Possible problem with my Surf

[anonymous-user]

Hopefully someone can give me the benefit of their advice here -

I have a 2.4 Surf and noticed that the coolant level was around the min mark. I filled it to the max mark (which I've now found out is too high) and ran it for a week - after this time I checked it again and it had dropped back to the exact same min mark.

I had a 4x4 specialist check it over, in case of possible head problems, and he says that he's checked for combustion gases in the coolant and found them, indicating the head gasket has blown.

Would this explain the coolant drop? The car has no other head gasket symptoms - no overheating, no mayo in the oil, no pressure in the system when cold, no obvious leaks etc... just this mysterious disappearance of a certain amount of coolant.

What do you guys think?

[Incorrigible]

The head gasket seals the head and the block, there are holes in it to allow water oil and whatever happens to be in the piston bore flow arounf the block and the head

I guess you know this so sorry to probably patronise

The gasket can fail in any direction between any of these boundaries (usually but not exclusively down to the head bending)

so either exhaust (or air/fuel mix but much less likely as it's not under (as much) pressure) oil or water can just piss out of the gasket - you can see this

oil mixes with the water - mayonaise

oil mixes with the exhaust - huge plumes of blue smoke or a presurised sump (blocked breathers etc etc etc)

Or exahuast in the water - as you may have

Or a combination of the above

[stesrg]

Hi i use to own several hi-luxes and yes it sounds like the head gasket this blows between the cylinders which will account for your water loss, it only needs a little, BTW the head will need a skim, also another problem with the diesel engine versions they use to cook the engine oil, as i used to totaly thrash mine fully loaded a true tonn, because the services were every 6000 miles using the norm oil, it cooked the damm stuff.

[bangernomics]

I had a Hilux a few years ago with the 2.4 engine, where the head actually cracked between the combustion chamber and water passages. Apparently not that uncommon, so a new head gasket may not fix the problem. Fingers crossed...

[anonymous-user]

Seems like a new head complete with valves ready to fit costs around £800 (one of the better heads that are less prone to cracking) so I am going to trial run the car a bit more, noting the coolant level carefully, and see if it continues to loose coolant or if it stops at the min mark as it appears to have done. If it continues I shall buy a new head next year and overhaul the whole lot at once, rather than risk wasting £350 on just the gasket and then have more probs in future. If the coolant remains at a constant level then there appears to be no other problem with the car at the moment.

Thanks for your help.

[chunder]

I had one go on a very low mileage engine - was covered under warranty but the rebuild was crap so I got rid anyway.

Was told at the time that the 2.4TD was renowned for head problems. If possible try and get hold of the 3 litre version and dump the 2.4 - apparently they are tons better.