Removing Cylinder Head

[shane99]

Hi all.

Had my 96 estima 3 days now and it has just overheated. a lot of pressure built up in the cooling system blowing a hole in the radiator.

i removed the expansion bottle and cleaned out. had a lot of rust particles in it.

I suspect the head is cracked and plan on removing it for inspection. my question is do i need a specific tool for removing the head bolts? was told i do by a local mechanic who has given me wrong advice in the past. also whats the best way to flush the cooling system?

[propnut]

Who ever told you that is talking out his rectal orifice. A normal splined socket is all you need

I am sorry to tell you this and if you scan my previous posts you will see that I have said this many many times before. These cars are c**p, their heads are notorious for cracking and any savings you make by running them on veg oil is soon absorbed by replacing cracked heads, faulty turbos, SAD's bushes, and the head again when either it cracks AGAIN or the cam belt snaps.

There are NO workshop manuals for them but you can get the 3C-TE engine manual from eBay but be aware that due to the inclination of your engine vs the original upright position of the same engine in a PICNIC or Corrolla the cambelt timing marks are different. Other than that everything else is the same. Also whilst Camry's Corrolla's Picnics and Estimas all use the same engine the head gaskets are different and if you don't use the correct one the head will overheat and crack again within a few months.

Using a cheap eBay head is also false economy as they are cast in China and the castings are not good with the thickness of the head between the valves being insufficient and weak and the metal quality poor. As such once again you are looking at a few months tops. Best to buy new from Toyota along with the gasket. You can get rewelded heads but the jury is out as to their longevity.

You can get home made tutorials that have been done by other Estima owners off eBay but contrary to the claims made by another person on this Forum they are not an official Toyota product and are definitely not a replacement for the genuine manual however in the absence of anything else are better than nothing.

You are really best off joining

www.estima-motoring.co.uk

Here you will find guys that own and know these cars and many are either doing now or have done the head job before. They will also give you guidance on the cooling system, turbo's EGR valves etc etc.