Gen 3 3ltr Help needed with air in coolant, radiator dumps fluid in bottle..

[si tate]

Just out of interest, what coolant are you using?

[S14A-J]

Another longish journey in the car and only a tiny bit of foam in the coolant bottle, levels all seem the same so far so good. The coolant i used was first the blue toyota coolant which was fine untill i added the bio degreasant and a bottle of forte flush. I drove with both these is for a week n half (as recommended by my mechanic) and then flushed twice with water, then put Comma blue concentrate coolant in... That's when the crazy foaming started.
To be fair im not sure the coolant flush was completed removed as it seemed to leave a thick coating on the inside of the pipes. Oh well fingers crossed all is well now

[si tate]

Another longish journey in the car and only a tiny bit of foam in the coolant bottle, levels all seem the same so far so good. The coolant i used was first the blue toyota coolant which was fine untill i added the bio degreasant and a bottle of forte flush. I drove with both these is for a week n half (as recommended by my mechanic) and then flushed twice with water, then put Comma blue concentrate coolant in... That's when the crazy foaming started.
To be fair im not sure the coolant flush was completed removed as it seemed to leave a thick coating on the inside of the pipes. Oh well fingers crossed all is well now

I'm hopeing it's glycol bases & not methanol, personally I only put the toyota pre -mix stuff in.

[S14A-J]

Update;
I've been driving on fresh Toyota green coolant for a week and now I checked the coolant again and we've got the foaming and bubbling again. So its seems confirmed that the problem is still there. Tomorrow the garage are gonna do the check on the head.
Can anyone advise which head bit's are best value?
Was gonna get these.
http://www.roughtrax4x4.com/?doc=16&cid=621&vid=1368

[si tate]

Update;
I've been driving on fresh Toyota green coolant for a week and now I checked the coolant again and we've got the foaming and bubbling again. So its seems confirmed that the problem is still there. Tomorrow the garage are gonna do the check on the head.
Can anyone advise which head bit's are best value?
Was gonna get these.
http://www.roughtrax4x4.com/?doc=16&cid=621&vid=1368

Hi Jason, alot use roughtrax including me & I've always had quality parts & super fast delivery.

[S14A-J]

People are recommending these upgraded heads from a guy called steveo, just reading the previous threads to find out more. Some things I have bought from roughtrax were good, others not so great. The silicon hose to replace the intake pipe for air box is transferring loads of engine vibration to the airbox and wearing the lid out also the drum brakes I got would warp when they got hot , binned those and bought blueprint ones.
I would like to get the best head possible , I only plan to change it once.

[red barron]

As si pointed out RT Head is good. As for the blue silicone pipe, remove it before you have damage to your air box as well.

http://www.hiluxsurf.co.uk/showthread.php?t=73670

[S14A-J]

Bad news.. :-( , sniff test found exhaust fumes in the coolant. So i guess i will take your advice guys and get on the phone to roughtrax tomorrow and get the deluxe head deal and a thermostat... Ouch!

[si tate]

Bad news.. :-( , sniff test found exhaust fumes in the coolant. So i guess i will take your advice guys and get on the phone to roughtrax tomorrow and get the deluxe head deal and a thermostat... Ouch!

Look on the bright side mate, you'll have £100 tomorrow to go towards it.

[Rob5464]

I also advise meticulous inspection of the cooling system. The last thing you want is to crack the new one. I have done this job a few months back.

Aside from rebuilding the bottom half of the engine as well I put a new rad and a water pump on. I also replaced the fluid in the viscous fan. As well as an aftermarket temperature gauge to stop any future faults causing another catastrophic failure.

[Ploddit]

Or the resistor mod on the standard gauge, I did that and was very happy with the result for next to nothing.

[S14A-J]

There seems to be no reason why this has happened..I have a record of every service this car has had since new in japan and all work in uk, This car was imported and owned by the service manager at a main dealer in north london. Serviced every 6000 kilometers without fail and doted on. Ive had it two years and serviced it three times and really looked after it aswell, its only done 82,000 miles in total and its never even been off road .

Just goes to show no matter how well you look after em theres always a little surprise around the corner

[S14A-J]

I also advise meticulous inspection of the cooling system. The last thing you want is to crack the new one. I have done this job a few months back.

Aside from rebuilding the bottom half of the engine as well I put a new rad and a water pump on. I also replaced the fluid in the viscous fan. As well as an aftermarket temperature gauge to stop any future faults causing another catastrophic failure.

Thanks for the advice, i will check everything. The cooling system is clean and completely free flowing and very efficient from what i can tell. I am tempted to replace the rad as you guys suggest but the thing is the rad on there is perfect inside and out with no corrosion or signs of age, so it seems like a waste of money. I will change the thermostat and cam belt oil , coolant etc though obviously. Oh well hopefully i will extended its life by another ten years with this work done.

[S14A-J]

Look on the bright side mate, you'll have £100 tomorrow to go towards it.

Thats true thanks Si!

[Rob5464]

There is information on here about how to check the viscous coupling but for such an easy job you might as well refresh the fluid anyway.

As above you could improve the existing gauge but I went aftermarket simply because it has a warning alarm when it gets too hot. When mine overheated I only looked at the gauges because it felt down on power. It was already past the end of the gauge and had been roasting for some time.