Massive overheat.

[Esotericnomad]

Driving home from Sydney to orange yesterday, ute overheated 15 KMs from home. On a dirt road in middle of bush . Pulled over let it cool down, and limped it home. Engine like came on 1km from home, overfill bottle was filled to the brim, coolant all over engine.. by the time I got home, all coolant was gone..

Had a look at it this morning, I don't think it's head gasket, no white smoke, no foam on dip stick, no condensed water on oil cap, put some coolant in this morning, no trouble starting it.

Cons, no coolant in radiator, engine light flashing like a well paid stripper. Ute is 50km from mechanic..

Tow truck to my work next week and get a leak down test done, then start stripping it down, going to replace water pump, all piping and radiator no matter what..

So questions..

Best head gasket kit ( just in case)
Original water pump or OME copy
Best radiator replacement..

Fingers crossed the head is ok..

I've done head gaskets on a V6 petrol, but never a diesel, so should be interesting..

 

[Horatius]

Which engine do you have? It's not a bad idea to replace radiator and water pump and so on, but before you start, wouldn't you be better off to try and find what was the underlying cause of the overheating? Blocked radiator, something else?

Seems very unlikely that an overheating like this would just affect the head gasket. The heads on these little diesels don't like being overheated, but who knows and you might be lucky.

Original water pumps aren't that much dearer and are good quality. You can get a good Koyo radiator for reasonable price also, usually got them for sale at various places online including on fleabay.

 

[Esotericnomad]

Ya, going to check the simple things first before the expensive stuff, I don't want to replace head, gasket unless I can find out why it over heated in the first place.

 

[Esotericnomad]

Ya, going to check the simple things first before the expensive stuff, I don't want to replace head, gasket unless I can find out why it over heated in the first place.

Zd30...2003

 

[tweak'e]

head will be cracked for sure.

 

[Been a while]

head will be cracked for sure.

Lol, be positive man geezzzz! The poor blokes prob having small strokes a.t.m

Well, at least the heads are cheap eh

 

[Horatius]

Ya, going to check the simple things first before the expensive stuff, I don't want to replace head, gasket unless I can find out why it over heated in the first place.

When you do sort it, something that all old diesels should have is a reliable temperature gauge. You can get ones that have a sender in the top radiator hose quite cheap and they're excellent. The one on the dash is useless and about as much help as having a temperature warning light on the dash. They should probably be called a "cracked head indicator".

Not uncommon for old cars to suffer build up and restriction in the radiator (especially if not maintained well). Just chugging round in general you would never know it's getting quite hot from the stock gauge. Then eventually with a good high speed run and enough restriction the gauge goes up to let you know you have a cracked head.

The thermocouples that bolt to the motor are even better. That way if you suffer coolant loss from a pipe or something (gauge senders won't work properly unless immersed in coolant) it will warn you long before you do lots of damage.

If you change the radiator, the Koyo aftermarket ones seem as good quality as the originals. Always best to get a genuine water pump too. Good to stay away from cheapie stuff for this type of thing.

 

[Esotericnomad]

Lol, be positive man geezzzz! The poor blokes prob having small strokes a.t.m

Well, at least the heads are cheap eh

Lol.. I don't mind, it's just a friggin pain, I want to find out why it overheated before I drop money into fixing it..still not convinced it's the head or gasket. Diff not reacting like a blown head gasket in my Toyota..

 

[Esotericnomad]

Ya,

When you do sort it, something that all old diesels should have is a reliable temperature gauge. You can get ones that have a sender in the top radiator hose quite cheap and they're excellent. The one on the dash is useless and about as much help as having a temperature warning light on the dash. They should probably be called a "cracked head indicator".

Not uncommon for old cars to suffer build up and restriction in the radiator (especially if not maintained well). Just chugging round in general you would never know it's getting quite hot from the stock gauge. Then eventually with a good high speed run and enough restriction the gauge goes up to let you know you have a cracked head.

The thermocouples that bolt to the motor are even better. That way if you suffer coolant loss from a pipe or something (gauge senders won't work properly unless immersed in coolant) it will warn you long before you do lots of damage.

If you change the radiator, the Koyo aftermarket ones seem as good quality as the originals. Always best to get a genuine water pump too. Good to stay away from cheapie stuff for this type of thing.

I'm running a top sending water temp, it went from 80 to 120 in 3 min period ( from when I last looked at it ).. it then fluctuated up and down for a few mins. Going to get radiator checked and pull out thermostat ( if I can work out how to get to the damn thing ). Then work backwards..

 

[Been a while]

Superbleep, make this your friend gentle with feeding air, 5 to 10psi max! Make sure all the water ways are flowing first..

