Overheating!!

[stevesx]

help I have just bought a 1993 Surf Import and it has been checked by a great mechanic who says it is in great condition .Low mileage only 100K km. He said that the filters where thick with muck which indicated it hadnt been serviced for some time. I have changed oil filters etc but am now concerned that it may develop overheating problem. Any tips or should i not worry. should i flush rad etc?
ta steve

[Gazza]

Get your head gasket checked as soon as possible, my 1992 surf import had exactly the same, it went on to have overheating problems, I wasted too much time in checking rads, leaks, thermostats etc, and ended up with a cracked cylinder head resulting in a very expensive engine recondition.

Apparently this is a common fault with certain engines.

Having said that its all sorted now (although I am a great deal poorer) and it runs a treat.

Imports are still an excellent buy, I just wish someone had told me sooner what I should be looking for.

[marky]

WHY CHECK THE HEAD GASKET?
I have had my 2.4ssrx for nearly a year now & its been fine. On some of the earlier 2.4 there was a design fault due to the waterways being to close to the valves there was a recall notice in japan to rectify this problem but obviously some where missed. You need to get to know your new surf before jumping to conclusions & scaring the pants off all the new 2.4 surf owners. If you are that concerned have the cooling sysrem pressure tested by a good garage just to give you piece of mind.
Always check oil& water levels on a weekly basis. NOTE when filling water resevoir you only have to put about 2 inches in it there is a line near the bottom.

[Gazza]

I had my Surf for almost a year before I started experiencing various little overheating etc problems, it took 3 months of checking things out before the major problem was discovered, by which time it had got worse, so I would suggest anyone checks Head Gasket pressure sooner rather than later to save time and money, if it checks out ok then that is great.

[marky]

WHY CHECK THE HEAD GASKET?
I have had my 2.4ssrx for nearly a year now & its been fine. On some of the earlier 2.4 there was a design fault due to the waterways being to close to the valves there was a recall notice in japan to rectify this problem but obviously some where missed. You need to get to know your new surf before jumping to conclusions & scaring the pants off all the new 2.4 surf owners. If you are that concerned have the cooling sysrem pressure tested by a good garage just to give you piece of mind.
Always check oil& water levels on a weekly basis. NOTE when filling water resevoir you only have to put about 2 inches in it there is a line near the bottom.

Forget Head Gasket Read Above

[Guest]

On the 2.4 I'd kind of agree with Marky. Forget the Head gasket, it rarely goes without there being another cause which is generally the head going itself if anything is going to go. There was a recal in Japan for some of them but I am not convinced that this is the cause of the head failures, in fact I'm convinced that it isn't the cause.

Get the system pressure tested, this is not to test the head gasket but to test the head. A quick and easy way to tell if you have a major problem is to start the engine from cold and after 2 minutes remove the radiator cap. If water comes out under pressure you can pretty much bet that the head is cracked. The system should not have heated up enough to expand the coolant in 2 minutes so any pressure will be combustion gasses putting the system under pressure. If this happens then get it checked out properly and you will know.

The early heads were badly designed, replacement ones do not have the same problem and to be honest with a new head the 2.4 is as good as any other diesel engine and not much down on power delivery than the 3.0. I find my 2.4 quite powerful enough on road and has a good power curve for offroad use.

As far as trying to make sure that it doesn't break, flush the cooling system thoroughly, change rad cap, thermostat, keep the radiator clear of debris, use engine flush when you change the oil, use good quality oil, oil additive and finally and most importantly service it regularly.

Surfs need an oil change every 5000 miles or so (new filter at the same time), flush the cooling system every year, change the fuel filter every year.

These are all things you should do for a 10 year old motor anyway and the Surf is no different from any other.

Dont get too hung up on the horror stories. Not all 2.4s crack the heads or overheat just some of them. As long as you keep some money aside for the future just in case then it won't be a nasty surprise. Look after the motor and it will look after you. The 2.4 is basically a very good engine - just look at all the Hilux pickups out there with variations of the same engine. If you take the occasional head issue out of the picture it is basically a very well designed, very strong and long lasting engine.

Lets not forget that none of us really know how many miles these cars have done when they come into the country, I doubt if more than 10% of them have genuine readings on them and some have probably gone over 150,000 miles in the 10 years they were in Japan.

Hope that this eases your mind. My Surf did over 20K miles before the head went on it (just over 1 year).

Cheers

[marky]

Thanks andy. maybe the penny will drop LOL