Hello Yota Tech,

I just bought a 1994 Hilux Surf with a 1KZ 3.0 TD under the hood. I bought it from a dealer and when I drove it home I immediatly popped open the hood to check for any leaking fluids. The drive from the dealer was probably about an hour and a half of which I kept my eye on the gauges trying to get to know my new car a little. The thermostat gauge stayed pretty level at about half way.

When I opened the hood I found my rad was leaking. I called the dealer and he promised to fix it right away. He is doing that right now. The problem is that I am scared this could be a head gasket or a cracked cylinder head problem.

I checked for all the signs including white smoke in the exhaust, residue under the oil cap, and coolant or residue on the dipstick. Found no signs, few. Then I popped open the rad when it was cold and started up the motor to see if I would see any activity there. This is what I saw ...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wbh9Y4xUAo[/YOUTUBE]

I'm no expert which is why I'm asking here. I made a point of saying I noticed this and to check the head when I had it brought back in but they promised me no problems there. What do you think?

Any feedback at all is appreciated!! Thankyou.

 

Im no expert either, but it does look like your getting air bubbles out of the radiator, so it could be a head gasket or cracked head, but thats just a guess on my part.
As long as the dealer is willing to fix it, there shouldn`t be any problems.

 

The just told me that they checked and that it was fine. But I don't trust them considering they sold me this truck that was leaking from the top of the rad very clearly. Should have seen the signs before I bought the truck :/ Going to pick up the truck tomorrow and take it to a shop I trust, hopefully Monday. Any more feedback appreciated.

 

Take it to the shop you trust and have them check it out and also have them do a compresion test and a compresion leak down test. That will tell you the condition of the engine.