Hi-lux Surf Import

February 26, 2005

2.4 litre turbo diesel import from Japan, 150k km on clock.

Everything was working fine until Boxing day when the coolant started boiling. The nice man from the AA said the Head gasket had gone, Got the car towed to the Garage who said it was the thermostat, which was subsequently replaced. They couldn't see anything wrong woth the head.

Everything was fine for 500 miles then the coolant started boling again. you can drive her for about 2 miles before it starts, leave it running and the check engine light illuminates. Thermo gauge goes into red and the top of the coolant resevoir pops off as boiling water spues out. :eek:

Anyone got any ideas on what might be going on, is it the radiator??? Is it the head gasket??? Is it dead and buried???

Any help appreciated?? :D

Garage that last worked on it is 100 miles away so can't exactly pop down with it and get them to have a look.

Can anyone recomend a garage in the Bromley area of South London???

Why did I buy an Import??? :wacko:

February 26, 2005

2.4 litre turbo diesel import from Japan, 150k km on clock.
Everything was working fine until Boxing day when the coolant started boiling. The nice man from the AA said the Head gasket had gone, Got the car towed to the Garage who said it was the thermostat, which was subsequently replaced. They couldn't see anything wrong woth the head.
Everything was fine for 500 miles then the coolant started boling again. you can drive her for about 2 miles before it starts, leave it running and the check engine light illuminates. Thermo gauge goes into red and the top of the coolant resevoir pops off as boiling water spues out.
Anyone got any ideas on what might be going on, is it the radiator??? Is it the head gasket??? Is it dead and buried???
Any help appreciated?? :D
Garage that last worked on it is 100 miles away so can't exactly pop down with it and get them to have a look.
Can anyone recomend a garage in the Bromley area of South London???
Why did I buy an Import???
←

The 2.4 does suffer with cracked heads, but the 1st thing to do is give the radiator a good flush out and buy a new pressure cap, when you refill make sure that you do it nice and slow as it's very easy to get airlocks in the system, if it still does it after this I would think that that the head has cracked.

Let me know how it's going after you do the flush, you will also find some more info on these sites.

http://jkwebdesign.net/jem/

http://www.showmesome.info/hilux/

http://www.hiluxsurf.co.uk

Don't worry to much, it will probably cost you a few bob but once it's done you will have one of the best and most reliable 4x4's that were ever made.

February 26, 2005

As Andy rightly says the 2.4 surfs to suffer from the cylinder head cracking.

but do give the cooling system a good flush and replace the pressure cap and retry if it boils again.

Hope its not your cylinder head mate

Good luck and all the best

Steve

March 2, 2005

Hi Hoffy,

You could try Fox's Garage, Badgers Mount ( yes, that is the name of the place albeit funny) they used to be a Toyota main dealer but now are Subaru/Citroen.

The engineers are still toyota trained and really know there stuff. As they are not a main dealer anymore you may get a better quote rather than get ripped off by Jemca in Sundridge.

I hope flushing your rad works for you though.

March 18, 2005

Worryingly, the head was too badly cracked and it would seem the car was sold to us in not so great condition - just forked out a pretty penny to have a completley re-conditioned engine put in. hopefully that will do the trick :D

Hopefully she's worth it!

She's got the old style headlights on her and I want to change them - any ideas?