Radiator just threw up !

[SparX]

Thanks Koi , Just dropped that info of to the mechanic. He said he has been speaking to toyota today , and they said it might be the Fiscal(sp) Fan ? The big white one with the cooling fins on it , apparantly if this spins and you can stop it without fighting the clutch in it , then it may be the cause . ?!?!?!!?! apparantly those fans cost £250 and may be why mine has an electric one fitted infront of it ! Never noticed that before !

Anyway , the rad was pressure tested and results were OK , so that is being fitted back on tommorow and that fan thing tested , then its the head removal . PHEW ! .. will I ever get it back !!!!

[Guest]

Thanks Koi , Just dropped that info of to the mechanic. He said he has been speaking to toyota today , and they said it might be the Fiscal(sp) Fan ? The big white one with the cooling fins on it , apparantly if this spins and you can stop it without fighting the clutch in it , then it may be the cause . ?!?!?!!?! apparantly those fans cost £250 and may be why mine has an electric one fitted infront of it ! Never noticed that before !

Anyway , the rad was pressure tested and results were OK , so that is being fitted back on tommorow and that fan thing tested , then its the head removal . PHEW ! .. will I ever get it back !!!!

Quick and easy fix for the viscous fan, drill a couple of holes right through it and bolt it up, It will always turn then. Only downside will be the extra noise. IMHO viscous fans ain't worth a light unless you really want to cut down on the whirring noise. A Fixed one is mechanically simpler and more reliable.

Cheers

[waveydavey]

Sorry to hear about your head, mine went exactly the same way, very expensive even if you do it yourself head is £818.97 from ukcylinderheads with gaskets then of course the time, garages are approx £35 per hour...If you do decide to do it yourself and you have a digital camera photo every stage of stripping down so that you know where things go... I didn't and now have things left over!

[Koi]

Thanks Koi , Just dropped that info of to the mechanic. He said he has been speaking to toyota today , and they said it might be the Fiscal(sp) Fan ? The big white one with the cooling fins on it , apparantly if this spins and you can stop it without fighting the clutch in it , then it may be the cause . ?!?!?!!?! apparantly those fans cost £250 and may be why mine has an electric one fitted infront of it ! Never noticed that before !

Anyway , the rad was pressure tested and results were OK , so that is being fitted back on tommorow and that fan thing tested , then its the head removal . PHEW ! .. will I ever get it back !!!!

The electric one in front is the air con fan and also cuts in when the engine gets very very hot.
If the engine is stone cold, take off the rad cap if within a minute or so it pours collant out i can't see it being the fan. Pretty much sure it will be the head, hope they aren't charging you for all this testing.
If they strip the head down make sure they mark up all the vacuum hoses they disconnect, cause they operate the 4x4 system, idle etc etc and get em wrong and well it will be in the garage a bit longer while they work out what goes where.

[Koi]

Thanks Koi , Just dropped that info of to the mechanic. He said he has been speaking to toyota today , and they said it might be the Fiscal(sp) Fan ? The big white one with the cooling fins on it , apparantly if this spins and you can stop it without fighting the clutch in it , then it may be the cause . ?!?!?!!?! apparantly those fans cost £250 and may be why mine has an electric one fitted infront of it ! Never noticed that before !

Anyway , the rad was pressure tested and results were OK , so that is being fitted back on tommorow and that fan thing tested , then its the head removal . PHEW ! .. will I ever get it back !!!!

Also as far as I recall on tickover with cold engine you should be able to grab the fan and stop it, as it gets hot it grabs and you then can't stop it.
If you can stop it when the engines hot its a change of fluid first not a new fan, can't help thinking all this try this try that is really wasting time and avoiding the inevitable. If it flows out from cold its pressure in the system still can't see it being the fan if it does.

