clueless

[greggo]

hi, I'm Greg and all this forum stuff is new to me. I'm not known for my computer skills! I own a 95 surf with usual 3.o diesel lump. I'm on my second head replacement and although it always starts and runs with no problems, it just drinks diesel regardless of whether I'm in town or on the open road. I'm used to heavy mpg, so it's just about bearable. (I'm a Crown fan)
Other than that, lovely motor. Looking forward to picking your brains.
PS what's a tag?

[Kiwisurfing]

Hello and welcome to the mad house

Bit odd to hear of a 3.0 cracking heads that often, how long did it last for after the first change and how are you driving it or what are you towing, a house?
Mabey have your radiator checked and cleaned

Surfs are not exactly economical vehicles to start with so how bad is it at the moment? My old 2.8 turbo brick can get 500kms to a tank and thats about average so whats yours doing?

Give it the usual good service and diesel filter + air filter and good quality injector cleaner and it might bump the economy up a bit, if its very high kms (sorry im a Kiwi so we use kilometers no miles so ignore that) may be worth reconditioning the injectors. Mine are getting done when I get a chance as they have over 300,000kms on them so are wearing out a little.

And as usual pics are more than welcome, we all like to have a perv at each others surfs

[Growler]

Hi and welcome to the forum

good to hear you are enjoyingthe surf. mpg on average i at best 18-27 dependant upon how you drive it

As above get some pics up

[greggo]

Hello, and thanks for your welcomes. Abrief history of my surf :
I actually bought it about two years ago, and it drove without problems. About a month later I realised I'd bought a pup- the front pads were down to nothihg. the exhaust was wafer thin most of the way through, and the wheel nuts were the wrong type, and had started to damage the alloy. Plus it was only doing 16 mpg. I cleaned out and reconnected the egr and mpg went up to 18 (in town). A while later I discovered the coolant system was pressurising presumably due to a cracked head, as there was exhaust smoke and diesel in the coolant., but it drove ok.
Eventually the coolant started fizzing up and filled the system with bubbles.
I changed the head for a ready to go item, gave it a proper flush etc and the mpg got a bit better. A month later a heater hose let go on the m25, and it cooked before I could stop. Re-filled the coolant and straightaway got the old symptoms back! Got another head, new hoses and rad, and water pump. Runs great but still getting mild exhaust leakage into coolant.

Your estimate of mpg woud be about right, then. It's just that a pal of mine has got the same model and he swears to 30s minimum, down to 25 towing a twin axle caravan, and another mate used to have a 2.4 which gave him 40mpg on a run. The most I,ve had is 24.
I've never had this much hassle with a motor, and I used to work in a garage, so I thought I knew what I was doing.
Pictures to follow just as soon as I can work out how. Going to investigate how to retrieve fault codes....

[greggo]

Hello, and thanks for your welcomes. Abrief history of my surf :
I actually bought it about two years ago, and it drove without problems. About a month later I realised I'd bought a pup- the front pads were down to nothihg. the exhaust was wafer thin most of the way through, and the wheel nuts were the wrong type, and had started to damage the alloy. Plus it was only doing 16 mpg. I cleaned out and reconnected the egr and mpg went up to 18 (in town). A while later I discovered the coolant system was pressurising presumably due to a cracked head, as there was exhaust smoke and diesel in the coolant., but it drove ok.
Eventually the coolant started fizzing up and filled the system with bubbles.
I changed the head for a ready to go item, gave it a proper flush etc and the mpg got a bit better. A month later a heater hose let go on the m25, and it cooked before I could stop. Re-filled the coolant and straightaway got the old symptoms back! Got another head, new hoses and rad, and water pump. Runs great but still getting mild exhaust leakage into coolant.

Your estimate of mpg woud be about right, then. It's just that a pal of mine has got the same model and he swears to 30s minimum, down to 25 towing a twin axle caravan, and another mate used to have a 2.4 which gave him 40mpg on a run. The most I,ve had is 24.
I've never had this much hassle with a motor, and I used to work in a garage, so I thought I knew what I was doing.
Pictures to follow just as soon as I can work out how. Going to investigate how to retrieve fault codes....

[shokenore]

Welcome
Sorry to be a grinch but brake discs, pads and exhausts are all service items.
Whenever I have got a new motor that did not have a service history I would consider changing the discs and pads as a matter of course.
The exhaust was probably last touched in Japan, 17 years ago.

I would be more concerned with the head especially if you are still getting combustion gases in the coolant.
Like I said sorry to be all grinch like, perhaps the head paranoia can now be shared with 3.0 owners too! hopefully one of the adults will be along shortly to suggest why you are still getting combustion gas in the coolant.

Happy motoring

[Predictable Bob]

What he said !

AND ...

I reckon that your mates are either exagerating wildly or have cocked up their mpg calculations

The best I've ever had out of my Surf is 30mpg and that was driving like a saint on the motorway (that's 50-55 mph in lockup). I've never bothered measuring it with the van on the hook but I know it's nowhere near 24mpg !

