96 3L Diesel coolant issues

[TomR-G]

All,

I am having a little bit if a problem with my Surf. It started about two months ago when i noticed froth in the coolant expansion tank, a slight loss in coolant (but not a great deal) so i had the coolant flushed and changed. Now its volcanic foam spewing from the resovior every time she gets slightly warm or hot. Flush again? Could it be that the garage didnt flush the rear heater?

Any help appreciated, i just hope its not the head...

T

[woodwarm]

If your very lucky"garage" have not bled the cooling system properly

Bypass the rear heater.

Not difficult to do both jobs yourself.

Search for advice & info.

[surfenstein]

Get the garage to do a sniffer test and check the coolant for exhaust gases.

[TomR-G]

So Surf is back at the garage to have gas test /pressure test done on Friday. Total pain in the arse, ive been pricing up a new head etc, i think its going to be about 1k in parts, and another £4-500 for the labour.

Good jobs its a Gen 3 SSRG - at least it'll be worth a few quid still...

[TomR-G]

Off with its head,


Heads cracked in 8 places, so been on the phone to Roughtrax, £950 later (with all the extra bits) being delivered Friday, hopefully going back together Saturday- home Sunday.

Ouch!

T

[Yorkshire Devil]

Off with its head,


Heads cracked in 8 places, so been on the phone to Roughtrax, £950 later (with all the extra bits) being delivered Friday, hopefully going back together Saturday- home Sunday.

Ouch!

T

Be sure to find the route cause of the head failure be it water, pump thermostat or radiator/viscous fan or your £950 will be a waste of money if it goes again

[TomR-G]

We were looking over everything this morning mate,

What was amazing was the amount of coking in the inlet manifold, I also think the thermostat is shot, and it looked like some of the oil galleries/ways are sludged up. Viscous fan barely turns too!

Everything is being stripped, re-built or replaced we have a premier full engine gasket kit coming with the head along with genuine Toyota rad cap/thermostat. All the cooling/pipes and rad is being cleaned out completely so, all should be good for a good few years!

Bypassing rear heater too!!

T

[Jameswallace]

I always wondered whether the engine flush products on the market actually dislodge sludge as they say they do, only thing that concerns me is if its stuck, its not moving and getting lodged in something

[tashtego]

We were looking over everything this morning mate,

What was amazing was the amount of coking in the inlet manifold, I also think the thermostat is shot, and it looked like some of the oil galleries/ways are sludged up. Viscous fan barely turns too!

Everything is being stripped, re-built or replaced we have a premier full engine gasket kit coming with the head along with genuine Toyota rad cap/thermostat. All the cooling/pipes and rad is being cleaned out completely so, all should be good for a good few years!

Bypassing rear heater too!!

T

Hi Tom, the viscous fan is supposed to be hard to turn when the engine is properly hot and also when its stone cold (say, first thing in the morning for example) since the gears are srill engaged from the last time u used the surf (say, the previous day). The mechanism will only de-couple as the engine warms up a bit. Now if you turn the engine off you'll be able to manually spin the fan. If you turn engine on again and run it to temperature (a proper drive) and then turn off, you'll find the fan is pretty solid again.
Make sure you test it properly coz there's a lot of inaccurate info on how to test the viscous fan, even on this forum.

On a different note, RT seem to be selling a surf head a week, pretty much. Maybe it's time they had a discount code for members on here.

Good luck with your repairs.

[Jameswallace]

You can hear if its working!!

[TomR-G]

Thanks for the replies gents, very much appreciated

Ill be sure to pass on the advice,

I agree on the discount code thing too!!

T

[tashtego]

You can hear if its working!!

You can't really hear mine above the engine noise but it works, It's locked solid when idling with a hot engine.
Maybe the 3rd Gens are quieter...

[Jameswallace]

You can hearit 'kick in' as the temprature rises