[SparX]

I have relayed as much info on the head of the surf as I can to the mechanic. But he is very "thorough" if nothing else. He is worried about me spending the money and it being a simple fix . Where as I have it in my head that it is the Cylinder head gone and need a new one so just stick it in. and get on with it . Also this is my everyday vehicle , its the surf or nothing !!!!

Also I spose at the end of the day I saved myself about 1500 getting from the trade @ 4500 , so Its as if I bought a 6k one anyway now!


Thanks for all the input guys , I will keep you all posted on progress.
Don't think the missus will let me take it to the pit this year now !

[SparX]

Episode 2

Right then buddies ... Thx for the help so far.. this is where we are at ....

System does not flow water out of the rad cap when cold ( indicating head is OK )
Viscous fan does not run well under preasure ( told mechanic to bolt it )
Mechanic rekons the water was coming from the overflow pipe , and knowhere else !
Mech is now removing waterpump to have a look at it.

He doesnt seem to think its the head.

What do we all think ??? What should he do next ( he's asking me for some reason !?!!?!? )

[Koi]

Right then buddies ... Thx for the help so far.. this is where we are at ....

System does not flow water out of the rad cap when cold ( indicating head is OK )
Viscous fan does not run well under preasure ( told mechanic to bolt it )
Mechanic rekons the water was coming from the overflow pipe , and knowhere else !
Mech is now removing waterpump to have a look at it.

He doesnt seem to think its the head.

What do we all think ??? What should he do next ( he's asking me for some reason !?!!?!? )

Make sure the cap is on when you start it so as to build the pressure up, or it might not work.
If the water pump was leaking it would be leaking from behind the timing cover. Are both your heaters working fully, on tickover it takes an age for these motors to warm up, I can't help thinking that 5 mins driving with the cold air going across the rad (even if the fan ain't working) is pretty quick to overheat it. Really make sure its not air locked.

[Guest]

Right then buddies ... Thx for the help so far.. this is where we are at ....

System does not flow water out of the rad cap when cold ( indicating head is OK )
Viscous fan does not run well under preasure ( told mechanic to bolt it )
Mechanic rekons the water was coming from the overflow pipe , and knowhere else !
Mech is now removing waterpump to have a look at it.

He doesnt seem to think its the head.

What do we all think ??? What should he do next ( he's asking me for some reason !?!!?!? )

SparX.

When he says the water doesn't flow out of the rad cap when cold, I presume he started the engine with the rad cap on, then ran it for a couple of minutes and then removed the rad cap with the engine still running. You need to allow a couple of minutes for the pressure to build up and the head to warm up sufficiently for the cracks if any to open up.

If it was the water pump I think you would overheat even when idling.

It may still be the fan however I think the weather is cool enough for the engine to cool sufficiently when moving just by the air moving through the rad.

The only other thing is to use a proper engine pressure tester on the rad cap to check for combustion pressure in the engine. This will test as to whether more than the rad cap pressure is building up (0.9bar). When I tested mine (I bought a pressure tester) it built up to 30psi (2 bar) before I gave up and admitted the head had gone.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

[SparX]

I wish my mechanic could read this forum !!!

Right just been and told him to put it all back together , with a cleaned and preasure tested RAD , the Waterpump is fine , A new Stat , and a new Viscous Fan ( £140 ) The bill is getting too big , I just want it out of that garage now.
When he has put it all back together we will then test it , and looks like I will have to find a cheap way to do the head if it is that.

He did put a CO2 tester in the engine , and said it didn't pick up anything , is that a reliable test ?

Getting more and more peeed off ...... Mark.

[Guest]

I wish my mechanic could read this forum !!!

Right just been and told him to put it all back together , with a cleaned and preasure tested RAD , the Waterpump is fine , A new Stat , and a new Viscous Fan ( £140 ) The bill is getting too big , I just want it out of that garage now.
When he has put it all back together we will then test it , and looks like I will have to find a cheap way to do the head if it is that.

He did put a CO2 tester in the engine , and said it didn't pick up anything , is that a reliable test ?

