New guy.

[TeachMeToSurf]

Hello! I'm from Canada, I just went and looked at a 91 (i believe second gen?) Surf SSR-G for sale in my city. After living in Australia for a year I fell for the Hilux, and would love to own one. Are there any issues I should know about if I decide to sell my subaru and pull the trigger on this unit? Aside from the head issues on the 2.4, I haven't been able to search up many consistent issues that Surf owners deal with.

Here's some specs of the one I looked at:

171,000 km
-Water jet cut egr delete
-pyro gauge
-brand new oversized aluminum rad
-Brand new 3L cylinder head along with all upper gaskets
-new timing belt
-new water pump
-less then 10000km on front end suspension
-newer 31 inch tires
- clean body with paint matched two tone raptor liner
-Interior steam cleaned
-jdm steering wheel
-Automatic shifts amazing no issues also was serviced and had the trans filter changed
-New external transmission cooler
-Newer ct20 turbo as the previous one had was terrible
-CCV relocation to frame rail can include a catch can if you want
-Glow plug over ride to help on the colder days
-WARN manual locking hubs

The current owner is a diesel technician and did the work himself.

If anyone can point me in a direction to do some studying (either here or another website) that'd be fantastic!

Thanks,

Logan

[Diezel Weazel]

Hi n welcome to the Mad house for Surfs... along with this Forum ya can also search for info here ...
www.toyotasurf.asn.au/
https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search;_...fr=yfp-t-903-s

15+ Years of Surfs .. n Faultless to a "T" is my Yota !! Soon to be 1 only ..

[POPEYE]

Welcome Logan, sounds like it's had a lot of care and attention, The 2.4 has/did have a bad rep re-the head but on the other side of the coin I have had one for over 11 years with the original head with no problems, I believe there was an issue with the water jacket being machined (or cast) a bit close to an exhaust port but it was mainly on the earlier production models, like all second hand cars if you buy it make sure you give it a real good cooling system flush and renew, all the small pipes like the rear heater lines and the turbo lines, check all the small hoses and rig up some form of burping the system as they are prone to get air trapped, I used a pair of plumbing drain cocks cut into the heater pipes at the highest point on the bulkhead (firewall) hook em up to two plastic bottles via plastic tubing and you can see the air escape as the motor pumps the coolant round, fit a new thermo-stat cap as a precaution,
I have fitted several extra fans to keep it on the cooler side but I guess in Canada the temps are a bit lower than the UK (generally)
You'll find plenty of info on here and the Aus site, post some pics when you get one

[AlexKzn130]

Surfs with original suspension can suffer with a saggy arse, check the suspension height matches the front, if not a easy replace of the rear springs can fix it

[Diezel Weazel]

Surfs with original suspension can suffer with a saggy arse, check the suspension height matches the front, if not a easy replace of the rear springs can fix it

I'd go so far as to suggest if ya have a saggy Rs .... 20% stronger springs on the rear if ya towing a lot or carry lots of gear, problem solved .... six years on mine still look as when I fitted em ..

15+ Years of Surfs .. n Faultless to a "T" is my Yota !! From 2 Surfs, now 1 ..

[TeachMeToSurf]

Thanks for the replies! I've been spending lots of time here and on the Aussie site learning as much as I can. Pending my car selling tomorrow (Sunday) I will be a Surf owner in just over 24 hours! I'm so excited.

As for the saggy butt, the rear seems to be in good shape and while the truck does come with a tow hitch, I have no plans (and no trailer) to tow. I will be losing it up with a bit of camping gear from time to time but if my car can handle it the surf certainly should

Two things I will be looking to replace: glow plugs, and the coolant reservoir tank. The tank got stained with oil after the oil cooler on the previous motor let go. It's been cleaned and it does not discolour the coolant as far as I've seen, I just want piece of mind. Can anyone tell me if a coolant overflow tank from a 4Runner will fit?

[Diezel Weazel]

I don't see why a Header tank from a 2nd gen 4 runner wouldn't fit ..

15+ Years of Surfs .. n Faultless to a "T" is my Yota !! So 2 Surfs are 1 now ..

[TeachMeToSurf]

Well, as of Sunday I am a proud Surf owner!



Can't help but smile every time I hop in this awesome machine!

Hunting down some new glow plugs before winter...


Quick question: I am currently running on one battery. I've lined up a 2nd one, 1000CCA should be nice for the cold starts Question is, will it be detrimental in any way to run a new battery with an older one in the Surf? In a perfect world where my wallet was bottomless, I'd have two 1000cca batteries in there, but money is tight for now!

[Diezel Weazel]

Very nice Truck ...
As I understand the workings, some trucks come with a Winter Pack including duel Batteries & if one is iffy/Duff it will drag the other down & should be realistically be replaced in pairs.
Having said that some trucks are only fitted with one, a duel Battery setup can be altered /adapted to run on one ....
Hope that helps ..
Good Luck

15+ Years of Surfs .. n Faultless to a "T" is my Yota !! So from 2 Surfs to 1 ..

[TeachMeToSurf]

Thanks for the reply! My surf is an SSRG which comes with the dual battery setup. I work in a diesel parts store and I can get a pretty decent discount on batteries. So yesterday I plopped a 1000cca in the empty slot (I hated to hear it struggling to turn over on one battery) and what a difference it makes! Cranks nice and strong.

Still hunting for glow plugs through our part vendors, I'd like to price out a set of Bosch plugs if I can find them. Can anyone confirm a Bosch part # for the 2LTE engine? Should be a ten-digit Bosch number with a format like 0 250 123 456

Thanks

[Diezel Weazel]

These any good ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GLP042-BOS...item2365d87129

15+ Years of Surfs .. n Faultless to a "T" is my Yota !! So now only 1 Surf ..

[TeachMeToSurf]

Yeah those look like they'd work. I'm trying to find a part number to see if I can source any in Canada (or North America for that matter) because the previous owner had some on the way from Australia months ago and they still haven't shown up :O

I'll go the eBay/ship from overseas method as a last resort.