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Originally posted by robnw67
Hi
Several people have asked why Surfs tend to be ok for 10 years in Japan, and yet the head fails within 2 months of being imported to the UK.
I have a theory that off road use may be a factor. It's clear that most of the Surfs that are shipped across have never been anywhere near mud, because of the excellent condition of the underside. As the Japanese are probably more sensible that us, they have probably just been tootling around - no engine strain.
However, bring them to the UK and the first thing Brits do is drop the car up to its axles in mud and try to tow Landrovers out of ditches. Now if you're cruising on a motorway, with 3000rpm at the engine you might be generating 55bhp - this will give you enough energy to push a brick-shaped, 2 tons of metal through the air at 60pmh.
However, when off road, wading through mud, the engine may be spinning at 3000rpm generating all that energy but only a fraction of the energy is used churning up the mud. The energy has to go somewhere and I guess it gets dumped as heat into the radiator, however, it will surely raise the engine temperature. It's a big radiator and is capable of dumping the heat, but the heat is generated in the engine, specifically in the head. If you now add a weak head design, it may just push the whole thing beyond the failure limit.
I only mention this because I had the misfortune to own a Daihatsu Sportrak a while ago which went through 3 cylinder head gaskets and cylinder heads - and 2 of these calamaties occured following off road days in mud.
Food for thought?
Several people have asked why Surfs tend to be ok for 10 years in Japan, and yet the head fails within 2 months of being imported to the UK.
I have a theory that off road use may be a factor. It's clear that most of the Surfs that are shipped across have never been anywhere near mud, because of the excellent condition of the underside. As the Japanese are probably more sensible that us, they have probably just been tootling around - no engine strain.
However, bring them to the UK and the first thing Brits do is drop the car up to its axles in mud and try to tow Landrovers out of ditches. Now if you're cruising on a motorway, with 3000rpm at the engine you might be generating 55bhp - this will give you enough energy to push a brick-shaped, 2 tons of metal through the air at 60pmh.
However, when off road, wading through mud, the engine may be spinning at 3000rpm generating all that energy but only a fraction of the energy is used churning up the mud. The energy has to go somewhere and I guess it gets dumped as heat into the radiator, however, it will surely raise the engine temperature. It's a big radiator and is capable of dumping the heat, but the heat is generated in the engine, specifically in the head. If you now add a weak head design, it may just push the whole thing beyond the failure limit.
I only mention this because I had the misfortune to own a Daihatsu Sportrak a while ago which went through 3 cylinder head gaskets and cylinder heads - and 2 of these calamaties occured following off road days in mud.
Food for thought?
http://www.showmesome.info/hilux/photos/japan/
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