Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Last night my brother arrived at my house with his Hilux on the back of a tilt tray. Was on his way back home to Hervey Bay when things went bad...

Cruising along the highway, it suddenly sounded as if the exhaust manifold had fallen off. When it was safe to pull off the road (about 100m), it had lost all power. It then stalled.

He didn't try to restart it, called RACQ. Opened the bonnet and noticed along the top of the radiator, there was water bubbling out of the seams??? However the temp gauge had been reading mid range temps.

RACQ arrived, turned it over a few times and he reckoned it sounded like there was no compression and maybe timing belt or valves are the issue???

I got him to turn it over today and it does sound like there is no compression. The starter turns very fast and there is no engine life at all.

Can anyone suggest what might be wrong here and what would be the best way to fix??? Are we talking full rebuild to fix it (in which case another motor may be easier) or is there something else that can be done? We have sweet fu@k all budget to work with, so any help is appreciated. Thanks heaps.

Should note it is a 92 hilux, 3L diesel engine, no turbo about 180000km.

Sounds like the timing belt has gone

LOL.......
I just the girl back for doing the same thing, my temp gauge didn't alter but it lost power and ran like a dog after opening the bonnet water was coming out the radiator from seams and cap...... And i was happy to discover it had a cracked head. $$$$$ Not fun. Good luck.

Toyota temp gauges are known not to be very responsive. The needle doesnt move from being just warm until its too late.
I think an good aftermarket temp gauge is a must in older Toyota's.

Either way, cracked head, or timing belt - Its gonna be expensive.

yamaha__308 wrote: Either way, cracked head, or timing belt - Its gonna be expensive.

x2

if it's a cracked sorta lucky and may only have to replace the head

or

if the timing belt went then it is rebiuld/another motor time as the valves would have kissed the pistons so the valves will be bent and the pistons may be weakened

Yep my toyota gague wont move until about 110deg c.. Too hot!

Thanks heaps for the replies guys, just try to work on some cheaper problems that we might have! So far is all too expensive.

So any tips to diagnose if it is a cracked head? Likewise anything I can do to diagnose specifically it is the timing belt?

Also, can anyone recommend a workshop manual for this Hilux? I bought a Max Ellerys for my cruiser and have been pretty disappointed with it.

Thanks team Outers!

Get a gregory's.

As for the head, check for water in the oil or oil in the rad... I would tell you to start it up and look for bubbles coming out of the radiator but yours wont start so that's out of the question..

As for checking the timing - can't help you sorry. Only thing I can think of would be to compression test it.

Matt_85Lux wrote:

yamaha__308 wrote: Either way, cracked head, or timing belt - Its gonna be expensive.

x2

if it's a cracked sorta lucky and may only have to replace the head

or

if the timing belt went then it is rebiuld/another motor time as the valves would have kissed the pistons so the valves will be bent and the pistons may be weakened

Not sure on the 3l, but most toyota motors are designed to prevent this from happening, if the chain breaks the valves should have clearance from the pistons.

just manually turn the front crank pulley with a socket, if you cant hear air hissing out of the exhaust ports, something is wrong, easier still remove the top of the timing cover and see if its broken.

Bugger all budget is no good with diesel motors, hopefully its just the belt, 100 dollars and a days messing about COULD have it as good as new.

Its broken one way or another, start pulling the timing cover off and have a look, cant hurt if anything you'll learn something.

berad wrote:

Matt_85Lux wrote:

yamaha__308 wrote: Either way, cracked head, or timing belt - Its gonna be expensive.

x2

if it's a cracked sorta lucky and may only have to replace the head

or

if the timing belt went then it is rebiuld/another motor time as the valves would have kissed the pistons so the valves will be bent and the pistons may be weakened

Not sure on the 3l, but most toyota motors are designed to prevent this from happening, if the chain breaks the valves should have clearance from the pistons.

Ididn't know that, I just assumed that the valves would hit. You learn something new everyday day

berad wrote:
Not sure on the 3l, but most toyota motors are designed to prevent this from happening, if the chain breaks the valves should have clearance from the pistons.

just manually turn the front crank pulley with a socket, if you cant hear air hissing out of the exhaust ports, something is wrong, easier still remove the top of the timing cover and see if its broken.

Bugger all budget is no good with diesel motors, hopefully its just the belt, 100 dollars and a days messing about COULD have it as good as new.

Its broken one way or another, start pulling the timing cover off and have a look, cant hurt if anything you'll learn something.

Pretty sure all L series are interference engines and if the belt goes, your farked.

As Berad said, take the timing cover off and check. Its gonna have to come off anyway..

Or take off the rocker cover off and turn the crank and see if anything moves. (or listen to mashing valves..)

A savior in one aspect, but no diesel motor likes over heating.....

no motor likes overheating...period!!!

The 3L can handle high temp a good as any motor as they're all steel unlike alloy heads which go soft when they get real hot.

Also when you overheat a motor the rings start to lose tension & become brittle & therefore drop compression.

I'd loosen the timing cover & have a look.