Lol, I have a new free thermostat you can try!
I'm just going through the same issue but "fortunately" not as bad as yours sounds, nothing worse huh..
I did the water pump, didn't need it on a 320'k zd! Thermostat and radiator, had to do the radiator as I broke it and the thermostat did have signs of wear..
You have to pull the thermostat to flush sooooo whilst your there...

Gentle with flushing radiators and heater cores, start off with about 2 to 3 p.s.i and work up to 5ish.. as long as they are flowing they're good..
If she's flowing and everything is clear,,,,,, you may need to get a head job!

If she's starting and ideling, oil and water -where oil and water should be, waters circulating I'd drive it.. Be nice to get a code read before you do though...
Do a short block'y and see if the water and oil is staying where they should be! A cracked head will let you know
Wack a coke bottle in the radiator neck and see if she bubbles.
Stinking Alloy heads, when they even think about cracking they'll you'll know..

 

[Been a while]

It may be a thermostat or something simple, water pump- after seeing mine I'd say no... They are only a two core radiator! and those core tubes are the finest and smallest I have ever seen, could be a shitty radiator too.. yell out if you need a test radiator or a thermostat

 

[Esotericnomad]

Ya, s

Superbleep, make this your friend gentle with feeding air, 5 to 10psi max! Make sure all the water ways are flowing first..

Lol, I have a new free thermostat you can try!
I'm just going through the same issue but "fortunately" not as bad as yours sounds, nothing worse huh..
I did the water pump, didn't need it on a 320'k zd! Thermostat and radiator, had to do the radiator as I broke it and the thermostat did have signs of wear..
You have to pull the thermostat to flush sooooo whilst your there...

Gentle with flushing radiators and heater cores, start off with about 2 to 3 p.s.i and work up to 5ish.. as long as they are flowing they're good..
If she's flowing and everything is clear,,,,,, you may need to get a head job!

If she's starting and ideling, oil and water -where oil and water should be, waters circulating I'd drive it.. Be nice to get a code read before you do though...
Do a short block'y and see if the water and oil is staying where they should be! A cracked head will let you know
Wack a coke bottle in the radiator neck and see if she bubbles.
Stinking Alloy heads, when they even think about cracking they'll you'll know..

Ya, sounds good.. she starts and idles fine,. No smoke on start up, I got a code 0505, which means FK all .. Oil looks clean on dip stick, oil cap good.. have to wait till Monday to get coolant and start doing some tests..

 

[Been a while]

Wewwwww huh

 

[Esotericnomad]

Wewwwww huh

What's happened to yours?

 

[tweak'e]

Lol.. I don't mind, it's just a friggin pain, I want to find out why it overheated before I drop money into fixing it..still not convinced it's the head or gasket. Diff not reacting like a blown head gasket in my Toyota..

yes you need to find why it overheated. it sounds like the water level got to low for some reason.
the problem is when you over heat the engine you crack the head. a cracked head can be the result of the overheating rather than the cause.
we had that when the bottom radiator hose came loose and hit the pulleys.

 

[Horatius]

Ya,

I'm running a top sending water temp, it went from 80 to 120 in 3 min period ( from when I last looked at it ).. it then fluctuated up and down for a few mins. Going to get radiator checked and pull out thermostat ( if I can work out how to get to the damn thing ). Then work backwards..

When the temperature starts going all over the place it usually indicates its getting low on coolant. Once the sender stops sitting in coolant the temperature reading usually drops (for a short while anyway).You might have lost coolant somewhere by the sounds of it.

Usually easier to just to unbolt the alternator and sit it to the side (might be worth taking one of the battery terminals off first) to get at the thermostat.

 

[Esotericnomad]

Thanks for your help guys..

 

[Mal B]

Could be lack of air flow, if you were travelling slower than usual.
If so, and your model still has one, the first thing I'd be looking at is the viscous fan hub. Check for oil on the shaft, and after sitting, cold, overnight there should be a fair amount of resistance when you try to turn it. If it spins freely, it's lost its' oil.
As a heads up to others, viscous fans should be locked up when you first take off in the morning, wind down your window and have a listen, should sound like you're revving the ring out of 'em. This will stop when they warm a bit and the oil starts moving around.
Always thought a mate was revving the ring out of his Patrol when he took off, until he had a go at me for doing the same thing, with my old '89 Nav, we eventually figured out it was just fan noise and neither of us were abusing cold motors.

 

[Fooman]

Zd30...2003

ekkk !!!! ....-exactly same as mine -how many kms on clock ?

 

[Esotericnomad]

Zd30...2003

ekkk !!!! ....-exactly same as mine -how many kms on clock ?

Around 270 ish.. but I've only had it a year and don't know what service history was before I got it..