Blocked radiator

[Foxy]

Gday all,

I have a 1992 2.4 ssrx auto Surf (Jap Import) I have looked around the sight and I'm worried my head may have gone. Vehicle went into the red on the temp guage.

RAC have wedged open my thermo for time being and the left side of my radiator was cold. when I got home I flushed the system out with fresh water for and hour or so, refilled and tried again.

Went for a short drive and it went into the red again. I limped home and had to put about 2lts of water in filler point (Expansion tank fullnad bubbling). The radiator still cold on left side, and bubbles coming out of the water filling point. I slowly filled the radiator until bubbles went as water dropped and left side of radiator got hot.

Does this meen that any airlock in the rad has now cleared? If not does anyone know how I get the rad out or can i unblock it in place. There is also a rad on bottom under front bash plate. (Workshop does not show how to remove)

Finally there is No water in the oil and vice versa. Will I have caused untold damage to the engine when it went into the red a couple of times. I did stop and wait for it to cool. Please can someone give me some good news as I fear the worst......

Thanx all, Foxy

[Nipper]

Id like to say its probably just your rad, but having had first hand experience of this sort of surf behaviour i would say that the rad is probably just a contributor to a bigger problem, its real hard to say without having a look.

When my head went there was no oil water mix either and when mine got hot it never let it go into red! but as i say it was still a cracked head.

How long have you had yours? im starting to discover that many of them are shot before they even get here.

The rad underneath the sump is your oil cooler and it is a little involved to remove.

If you type in radiator in the search above you will find loads of Rad removal and testing threads.

If you dont mind coughing up you can get it tested at a local rad center. If it is ok then you might be lucky but if you Surf got real hot you may have caused damage to the head. If your handy with a spanner then an inspection is the way to go (although note that sometimes the cracks are so fine you can hardly see them and a pressure test maybe required).

Use the search facility for any ather questions there is not a subject on this site about over heating that has not been analyised and re-analyised.

Nipper

[da SLUG man]

shouldn't have caused any damage by over heating unless you got it so hot the engine stopped on it's own. or put cold water in it when it was that hot

[Koi]

When you fill via the rad cap make sure both front & rear heaters are set to hot. Best to fill it in the morning when its stone cold (they take an age to cool right down). Fill until it wont take anymore, start it up for a minute and give a couple of good revs. Check level again and top as required, repeat this until it wont take any more coolant, then take for a run, then check level again.
Not a sure fire way to tell if heads cracked but from stone cold take off rad cap and start it up, if it flows out coolant it could be the head. It may trickle out but shouldn't flow out, could also be the stat. So remove stat and repeat, if it still pours out then it could be the head. Only sure way to know is to get it pressure tested.

[Foxy]

When you fill via the rad cap make sure both front & rear heaters are set to hot. Best to fill it in the morning when its stone cold (they take an age to cool right down). Fill until it wont take anymore, start it up for a minute and give a couple of good revs. Check level again and top as required, repeat this until it wont take any more coolant, then take for a run, then check level again.
Not a sure fire way to tell if heads cracked but from stone cold take off rad cap and start it up, if it flows out coolant it could be the head. It may trickle out but shouldn't flow out, could also be the stat. So remove stat and repeat, if it still pours out then it could be the head. Only sure way to know is to get it pressure tested.

Thanks and Hi,
Looks like its the dreaded head. At the moment the stat is weged open with a screw as I'm waiting for a new one to come from TOYOTA. When the car is running for only five mins it seems to pressure up the system very quick. I've managed to clear any blockage in the rad as it is getting hot evenly now. Possibly exhaust gasses getting into water???

When you say put the heaters on full when filling with water to you men with the engine off and blowers won full to??

[Koi]

Thanks and Hi,
Looks like its the dreaded head. At the moment the stat is weged open with a screw as I'm waiting for a new one to come from TOYOTA. When the car is running for only five mins it seems to pressure up the system very quick. I've managed to clear any blockage in the rad as it is getting hot evenly now. Possibly exhaust gasses getting into water???

When you say put the heaters on full when filling with water to you men with the engine off and blowers won full to??

No, sorry, just make sure they are set to the heat setting so as to open the valves to the matrix to allow the coolant in/out & circulate.

[Foxy]

Blocked radiator

Thanks guys for all your advice,

I've given up on what Ican do, i've cleared the block in the rad but the beast is still pressurising and pushing the water out of the expansion tank within minutes of starting. It's gone now to the experts as there is a local guy who has quietly become a bit of a specialist with the Surf's. He saw the loik of depression on my face and said he's done a load of these and some of the head have been fine when tested and it was just the gasket which will by much cheeper. He turned up in a 3lt Surf so you gotta trust the guy knows what hes doing.

Anyway got to sell my Husqvarna 410 enduro motorbike to pay for it any offerss???

Take care guys, Steve