HELP!!! Pressure!

[MR.T]

Recently my surf overheated and went pop on the side of the m4, result was a water pipe blown to bits and a knackered cylinder head, have had the head..(and the pipe!) replaced, is now running lovely, much better than it was in the first place!! BUT!!! soon as you drive it down the road the pressure goes straight back up into the red!!
What do I do now!!??

[Bogus]

When you say pressure, I,ll assume you mean temperature. Make sure theres no airlocks in the cooling system. put all the heaters on full heat, start here up with the rad cap off and let it warm up. Keep topping up at the rad cap as necessary and make sure that you have warm air at the heaters, INCLUDING THE REAR ONE. You should also change your thermostat and your rad cap if you have not already done so. Is your viscous fan working OK. Its easy to get an airlock if the system is not bled/burped properly. Air in the system causes excessive pressure which can blow hoses off, and lift the rad cap blowing water back to the expansion bottle. .


Bogus

[MR.T]

Thanks buddy, will try that, i dare say it should have been bled properly etc as the work was carried out by a local 4x4 specialist, the guy at the garage mentioned it could be bottom end damage, does this sound likely, any idea how i could get this done as cheap as poss if it is the case as i only wanna fix it up to sell it!! :-(

[MR.T]

Just spoke with garage, they said the thermostat is working fine and the system has been bled etc, hot air coming through all blowers, the only thing they haven't checked is the water pump which he will check on tuesday, but seems pretty convinced its damaged the block :-(

[BUSHWHACKER]

How soon after the head was replaced, did the problem start?

[Bogus]

Im not going to say it cant be the block, but its unlikely. They should have checked it for flatness when they put the new head on.and if they did and it was flat, how the heck can it be the block. When my old 2.4 did its head, it was replaced by a garage " a diesel genius " Despite being told by me to use new stretch bolts when fitting the head, he didnt, based on a claim that "somebody" at Toyota told him he didnt need to. ( Perhaps he got the cleaning lady when he called them ) he also failed I beleive to torque it up properly,( serious muscle needed ) he also claimed, " it must be the block " Well it wasnt the block, a set of new stretch bolts later, new head gasket, torqued up to the proper settings ( all by somebody else )and off it went running like a swiss watch. Also there are a few different gasket thicknesses I beleive, Best to use the thickest one.
Id be willing to bet that theyve failed on one of those points and now just want to shrug their shoulders and say " its the block" . Of course block damage is possible but thats a serious amount of metal to bend or crack.

Bogus

[MR.T]

The problem started as soon as the head was replaced! it overheated on me and blew the pipe, i had the head done on friday and the garage rang me on sat to tell me that it was ticking over and running 100% better but ther was still a pressure problem soon as they drove it, haven't even seen it myself yet is still at the garage :-(

[MR.T]

P.S. Bogus, what are stretch bolts? when I ordered the new head they gave me a set of new "head bolts" they called them, which i gave to the garage along with the new gaskets is this what you mean??

[NiftyNev]

Yep. Head bolts are designed to stretch which is why they should not be reused unless measured and conform to specs. Better to just use new ones and avoid possible problems.

Nev

[BUSHWHACKER]

I read somewhere, a few years ago now, that someone had the head replaced on their Surf and the head gasket was fitted up-side down resulting in one or two of the holes for coolant circulation being covered over and the results were the same as you described, pressure build up and blowing hoses off.