A day of two halves....

[childishlysimple]

Howdy all,

First half of yesterday was great, I'm new to 4x4, so switching on 4wd in the snow was great. so much more civilized than last year sliding around in an Hiace!

Second half sucked. Got in truck, started fine, except for gargantuan plume of white smoke, system pressurized. When I topped up the coolant later it was like a mini vesuvius, bubbling violently with what looked suspiciously like exhaust fumes.

So my questions are;

Does the head go that fast?
Any other options?
No obvious signs up till now, had the truck a couple of months, regular runs to London so had a chance to get up to speed. Noticed a slight increase in the temp whilst booting it up a long hill, but nothing major and quite normal from what I've read on here.

Does anyone know of a good mechanic for head replacement, and a place to get a head skimmed in Hastings?

Finally, Do any of you breakers have a pressure tested head for a 3l 2nd gen?

Am a bit sad and really skint so any advice would be gratefully recieved.

Ta.

[Shalershasker]

Not sure about Hastings but a mate of mine at work recently had a head skimmed and sorted for his peugeot (I think it was in Westfield), will find out for you if you want, he's away for a couple of days though I think so it maybe a day or two before I can let you know.
Roughtrax do an exchange policy, there's also Stevo (advert at the top of the forum page) also stormforce maybe able to help.

[tomtrux]

Hi mate. Can't give a mechanical answer to your question but I had my truck overheat a couple months ago... If your skint give the thermostat a go ant see if that makes a difference?? They are about £15 from mills and ver easy to fit. My truck had a new head 4 years ago and the paperwork is for £100's so a cheap first fix if it works

[Hazzo]

Sounds very similar to my experience last winter, thermostat failed, closed, same crack, billowing steam clouds and no fix possible as I was returning from a 600 mile run, changed the stat/coolant etc when home but the truck started losing a drop of water, 1/2 inch from the rad on a daily basis but ran sweet as for six months, finally seized/hydrolocked and I changed the head, plumbed in an oil cooler, changed the oil in the viscous fan and added a proper temperature guage. 5000 miles and about 1300 quid later and she's back to the old sweetheart I've come to love. Get ya wallet out,. H

[childishlysimple]

Thanks for response, ordered new thermostat and rad cap. Whether it gets here what with 2" of snow billuxing everything up is another matter!

Going for sniffer test tomorrow, then (probably) going to have the head taken off, cross my fingers and hope its a head gasket, after that I am thinking of getting second hand head of Stormforce and having it skimmed and pressure tested before fitting it, do the Egr mod and viscous fan.

Any other suggestions?

Pointing and laughing acceptable.....

[BUSHWHACKER]

I could fit you in around the end of April?

[gwh200]

Thanks for response, ordered new thermostat and rad cap. Whether it gets here what with 2" of snow billuxing everything up is another matter!

Going for sniffer test tomorrow, then (probably) going to have the head taken off, cross my fingers and hope its a head gasket, after that I am thinking of getting second hand head of Stormforce and having it skimmed and pressure tested before fitting it, do the Egr mod and viscous fan.

Any other suggestions?

Pointing and laughing acceptable.....

Not pointing or laughing, but there's more chance of kim Jong il getting rimmed by hilary Clinton, than there is it's the head gasket.

[childishlysimple]

I heard she was off to north korea to 'smooth' things over after the recent friction....

[childishlysimple]

@ Bushwacker

What and miss all this snow?

[BUSHWHACKER]

@ Bushwacker

What and miss all this snow?

It'll be worth it.

[childishlysimple]

can't afford £1k+ for a new head, let alone the rest for luscious Lexurf....

[Predictable Bob]

Not pointing or laughing, but there's more chance of kim Jong il getting rimmed by hilary Clinton, than there is it's the head gasket.

Guess I was EXTREMELY lucky then ...

[childishlysimple]

Sniffer test done....

Green for go directly to wallet.

Has anyone heard owt about www.cylinderheads.co.uk, tried search, no results.

Feeling a bit like the Queen of Hearts now, my wife already bored with me shouting 'off with its head!'

[childishlysimple]

Head now off.....

More cracks than a weekend in Dublin. Pants.

Cheap head for me from motorcast £515 with gaskets, bolts and timing belt.

EGR block-off now easy tho!

Have read about the head gasket blocking off some waterways, my mechanic asked why I wouldn't want them all open? Have read a bit on here about that in the past, but I'm buggered if I can find it now...Anyone come up with a cogent theory for or against?

Cheers!