Worried!!!

[Robg74]

Went on a short run in my surf today, literally about 15 mins from start to finish from cold.

Upon return, I stopped the engine, got out the car and found there to be some water leaking. Closer inspection under the bonnet found this to be bubbling out of a very full expansion tank. Drained some of this water out (of exp tank) and went on a longer run, about an hour. Watched temp gauge on this run and it stayed fine, in the position it always seems to be at when running. Not noticed anything unusual, white smoke or running poorly.

When I checked upon my return the expansion tank was full again and there was evidence of the bubbles again, restarted engine and when runnning bubbles are being forced out of a breather hole at the top of the cap on exp. tank.

Do I suspect the worse and work on a new cyl head, or are there other poss. probs?

Looked on some of the threads regarding this on the site but the vast majority are concerning 2.4's and not the 3.0l such as mine.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Rob

[M35A2]

Went on a short run in my surf today, literally about 15 mins from start to finish from cold.

Upon return, I stopped the engine, got out the car and found there to be some water leaking. Closer inspection under the bonnet found this to be bubbling out of a very full expansion tank. Drained some of this water out (of exp tank) and went on a longer run, about an hour. Watched temp gauge on this run and it stayed fine, in the position it always seems to be at when running. Not noticed anything unusual, white smoke or running poorly.

When I checked upon my return the expansion tank was full again and there was evidence of the bubbles again, restarted engine and when runnning bubbles are being forced out of a breather hole at the top of the cap on exp. tank.

Do I suspect the worse and work on a new cyl head, or are there other poss. probs?

Looked on some of the threads regarding this on the site but the vast majority are concerning 2.4's and not the 3.0l such as mine.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Rob

Hi Mate, sorry to here about your truck.

Have you checked the oil filler cap on the rocker cover for any gunge and/or steam coming out from it? Is the engine oil ok?

It very much sounds like the head gasket has gone. If you are getting pressure squeezing through the faulty gasket into one of the water chambers, it will really pressurise the water system, and cause the problems you are having.

Does the engine start ok, not running rough? I know this might be a long shot, but I had the same problem in my Diesel Peugeot 106. The coolant was pouring out of the header tank, sure fire indication that the head gasket had gone. Then in the mornings, it ran really lumpy and there was lots of steam coming from the rocker cover and out of the oil dipstick tube. I put some BARS stop leak in the system and hey presto. Fixed the problem. That happened two years ago, and I've flushed the system since and haven't had any more problems. Really good stuff.

The other method of course is to check your compression in each cylinder to see what the readings are? It could be the head, but I would think that you would have a BIG failure and not be able to run it at all, especially for an hour. I reckon it's the gasket.

Hope this helps?

[Koi]

I would start at basics

If you have lost water out the expansion, I can't see you say you took off the rad cap and filled the system back up???
Open both heaters and top up as required, start it up, couple of good blips on the pedal and turn off, top up, repeat until system is full.
It could be just a duff stat or rad cap of course, which will give your symptons, most cases of head failure on a Surf show no other signs than an over flowing expansion tank. No sauna from the exhaust, no gunge in the oil, etc etc. Once you system is full and the engine is stone cold take off rad cap and start it up, if coolant flows freely out the cap then this could indicate head trouble, its not a 100% way to tell.

[Morr]

Don't panic just yet, a failing rad cap can also cause these symptoms. The spring in the cap can weaken, allowing the coolant to escape to the expansion bottle at a lower temperature than normal. Try changing the cap first and then recheck.

Also you should never drain water from your expansion bottle, as the system cools it should (if all is working well) draw the water/coolant back in to the read itself, if you've drained any off there may be insufficient to replenish the system.

[NiftyNev]

Don't panic just yet, a failing rad cap can also cause these symptoms. The spring in the cap can weaken, allowing the coolant to escape to the expansion bottle at a lower temperature than normal. Try changing the cap first and then recheck.

Good advice.It could also be a buggered seal on the radiator cap.

Neville

[Robg74]

Don't panic just yet, a failing rad cap can also cause these symptoms. The spring in the cap can weaken, allowing the coolant to escape to the expansion bottle at a lower temperature than normal. Try changing the cap first and then recheck.

Also you should never drain water from your expansion bottle, as the system cools it should (if all is working well) draw the water/coolant back in to the read itself, if you've drained any off there may be insufficient to replenish the system.

Only drained enough water from expansion bottle to take it from full to the brim down to the "F" marking on the side. Checked inside the rad and the top of the water level could still be seen.

OK daft question time. Can you get a rad cap from Halfords or will I need a Toyota branded one? I did notice that the existing cap seemed "rattley" when I took it off!

Here's hoping,

Thanks again folks

Rob.

[Robg74]

Only drained enough water from expansion bottle to take it from full to the brim down to the "F" marking on the side. Checked inside the rad and the top of the water level could still be seen.

OK daft question time. Can you get a rad cap from Halfords or will I need a Toyota branded one? I did notice that the existing cap seemed "rattley" when I took it off!

Here's hoping,

Thanks again folks

Rob.

Wel not so worried now! Took it back to the garage I bought it from armed with all the info you kind peeps have given me, used as if it was all my own of course!!

Told the head honcho mechanic geezer that I suspected Cyl. head gasket probs, and, after seeing all the sh1tty water that was bubbling out, he agreed. Said if I could leave it with him for an hour or so he'd have a closer look so we might have a better idea. 60 mins or so later I returned to see he had a big smile on his face, "Cylinder heads ok" he said, "But you need a new radiator, tried to un block it but can't!"

He reckoned that the water pumps on these engines are so good that it was just pumping water to wherever it could go, due to the blockage in the rad, it went in to the expansion tank and when it was full out of the breather hole in the cap. Also said that as it was running true in every other way, would suggest no gasket issues contrary to what we had both first thought.

Sounds plausable to me, knowing as little as I do, the water was some of the rustyest I have seen coming out of any rad and I can imagine it would be heavily curroded inside. Any way they have agreed to fit a spanking new radiator, under warranty!! Hope this sorts it, only down side is that I am now driving an escort courtesy car! Dddoooohhhh!!!!!!

Thanks for your input guys, I think it made me sound feesable enough not to get totally fobbed off. Got to be honest though, this lot have sorted every prob I've had with my surf, from fitting 4 new tyres when I agreed to buy it, to sorting out brake judder by fitting new discs and pads on the front and now this.

I am hoping that this prob's been diagnosed properly, and have some worry free motoring for a while!!

cheers again,

Rob.