Head cracked? how do i know

[Fatty Smalls]

5 weeks into owning my 1st Surf ,paid top price of £2000 as it had a new head fitted in Feb of this year. So i was certain i would have no trouble ,since buying it i've had overheating problems. I've tried all the burping tricks including jacking up front 2ft and fitting a bleedvalve to the top heater hose on bulkhead. I've replaced waterpump,rad,themostat,rad cap and 7 new heaterhoses but still overheating.Took it to my local garage passed pressure test no exhaust gases present. The mechanic asked if i tried running with no Thermostat , which i have and it overheated. He says if it overheats with no thermostat then it is an ABSOLUTE guaranteed certainty the head is cracked!
What would you do?
Pay £1000 for a Stevo head
Drive it only local for 5yrs to get my monies worth!
Scrap it and swallow the £2000 debt and tell the kids no Xmas for 5yrs
Go back to the bloke who sold it and remove his legs slowly!

I dont know if i can justify another grand on this old truck ,can i expect to get 200,000 miles out of new head ,and how long until the Goverment stitch us all up and raise RoadTax for old smokey diesel's to a grand a year.
Theres always one mug and it looks like this time it's me.

[BioHazard]

Best way to tell if the head is gone is to get the coolant checked for exhaust gasses

[Sancho]

Are all the belts on and running properly? I bought mine for decent money because it had a new head, but they damaged the crankshaft pulley whilst doing the swap and my water pump was running too slow.

[bowella]

There is only ONE way to be certain if the head is, or is not, cracked, and that is to remove it and visually check it !!
If there are no visible cracks then you should take it and have it tested, then and only then, can you be 100% sure.
I know it's a lot of work, but with the amount of time you have already spent trying different cures you could have had the head off and had it checked, and now be certain of the facts and what to do about it. If it is cracked you will then be able to confront the supplier of the head with proof that the head is faulty and it should be replaced FOC, Don't belive all the rubbish that because they didn't fit it the warranty is void, if it is cracked then it is not of merchantable quality, and in any case it should have lasted a lot longer than it has.
Just tell them you will be contacting Trading Standards if they refuse to help you.
Just my opinion for what it's worth but that's the course of action I would take and recomend.
Best regards, John.

[julesj]

Does it just push water out of the filler if run without the cap on?
Did you replace the rad because it leaked under pressure?
Are there any signs of leakage inside footwells by heater (the matrix often goes when the head does).
If answer to any of these is yes the the head is probably cracked.
As others have already suggested An exhaust gas test should prove this, or head removal there are pictures of where they crack on the overheat thread.
If you cant get your money back the cheapest sensible solution, (assuming that a. you are capable of diy, and b. the block top surface is in good condition) is to buy the steveo bare head for about £400 + gasket set and stretch bolts. You should be able to do it in a weekend

[Fatty Smalls]

Took out thermostat today, and it is running slighty cooler than normal but temp started creeping up after 30 mins of driving. This evening i had a mate bring round a block tester ,blue liquid in the vial thing .We ran it on tickover ,first 5 mins nothing until i realised i had to close off the hose leading from thermostat housing to reservoir and bubbles galore started going in the block tester ,after 25mins no change liquid stayed blue, even though it was a constant stream of bubbles. So now im confused as he says "good news head is not cracked" , he did mention the 2 fan belts round the alternator were loose about an inch play (maybe waterpump is sliping at speed). But we could not see a way of adjusting belt tightness as alternator has no bracket but just seems to be bolted direct to block. How do you adjust alternator belts?

No water leaking anywhere ,footwells.

Phoned the head supplier - This number is not available!

[GRASSMAN]

Heads don't always show cracks twix valves, mine looked like it, but it had'nt, (K seal?) but, it had cracked up in the induction port near the glow plug/injector, a pressure test when off the engine does'nt always show this, a vaccuum test always will. A block test is essential.
(TWIX is yorkshire for between)
Make sure that the water pump impeller is not loose on the shaft, it has been known to be loose!! (try it in a vice).

[NiftyNev]

he did mention the 2 fan belts round the alternator were loose about an inch play (maybe waterpump is sliping at speed). But we could not see a way of adjusting belt tightness as alternator has no bracket but just seems to be bolted direct to block. How do you adjust alternator belts?