What was the source of your replacement head ? Some suppliers are better than others ...

[shokenore]

What he said !

AND ...


What was the source of your replacement head ? Some suppliers are better than others ...

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/23...2L_3L_2RZ.html
One would assume

[Tankerman]

I haven't had my Surf long but I reckon the only way to get 40mpg from any Surf is to tow it to your destination!

[greggo]

Yep, I agree that my mates may have done their sums wrong. Thing is one of them owns several old toyotas, and is fairly savvy. I'll look into it.
I know what service items are,(!) and I bought the vehicle partly on the evidence of the service history. Which was obviously a work of fiction. It was a private seller and I'm not going into any more details in case they are a friend of someone on the forum!
It is in quite good condition, which has made up for some of the hassle. It has done about 220000 km. Tomorrow, if it stops raining, I am going to check fault codes, by bridging the two particular terminals on the diagnostic socket. Because the check light has never come on I have never thought to investigate. I'm not expecting to find any stored codes because of the number of times the batteries have been off recently. The advice about leaving the light switch on when the power is disconnected, to totally drain the capacitors is something I've not heard of before 'so I'm going to give that a go.
I'm off on a 100 mile round trip on Monday, so I'm going to put a generous amount of system cleaner in before I go. I'm considering using a litre or so of ATF, any thoughts?
I bought the new heads from a little back street supplier in Sth Wimbledon. I've used them before when I used to be more involved in the trade and I've not had any complaints. They did a 'everything you need kit' for the price that some people want for a bare head.
The small head leak I'm getting at the moment may be due to me not cleaning up the block properly. Or the cylinder jacket is cracked. If that is the case, then it has been like that since I bought it . Perhaps I'll run it into the ground then one of you can help me convert to v8 !

Thanks for reading my tales oy woe. I'll come back with something more positive later...

[Kiwisurfing]

40km per gallon perhaps?
If his odometer is in kms not miles and he hasnt realised?

[shokenore]

Yep, I agree that my mates may have done their sums wrong. Thing is one of them owns several old toyotas, and is fairly savvy. I'll look into it.
I know what service items are,(!) and I bought the vehicle partly on the evidence of the service history. Which was obviously a work of fiction. It was a private seller and I'm not going into any more details in case they are a friend of someone on the forum!
It is in quite good condition, which has made up for some of the hassle. It has done about 220000 km. Tomorrow, if it stops raining, I am going to check fault codes, by bridging the two particular terminals on the diagnostic socket. Because the check light has never come on I have never thought to investigate. I'm not expecting to find any stored codes because of the number of times the batteries have been off recently. The advice about leaving the light switch on when the power is disconnected, to totally drain the capacitors is something I've not heard of before 'so I'm going to give that a go.
I'm off on a 100 mile round trip on Monday, so I'm going to put a generous amount of system cleaner in before I go. I'm considering using a litre or so of ATF, any thoughts?
I bought the new heads from a little back street supplier in Sth Wimbledon. I've used them before when I used to be more involved in the trade and I've not had any complaints. They did a 'everything you need kit' for the price that some people want for a bare head.
The small head leak I'm getting at the moment may be due to me not cleaning up the block properly. Or the cylinder jacket is cracked. If that is the case, then it has been like that since I bought it . Perhaps I'll run it into the ground then one of you can help me convert to v8 !

Thanks for reading my tales oy woe. I'll come back with something more positive later...

If fuel consumption is that important to you then your choice of vehicle is wrong, I don't think anyone who owns and drives a Surf is not on first name terms with the staff of their local filling station.
Why don't you work out your own fuel consumption (correctly) and then you can let your "savvy friends" know how far off the mark they are.

Why bemoan the fact that you knew what service items are and that on a truck of 200k they needed changing,lets hope that your discs and pads are not made of cheese especially if sourced from the same place that you got your heads from.
Those "ebay" heads are cheap for a reason.
Personally if you are still getting exhaust gases in your coolant I would not waste money on a bottle of ATF but I would stick a bottle of coolant in the boot probably next to the bottle of rad weld

[Predictable Bob]

If fuel consumption is that important to you then your choice of vehicle is wrong, I don't think anyone who owns and drives a Surf is not on first name terms with the staff of their local filling station.
Why don't you work out your own fuel consumption (correctly) and then you can let your "savvy friends" know how far off the mark they are.

Why bemoan the fact that you knew what service items are and that on a truck of 200k they needed changing,lets hope that your discs and pads are not made of cheese especially if sourced from the same place that you got your heads from.
Those "ebay" heads are cheap for a reason.
Personally if you are still getting exhaust gases in your coolant I would not waste money on a bottle of ATF but I would stick a bottle of coolant in the boot probably next to the bottle of rad weld

Harsh but fair (Apart from the bit about the rad weld !)

[shokenore]

Harsh but fair (Apart from the bit about the rad weld !)

I did put a winking smilie at the end

[greggo]

I'll get back to you when something happens