Fooferfish

If you own one of these especially the turbo variety, i thought i would share this with you.

Apparently they are prone to blow Heads as we found out in Feb at a repair cost of over $3600 , the machanic recommends that you have the radiator flushed every couple of years , as this seems to silt up and reduces the flow, we didnt even see it coming as the temp gauge never really changed, i just saw white smoke from the exhaust and knew it was going to be costly

Also be careful when going up long hill section at full blast, they apparently dont like full revs for a long period of time, this also effects the head blowing.

So a cheap rad flush and ease up and the hill climbs, might save you a few $$$

We were about to have our first holiday in the Islands and renew our vowes with that $$

simonsi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Hilux_Surf

"A commonly noted weakness on the 2.4 turbodiesel engine is a tendency to crack the cylinder head. Any episode of overheating may result in internal cracking of the head. Some were recalled in their domestic market and had the head replaced. The replacement "modified" head is the same head as fitted to the 2.8 normally aspirated diesel models."



$3600 still sounds expensive for replacing the head though....

dannigirl

Oh no!!!!!! Maybe we could all chip so that you and Mrs Fooferfish can have a romantic weekend in Invervegas to make up for your lost trip!

Fooferfish

The $3600 was for valves to be re seated and re done, he wanted to replace the valves at another $700 a set, i aksed him if they could be refurbed, so that what we did, i did call around other garages and their prices were very muchn the same for a 3ltr TD, its now done 200k and should be good for a few more.
The most annoying thing was having to spend our savings on it and not on the holiday

Not long after having that done i took it in for is WOF and they told me a tie rod end needed replacing i thought WTF next !! took it to my village garage and he had a look, he said that not really the main problem and showed me the steering rack bushes, which when you turned the seering wheel, they all moved in funny directions, so we did those as well and the rod end another $400 arrghh lol

At least we got the Suzuki swift as a reliable second car.

simonsi

Scary, only weaknesses regarding the head seem to affect the 2.4 cracking, couldn't see anything obvious for the 3.0.

White smoke indicates head gasket but can't understand why you needed the valves doing???

Top Gear didn't manage to kill theirs without some effort

Charismatic

You could do it yourself but you really need to know how to get the valve timing right again later and it could cost you a weekend anyway. Did you get a new head or get the surfaces re-skimmed to be flush?

You can get around the problems of warped heads if you don’t mind the car not being mint with that heal-a-seal stuff or some clever gasket trickery .

CelticRover

http://www.brian894x4.com/V6headgasketrecall.html

simonsi

Good reference, google didn't pull that for me. So the OP could have had it done for free by Toyota then?

Still not sure about the cost if it was a straightforward head gasket, even with skimming...

CelticRover

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...48f386b3c06fd8

sirplug

Just for all owners of Surfs and Nissan 4x4 diesels, they all crack heads when they overheat. Most Jap 4x4 diesels have aluminium heads and when they get hot, they crack. We do quite a few. $3600 for a new head isn't over the top, if it was a good quality head. If it was a Chinese head, then that was expensive. The last one I did for a customer was $2800. I have one myself (a 3.0 litre) and I've just done the head on that but I fitted a genuine Toyota head to ensure the problem doesn't come back for a while ( I bought it with the head cracked, as it was cheap). As for valves, if the heads gone, the camshaft and valves have to be removed to be fitted into the new head, some garages prefer to fit new, to ensure that problems don't exist later on. Valves on diesels don't tend to cause problems, it's a petrol thing.

Flushing the cooling system is a good thing but making sure you have sufficient antifreeze is better. Another tip is, when towing or going uphill, keep a good eye on the temp gauge, if it starts to go over a 'normal' limit, slow down or stop. You might add a few minutes to the journey but it could save you a few grand, also, make sure the thermostat is replaced with a lower temperature one. As far as the Surf / Hilux is concerned, get a thermostat for a KZN185 type Surf, as this has a lower operating temperature than the earlier ones...........

sirplug

V6 engines are petrol, not diesel....

sirplug

This is a U.S website and most of the bits shown there are for petrol engines. A 3.0 litre Surf is generally a 1KZ-TE engine and the bits for these aren't cheap! A quick search on Trademe for the Chinese brand goods proves that. There are 3.0 litre petrol engines but these aren't quite so troublesome...

sirplug

If the heads cracked, a skim won't work. Cracks normally occur between the valve seats, so replacement is the only option....as for the heal a seal stuff

Fooferfish

I did get a break down of the job, and yes it was a genuine Toyota head, the valves were a bit burnt or something like that, so we had them tarted up, the machanic wanted to replace the valves , but the cost was rising so they sent them to a guy who spruced them up , the truck is a 96 3ltr TD the one with hard and soft supension button , it has never missed a beat in all the years we have had it, the concern we have with machanics in general is that a lot of them do the sucking sound when it comes to cost lol and i have been ripped of in UK, which makes my suspicious of them ? here he should me all the rmoved parts and i dropped in the local village most days to see how he was going and he kept me in the loop and to what was happening, even his own truck had the same probelm and was half stripped.

As long as we get a few more years out of it, she'll be right !

sirplug

I run one myself, so if you need a bit of free advice before spending on it, ask away...