Blown Gasket... supicious diagnosis

[Turby2LT]

Hi.

I'm feeling a little sus over a diagnosis we received from the mechanic who shall remain nameless, for the time being anyway.

The radiator had been repaired before Easter.

Over the weekend, the engine began overheating, and when the hood was popped, bubbling sounds and coolant overflowing from the reserve tank were observed. Coolant was also visible under the radiator. Before noticing the overheating, some turbo lag observed.

Home diagnosis = radiator crack opened up again.

Took it back to mechanic who serviced the car and repaired the radiator. Answer: covered under workmanship warranty, so will check cooling system.

Call back: thermometer stuffed, so replaced.

Then: oops, got a blown gasket. $1200 to fix.

Response: thanks for the info, will take vehicle back to check with warranty company and get second opinion.

Then:will be $60 parts and labour before the vehicle will be released.

Now, thermo bit shold only be around $15 or so. Then they won't accept a credit card payment and leave the keys in the car in the car park. so now they'll stay open till late tonight so they'll be there when we pick it up.

Last time during the service, regular oil and fluid replacement and repairing the radiator came up to over $850, up from a quote of only around $320 for the service. apparently extra labour was all exclusive, so plus the $150 to get the radiator fixed, it all 'added up'.

SO I guess i'm just venting. Not sure if i'm being ripped off. If it's a blown gasket, should the engine sound different? Because there's no difference in performance apart from a slight delay in the turbo from normal. Feeling really out of sorts here. Never blown a gasket in me life.

The vehicle's only done 160,000kms and is only 15 years old. We bought it in Feb as a grey import and its been serviced regularly and came with full inspection and RWC.

Does anyone know of any 4WD mechanics in the metro Melbourne area that's dependable and reliable so I can get a second opinion?? I live in Abbotsford.

Now, we drove our baby home the other night. The temp gauge then remained pretty much where it likes to be. I haven't checked under the bonnet yet, but I"m thinking of doing a quick run around the block to see what happens. Just a gentle trundle. On the way home last night, no smoke no nothing. Turbo still lagging a bit, but that's been happening even before the 'problem'. Oops, should mention that we drove home with the heater on full blast just in case.

The guy said he used a comp gauge. To test it and found that there was water leaking out the head area.

Now, if after the run around the block tonight and nothing's spitting out of the coolant reserve and no bubbling and no heat increase, and no smoke, all tested when driven without the heater on full blast, are my chances of getting away scot-free pretty good???

Still, I'm thinking I should go see a decent mechanic. I"ve only ever used dealer services, and this is my first venture into a 'specialist' field so any recommendations would be great.

[spazbot]

what engine is it ??? if its the trubo deisel it might have a cracked head as they like to to do that...., have you looked at the oil to see if it looks milky ?

[luxbloke]

Mechanic sounds doggy...

Its really difficult to say because im 2000klms away from it, But my advice would be just drive into any mechanic shop that looks half decent - Speak to him about it and if you get a good impression, ask him to actually look at the vehicle... Tell him that you just want a second opinion.

If you do that and he knows that he won't be getting the repairs even if it is - he should give you a good answer. Make it clear that you think your mechanic is do'n the doggy on you. Mine absolutely hates the fact that there are people out there who give the business a bad rep... And if he hears of one, he lets people know about it... If you can find one like that, you'll be set!

Sorry I can't help more...

[+dj_hansen+]

If there was a crack in the radiator... all youd have to do is pressurise the colling system to find it...

Is this bloke a diesel mechanic that has worked on toyota's before, they prove to be a verrry! finnicky series of engines that really need someone who knows what they are doing to work on them.

The 2-LT have a bad habit of cracking their heads at the sniff of heat, so that could be your problem. Best bet would be to take it to a proper diesel workshop that has a very public name, berrima, west end, something like that.. it might cost you plenty of cash, but youd be guarranteed that you would not get sent up the garden path on anything..