Getting more and more peeed off ...... Mark.

CO2 tester should help, tests for combustion gasses in the water (not sure how he did it though as the gas testers are a fluid you put in the water and they turn a different colour depending on the presence of combustion gasses.

Cheers

[skiper210]

Hi Buddy.
I am sorry to say but the top and bottom of it is your HEAD is ***ed, the only thing to cause instant heat in an engine especially a Surf Diesel is combustion gasses entering the water system, even if the stat was stuck closed the waterpump knackered and the rad choked she would still cool for a certain amount of time, as you know the diesel engine fires by he sheer compression temperature which is so hot it fires an oil base fluid ( diesel) imagine how little of this heat entering the water will make her boil instantly, sadly it is not a rare condition for these lovely motors.
Bite the bullet old chap and get that head done, if you lived near me I could recommend a garage mate that would do it for around 13 - 14 hundred pounds.
sorry mate but I think you are just spending money on a desperate hope that you will not have to get it changed.
Good luck mate
There is life after the head change and she will still be a superb motor.
The Skipper.

[SparX]

Right then , Thanks to all the info so far ..

The Garage just called to say .. " All Done and fixed "

Strange I thought ! , So he has recored the RAD , changed the viscous fan , changed the thermostat. and all is well .

But has cost me £500+ for a job i could have done. Fricking Hell !!!

So according to mech , the head has not gone ! We shall see , Picking it up this afternoon !

Im sure i will be back saying " I think my head has gone ! "

[skennedy2701]

Overflow from expansion bottle is off the top of it and runs to drain in that area.

Let engine totaly cool down, open both heaters and refill system, when full leave cap off and start engine. If it flows/pressures out of cap straight away then it could be stat or head. Maybe take stat out and try this again.
Have you flushed system since you got the surf?, if not flush rad etc feel the rad all over for cold spots may be its blocked.
Had the same symptons on mine, from stone cold started her up and it poured out the cap straight away, was the head i am afraid.
Really need to get the pressure test done.

Koi,

Tried this test on mine this morning from cold. Let it run for 4 mins and took off cap. The coolant doesn't overflow straight away but seems to slowly come towards the neck. Should it spew out or just slowly ebb towards the top. I am paranoid now because my Surf really does get hot even after a short journey. Too hot to touch. I did have it in London the other day and back and it seemed OK. My paranoia is getting to me now. I am planning a trip to Dubilin at Christmas by road and baot and would rather have the work done now than risk a catastrophe during the holidays. You think I should have it pressure tested. ?

[Guest]

Koi,

Tried this test on mine this morning from cold. Let it run for 4 mins and took off cap. The coolant doesn't overflow straight away but seems to slowly come towards the neck. Should it spew out or just slowly ebb towards the top. I am paranoid now because my Surf really does get hot even after a short journey. Too hot to touch. I did have it in London the other day and back and it seemed OK. My paranoia is getting to me now. I am planning a trip to Dubilin at Christmas by road and baot and would rather have the work done now than risk a catastrophe during the holidays. You think I should have it pressure tested. ?

Stephen.

It should come bursting out of the top if the pressure was significant. I think you need to look for something else as being the problem. Are ou losing water, if not then how does the viscous fan work, does it spin properly when warm (is the viscous oil locking up), what about the thermostat, have you flushed the system as the rad and block could be full of c**p and restricting the flow. If the water is spewing out of the rad cap and you aren't losing water then chances are that the head is OK. I would definately get things out if the engine is getting hot though. Mind you what does the gauge say - if it show normal then it is just getting normally hot - the engine does get very hot - I think mainly because the engine bay is so cramped.

I've just come back from a return trip to wales, 650 miles on the motorway in 2 days, plus a stop off in Liverpool to see Hilux Bob. Car ran like a dream, I am very pleased because it's the first really good run since the head was changed.

Cheers and good luck.