carefully sift through the results.
I'm not sure if I'm right but someone will be along shortly to put me in my place, but the 2.4 cyl head had a design fault which leads to the head cracking and it sounds like the one you are looking at could be a prime candidate, I hasten to add that not everybody has had this problem, that may or not be because those ones were modified before being exported.
Cheers
John