coolant woes!

[tonupteabag]

I've got a funny feeling i've a blown h/gasket...Not the best greeting this morning but hey-ho the joys of toyota ownership. It would seem the hairdresser chariot has thrown the hairspray out of the salon...

Symptoms are slight bubbling through the expansion bottle slight water loss from rad overfull expansion bottle when left over night, and last but not least unburnt diesel when started hot or cold. At the moment i'm chasing a local garage to confirm with the sniff test if it has gone or it is just a simple fix...

[madcampbell]

Wish you luck ....mine started doing that then blew a hose on the motorway but AA did a sniff test but said it was fine fixed pipe. short journeys were fine but then I did a longer one and blew the rad.

[tonupteabag]

aye mate
but one saving grace (i hope) is it's the 3ltr and this is the first time it has done this, it's only used really for the school and shopping run at the moment so hopefully i'll be lucky i'm just waiting to try and find someone to do the exhaust gas test and confirm what i'm dreading....

[Overland Tonka]

Fingers crossed for you....

[madcampbell]

Don't mean to be negative but mine was the cylinder head gone... meant to put that in the last post
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/?_from=R40...All-Categories seem expensive but just to show you can get the kit

http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilde...&analysiscode=

Wow looking at the cost of those kits for all you seem to get is a a fancy turkey baster!! take it to a local garage as you say

Hope its fine

[tonupteabag]

Well a little update...
I've just taken out the excess coolant out of the expansion bottle and added it back to the rad, once i had the expansion bottle back to its level i had to add 60ml to fetch the rad back upto the level it was at, i have a feeling i have a knackered rad cap so i'll replace that first and keep my fingers crossed

I emailed Barry at Roughtrax about the 1.1bar cap and he informed me that his KZN185 came from the factory with a 1.1bar cap fitted, so i'm going to try and see if that's all thats at fault...

[tonupteabag]

Well it definitely looks like the h/gasket is blown it's never had an overheating issue at all, The temp has never gone above 90c so that hopefully means no cracked head but, i want other KZN185 owners who have had/have the same problem and whether the head was sound or it was indeed cracked. Any comments on this would be appreciated.

[Overland Tonka]

Sorry to hear that... I've always found that you really can't tell till you get the head off what has gone....you have to take it off anyway to do just the gasket...so at the same time inspect the head...job done.

[tonupteabag]

Cheers mate.
I thought "sod it" and just got the full kit from roughtrax so should be able to cover all eventualities hopefully

[Overland Tonka]

Cheers mate.
I thought "sod it" and just got the full kit from roughtrax so should be able to cover all eventualities hopefully

I would prob do the same.....then you should have a truck which will live on for quite awhile longer...peace of mind if your gonna keep the truck is priceless..

[markp2]

Hi Tony,
I had the dreaded head problem with my first Gen 3. It started with a bit of bubbling in the radiator (which I ignored) and ended with the bottom hose being blown off each time I drove it over 50mph.
When I got the head off there were cracks between the valves on two cylinders. Incidentally, the head gasket was a new aftermarket part with loads of Hylomar on it - the previous owner had obviously had a problem, done a quick fix and flogged it. It didn't show up for a couple of months and we had done about 2000km by then so would have been hard to prove.
Sorry to hear of your problems,
Mark

[tonupteabag]

Cheers mark hows everything over your way mate? As for the head it's a fifteen year old truck thats done 190,000kms so in all fairness it's had a good innings it could have happened before i sold my 2.4 though, at least i would have transport I'm hoping to get a couple of friends together and if i have the head tomorrow then it'll be done over the weekend....

[tonupteabag]

Well the new head and kit won't be here til monday bugger! anyway that gives me time to organize the troops for the head swap, I'm hoping to have the old head off by tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see whats happened and where it's cracked/failed. So now i'm just waiting for reinforcements then "let the games begin"

[tonupteabag]

Well the head is off and guess what..... Yep it's not cracked!!! oops! sorry typo there the head IS cracked between all the valve's

At least i'll be safe in the knowledge that it will be fine when it's done, It's just the damned expense that i could have done without. Now the cheap truck doesn't appear that cheap anymore, But at least it will be sorted properly and not cobbled to sell it on....

[TonyN]

.... Now the cheap truck doesn't appear that cheap anymore, ..........

Hmmm, I think thats your answer to when it really cracked...