You say thermometre? by this do you mean the temp pick up, or the thermostat... thermostat would be $15, the temperature pick up sensor probably would not... that could account for your $60.

Depending on your warranty company, they require you to have it serviced by an registered/authorised mechanic, same as mine... so all i do is doi all the oils and fluids myself, and he does the grease points on the unis, checks the breaks, lights, suspension etc... perhaps that could be something to think about and talk over?

Labour is the biggest killer in any car work...

Me? pay your $60 and go and see a real mechanic who knows their way around a toyo diesel....

[RAY185]

what engine is it ??? if its the trubo deisel it might have a cracked head as they like to to do that...., have you looked at the oil to see if it looks milky ?

These engines do not usually blow gaskets in the traditional way by leaking oil into the cooling system or vice versa. They usually boil the cooling system by blowing exhaust gas into it via cracks in the head. So you will not find a milky substance on your dipstick but will probably find bubbles in your coolant when its running with the radiator cap off. This will indicate a cracked head/blown gasket and its very typical that you will have water bubbling and spewing from your expansion tank when u experience the over heating. And driving it around the block may not be enough work to bring on the overheating depending on the extent of the cracks. Best way to really check if its going to overheat again is to drive it up a few long steep hills or do a kilometre or 2 in soft sand (not practical I know), both these methods will put enough strain on the engine to really test its cooling capabilities. At the end of the day the cylinder head is hard to diagnose for cracks without pulling the bugger off and having a look/getting it hot tested.

Your mechanic may have not done the right thing by you, but its not because he wants to get paid for checking the car out, thats his right and his livelihood. You say he did a compression test, that alone would have taken him at least half an hour of messing around with glow plugs and with most mechanics charging $60/hr PLUS in labour its not hard to see where the $60 came from. He may have wanted to see you in person so that he could make sure you understood his diagnosis and possibly further explain it to you if you didnt. Not many mechanics will stay back after hours just to get paid $60 when there was the option to recieve payment over the phone and go home on time. I'm sorry I have to make this point but some reputable mechanics work hard to earn their reputation and to win the trust of their customers, and as u probably realise with this industry, it takes very little effort at all for someone to wreck all that he has worked hard for by assuming something that is not true. Some cars are put on this earth to test us and unfortunately mechanics are not issued a crystal ball on completion of their apprenticeship.

Having said that, there is one thing I do not agree with regarding your repairs. I can only assume from your explanation (that the crack reopened) that he soldered it up the first time. These radiators have a habbit of cracking their brass tanks and when they crack it is usually not a good idea to repair by soldering as they are more than likely just going to crack somewhere else along the tank. The tank should have been replaced with a new one if the job was to be done right. He should have at least rung u to give u the two options and recommended the replacement tank as the best although more costly solution and let you decide as its your truck.

Unfortunately your problem does sound like the head from your description and yeah, get a second opinion. Hopefully the warranty company will come to the party and if they do try to negotiate with them to upgrade to a 3L (2.8) cylinder head instead of another 2L-T as it is a more reliable option for the future.

Sorry for the rant, just couldnt help myself.

[blackmav]

I would agree with LUXBLOKE , the mech sounds dodgy , also you have to get him to be a bit more specific. Like $1200 more specific.
Did he say gasket or head gasket.?
If he said head gasket did he do a leak down test?
He can do a C02 (?) test on the radiator fluid to see if its contaminated from exhast gases.
Is it useing any water, like even a litre a month?
Is the oil contaminated?

I once had a mechanic shop take a head off , send it away to get it crack tested and then told it was stuffed. Happened to go into the head joint for another cars exhaust and the guy put 2 and 2 together and figured out it was my head, he said there was nothing wrong with it and he had returned ut to the mechanic who was trying to screw me $1200 for a reco head. Needless to say he didn't get to put it back together.

Be nice if it was just a thermostat.

EDIT; Yeah what RAY185 said, Im a slow typer.