Overheating 3SGTE

[gt4dude]

I installed the new alloy radiator, returned to the standard thermostat, burped the system now its not overheating... still spits out a bit of coolant, but this new radiator holds so much water it doesnt matter if it drops a bit...

anyways, its running fine, allthough i cant really trust it... it may decide to pop at any given moment..

i gave it a hard fangin too, real hard... seemed to be just fine... i got no f**kin idea, will just play it by ear, get another hydrocarbon test if i cant get it to overheat on the way there...

[Crucible]

A leakdown test will confirm if the headgasket is at fault and is the only real true way of confirming, will also show up what cylinder is leaking.

Because the engine isnt running it makes it easier to diagnose. any small bubbles that show up in the system will be from the cylinder under pressure being tested.

Chemical test works fairly well and I use them all the time but only because it saves time pulling plugs out and cycling the motor by hand. Sometimes the fluid may not change to piss yellow but to an off green colour which is not very accurate.

If you want to know for sure leakdown is either YES or NO.

[crispy'86]

+1 for the leakdown test, it's by far the most accurate way of diagnosing if you've got head gasket issues.

[sergei]

+1 for the leakdown test, it's by far the most accurate way of diagnosing if you've got head gasket issues.

+1 for the leakdown.

On my ST165 the gasket was well gone (leaking on all 4 cylinders) the compression test did not show anything (14 bars on all 4), while when I applied pressure, I had bubbling coolant (and I could hear it leaking into the coolant)...

If you have a compressor, old sparkplug, copper tube and random brass nipple, butane torch and solder, you can make leakdown tester yourself ( that is how I did it).

P.S. don't try to hold the engine by hand when applying pressure .

[crispy'86]

Should really make myself one of these for home really, really handy tool.

[DVSMOTORSPORT]

Leak down test is the best, but it isnt 100%. For example on a 1KZ-TE, they crack behind the valve, so this wont show up in a leak down test (they also crack behind the pre-cobustion chamber too). Another senario, (that to be honest I have never seen, but have heard of it) is a crack in the bore below the rings when at TDC (which is were you do leak down test).

[sergei]

Another senario, (that to be honest I have never seen, but have heard of it) is a crack in the bore below the rings when at TDC (which is were you do leak down test).

Similar to this:


from here: http://mr2.com/forums/show-off/Toyota-M ... turbo.html

Edit: Or even better example:


From here: http://www.gt4oc.net/forums/viewtopic.p ... start=1120

[DVSMOTORSPORT]

Haha perfect!! Ive seen one now

[Crucible]

P.S. don't try to hold the engine by hand when applying pressure .

lol, and if your doing the test with car in gear, make sure the handbrake is on! ... tight!!

[DVSMOTORSPORT]

Just dont do it in gear. Stuff that for a joke. For a start turning motor over, putting in gear, applying handbrake, doing test, taking handbrake off, out of gear, repeat another 3 times, is just tediously boring and annoying. Then theres the risk of handbrake being shit and the car running you over as you apply the air.

Just get the motor on TDC properly in the first place, cylinders 1 & 4 are peice of piss, just go off the crank pulley, cylinders 2 & 3 are easy too, (even easier if the cambelt covers are off) put a peice of long wire down the S/plug hole, (long enough you wont loose it), a scew driver also works just dont jam it, turn the motor over watching the wire mover up till the wire or screwdriver starts heading back down, this is just over TDC, turn the engine back and forth till you beleive its at TDC (halfway between the wire or screwdriver going up and going down). Slowly apply the air just incase its wrong, if its wrong, repeat, if its right then do the test for that cylinder, then before you turn the engine over again put a paint mark on the crank pully so you can wind straight to that for the other cylinder.

This way the only risk is you being a dumb ass and catching your finger in a belt.

[Crucible]

Haha, no dont do it in gear...i was joking lol.

Its common sense when you think about it but I have seen someone first hand attempt it that way. Was trying to stop it turning over... knocked him off his feet! lol, he got a fright!

for the record, also make sure its @ tdc compression

I norm start with 1 firing then work through firing order. Alot easier to see things if the valve covers etc are off also..esp on 6-8 cyls.

[gt4dude]

Grrr damn 3S-GTE theres little tabs in the spark plug holes that stop my spark plug tool from dropping in the hole...

I was advised to check the spark plugs 2 & 3 for some sign of coolant...

Anyway it's running fine for now, I might just run it into the ground while I save up for a new engine I guess ... Who knows it may keep trucking along...

[gt4dude]

By the way those radiator are a chinese knock off of a Koyo radiator

http://www.gtfours.co.uk/pics/radiator/koyo/rads.htm

and as everyone said there would be fitment issues, but its not as bad as everyone made it out to be..

for 1 forget trying to fit both fans, only the driver side one will barely fit by the top 2 bolts, the bottom one wont line up. i had to also bash one part of the fan to clear the water feed to my turbo.

2 i had to remove the bottom clip that holds the A/C compressor line running by the engine subframe

and 3 i had to cut 1 inch off the top radiator hose

4 the top radiator mounts are slightly off so they wont line up straight, luckily my brackets had broken bushes so i just ripped them out, so i got mine to line up straight even though they dont do squat.

man though this thing holds so much coolant its twice as thick its enough to keep it trucking along i think... i cant understand though, could it have possibly been a fault with my stock radiator? it shouldnt have to come to this... what could be wrong with a radiator? it didnt leak and it flowed theres nothing to mechanically go wrong with a radiator...

[loudstealthGT-Four]

The radiator could be blocked, had that problem when I first got my ST185, the thermostat was stuffed so I took it in to Midas so they could fix it and they told me that my rad was 80% blocked (don't ask me how they worked that out?) before it was cleaned coolant would bubble out in the the overflow bottle, haven't had any issues since (well apart from things that I've #@&ked up myself)

[rollaholic]

I was advised to check the spark plugs 2 & 3 for some sign of coolant...

you mean like i did, twice, weeks and weeks ago?