i know its that ol question!!

[ratrodboy]

hi ya all
im looking for some help with a problem i have with my kzn 130 surf 3.0td
ive had my surf for exactly a year with no problems bar a leaky rad in the summer and a water pump and therm when i bought it, three weeks ago after getting it mot'd,taxed and serviced!!the head decided to let go! so after removal by a very experianced mechanic 25 years in the game(remember the kid on the estate who could fix anything fitted with a engine and you knew was gonna be a very gifted mechanical engineer when they grew up) well this is ours, the head was found to be cracked in various places so i ordered a new head complete ,newbolts, cam belt, top end gasket set from a large off road automotive part supplier(m*****) ive bought from before , the parts aarived the bolts were wrong so some were sorced locally at twice the price the head was duely fitted it started and sounded great,the system was bled after a lot of hassel and for good measure i left it with said mechanic so to make sure all was ok
now heres where the problems start!
the front heater wasnt getting that warm so si flushed through the matrix then did the same to the back one re burped the system an left it with the front end up on the ramp over nite to double make sure all the air was out !
so the next day he took it up the road and it presurized the water system so again he tryed to burp the system and all seamed fine he drove it around again temp stayed in the middle but it blew water out again (the heaters were workin fine at this point) so he put a bleed valve in the top heater matrix hose rigged up to the radfiller a funnel and hose up high so to push any left over air out the system over nite all seamed ok so again he drove it causously around every thing seamed ok an then the temp started to rise going up a hill( not much of a hill as im a fatty and id walk up it) so he let it cool down an got it back to his garage and found the viscous fan not working so hes locked that up so its permanantly on but the systems still presurizing we,re wandering if the new head could be faulty or dodgy gasket? or is there any thing weve missed has anyone else hadthis sort of problem ? i need to sort it asap as i need it for work and since the start its been nearly three weeks over £980 on materials and labour and i think if we cant sort it soon si's gonna commit hari kari and fall on his sword he looked about to cry yesterday sounded suicidal today on the phone any help would be fantastic rich

[Hazzo]

They recommend two places on here for heads, Roughtrax and Stevo's engine company(lancs) but the link which was on the forum heading has gone others have a good name too which I found during google searches, cylinder head co. down south and one in catterick, n. yorks, too many will supply cheapo heads from china etc and they're no use, if the 4x4 gaff was milners I'm not sure but theres probably someone with a milner head on here might give you a heads up. It doesnt sound good the pressurizing bit, theres threads here on burping the system, use the search button.

Im of the opinion these viscous fans are the cause of heads going, locking them up will reduce your MPG, they can be serviced, open them up with an impact driver, wash out with petrol then pour in 30ml of silicone oil cst6000 or 7000, available from RC model shops or online. H

[TonyN]

It funny you should mention the M place, the only 2 times I've ever had issues after fitting a 3.0 head have been with head kits from them, (usually I manage to get people to buy from Stevo or Roughtrax) both times I removed the head and had it tested its been ok, both times I've refitted it using Roughtrax gasket and head bolts and its been fine after.

I think their Headgaskets are crap, but never twigged before, I put it down to me and just sorted it for customer and got truck back to them.

(and i've just been discussing this with Charvil as well on the phone oddly enough..)

[ratrodboy]

thanks guys
si's put a another new water pump and casing on today and has been driving around he says it seems ok but leave it with him for another day so to make sure funilly we were saying about the head gskt and that we should of fitted a genuine if theres any more problems we will
just a note to any one si says putting a bleed valve in the heater hose makes it so much easyer to bleed i got the valve off that famous auction site under cateram coolant bleed valve thanks again rich

[charvell]

after talking to Milners they confirmed that the heads they supply are from Japan. They supply them cheaper due to the quantity they buy. I have just ordered one for my truck but have gone for the genuine gasket and head bolts from roughtrax.

The guy i spoke to from milner said that he would not recommend one of there head gaskets.

The milners head comes with a full warrenty. The engine co cant get any heads for the 3ltr at the moment.

Whilst roughtrax do a good deal there one was over my budjet so had to go for the milners one, we shall see.

I dont think we can say the heads milners supply are no good (yet) until a few have fitted them.