This may be your problem but bubbles are not a good sign.

The alternator is adjustable. Large pivot bolt under alternator and the adjuster bolt at top through bracket into alternator body.

Loosen bottom pivot bolt slightly. Loosen the top bolt and pivot alternator away from block. Tighten top bolt.(be careful as they sometimes snap) and the tighten the bottom bolt.

Try testing with the blue liquid after you give the engine a good workout, via the expansion tank without removing the radiator cap and the engine still running. Gasses will concentrate in the expansion tank. rather than be dissipated around the cap.

Nev

[Fatty Smalls]

Yeah ,well said Nev but i did notice that there was no bubbles in the block tester until i pulled off the hose to the expansion tank and blocked it, then it was bubbles all the way into the block tester, so im pretty sure the air/Co2 passed thru the blue liquid. I got temp up to half ,but didnt take it for a good run first .I will try again tomorrow. I've already fitted a single bleedvalve to top hose on bulkhead to aid burping ,but endless bubbles/air. It's as if the coolant system is sucking air in ,but thats impossible .

Im wondering if the heater matrix although not visable ,could it be physicly slighty higher than the top hose/bulkhead creating airlocks. So im gonna build and fit Popeyes 'Double Pop Bottle Fill Trick' (2nd from last post)

He's engine bay looks better than mine!

[Sancho]

. It's as if the coolant system is sucking air in ,but thats impossible .

It'll suck air in as it cools if there's not enough coolant in the expansion tank or the pipe isn't pulling from it.

[Maverick]

It will also suck in air if the pipe between stat and expansion tank has any holes (even pin sized), I don't think that can be your cause but just another thing you could check.

[NiftyNev]

Im wondering if the heater matrix although not visable ,could it be physicly slighty higher than the top hose/bulkhead creating airlocks.

After the pipes go through the firewall they drop down about 50mm and have a few bends and then they come back up to about the level at which they are on firewall. There is a chance of some air being trapped because of the low spots but normal burping procedure with the engine running will clear them. I've never had a problem with air locks. It does take a couple of days driving to get rid of all air in the system and they usually will need a small topup over this period.

Nev

[NiftyNev]

Here a pic of expansion tank.

Nev

[Fatty Smalls]

Started thinking about what the bubbles might be ,and concluded that if it's not CO2 gases & its not endless trapped air then it must be steam, as the water was pi$$in out the bottle and looked volatile. So yesterday adjusted Alternator so belts drivin waterpump were much tighter and BINGO it stopped bubbling like a caldron and so far is runnin sweet.The thinking is that the pump was moving the water ,but not fast enough/belt slippin when revs were high causing super heated water. As you can see from pic adjusting the Alternator was much more difficult as i dont seem to have an adjuster bracket ,only a single bolt at the pivot point holding the Alternator on! For now its holding ,so if anyone has got a spare bracket & bolts for sale i'd be very interested. The monkeys who rebuilt the head must of been stoned as they seem to have left off a few bits ,i also bypassed the rear heater as it was blocked anyway. So for now it seems i dont have a crackedhead ,but will see in the comming days.

Cheers for all the help Lads.

The red arrows are where i think the missing Alternator Bracket is bolted.

[tintin]

Started thinking about what the bubbles might be ,and concluded that if it's not CO2 gases & its not endless trapped air then it must be steam, as the water was pi$$in out the bottle and looked volatile. So yesterday adjusted Alternator so belts drivin waterpump were much tighter and BINGO it stopped bubbling like a caldron and so far is runnin sweet.The thinking is that the pump was moving the water ,but not fast enough/belt slippin when revs were high causing super heated water. As you can see from pic adjusting the Alternator was much more difficult as i dont seem to have an adjuster bracket ,only a single bolt at the pivot point holding the Alternator on! For now its holding ,so if anyone has got a spare bracket & bolts for sale i'd be very interested. The monkeys who rebuilt the head must of been stoned as they seem to have left off a few bits ,i also bypassed the rear heater as it was blocked anyway. So for now it seems i dont have a crackedhead ,but will see in the comming days.

Cheers for all the help Lads.

The red arrows are where i think the missing Alternator Bracket is bolted.

Get the alternator adjuster from toyota as its only about a tenner!
Should be a doddle to fit!
Alan
(if ya need any pics just shout!)