Prado cracked head.

I havent had it happen to my 1KZ, BUT, I have had it happen to an 80 series diesel that was 1 week short of the expiry of the 3 months warranty, and the dealer had no choice but to wear it.

I dont know what state you are in, but in MSW if the vehicle is less than 10 years of age and has less than 160,000k on it, then the dealer has to supply a warranty of 3 months or 5000K. That warranty covers all mechanical defects etc etc, but not things like brake pads, wipers, bulbs etc etc.

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Extracted from NSW Dept Fair Trading Website re 2nd hand vehicles warranty

Second-hand vehicles

The Motor Dealers Act provides a statutory warranty of 3 months or 5,000km from the date of sale (whichever occurs first) on second-hand vehicles that have travelled less than 160,000 km and are less than 10 years old.

Every second-hand vehicle for sale within a licensed dealership should have a form describing the vehicle displayed. The form includes the dealer’s name, cash price, engine number, odometer reading and whether a warranty applies. The form displayed will either be a Form 4, 6, or 8 and this will indicate the term of the warranty applying to the vehicle.

Form 4 indicates the car has a standard statutory warranty as described above.

While the dealer does not have to provide a Safety Inspection Report (a ‘pink slip’) for a vehicle to which a statutory warranty applies, the vehicle is still required to be roadworthy and its condition should be reasonable for its age and mileage.

Form 6 indicates that the standard warranty of 3 months/5,000km applies, but only to defects relating to safety. The dealer should list on the form the items that will not be covered by the warranty as well as an estimate of the related repair costs. A car displaying a Form 6 must also be sold with a pink slip showing that the car is roadworthy.

Form 8 indicates that the car is not covered by a warranty. Generally the car is older than ten years or has travelled more than 160,000km. A car displaying a Form 8 must be sold with a pink slip showing that the car is roadworthy.

Form 14 indicates that the car is not covered by a warranty and is displayed on a vehicle priced above the luxury car limit. The car is to be sold in a roadworthy condition.

Some types of vehicles are excluded from this warranty as listed under the heading Non-warrantable vehicles below.

Vehicles excluded from second-hand warranty
Commercial
Commercial vehicles are excluded from the statutory warranty. Basically, a commercial vehicle is a motor vehicle constructed or adapted principally:

to carry goods
to carry 10 or more adults
for industrial or agricultural use.
‘Dual-cab’ or ‘crew-cab’ vehicles are commercial vehicles.

Note: The following are not commercial vehicles, and (subject to age, distance and price) will be covered by warranty.

A utility, station wagon or panel van:
that is the same make as the factory-produced motor car;
in which the part of the body form, forward of the windscreen and the greater part of the mechanical equipment are the same, or substantially the same, as in the motor car.(Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon station wagon or utility).
A motor vehicle that is adapted for camping use (for example, a campervan).
A four-wheel drive with at least one forward-facing rear passenger seat ie. most of the normal long wheel base four-wheel drive passenger vehicles (apart from dual and crew cabs which have been excluded).
The definition of commercial vehicle does not apply to the Suzuki Hatch and Mighty Boy because their cargo space is not considered to be constructed or adapted principally to carry goods.

These and similar vehicles are considered to be covered by warranty if the criteria of distance travelled, age and price (luxury vehicle) applies. The fact that a vehicle may be used for 'commercial' purposes (courier, taxi, etc) after purchase does not void the statutory warranty.

Luxury vehicles
A luxury motor vehicle is a vehicle where the cash price exceeds a prescribed amount. The prescribed amount is the motor vehicle depreciation limit under the Income Tax Assessment Act and is set in the annual Federal Budget.

For the purpose of the Motor Dealers Act the figure effective as at 1st July 2002 was set at $57,009. Vehicles sold above this price are not covered by a Statutory Warranty or the Motor Dealers Compensation Fund.

Other vehicles not covered by statutory warranty
These are:

A trailer (which includes a caravan).
A motor vehicle or a second hand motor cycle that cannot be registered on New South Wales roads.
A substantially demolished or substantially dismantled motor vehicle.
A four wheel drive vehicle that has no forward facing rear passenger seat.

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I assume your vehicle has done less than the 5000k since you purchased it and as stated, it is within the 3 months warranty period, so you have all the right ingrediants there to tell them it has to be fixed at their expense.

Contact the technical dept of you local motoring body as well as the legal dept and get clarification in writing of exactly what is and isnt covered by the statutory warranty and then go see the dealer and show them that you wont be pushed around. Also see your local Dept of Fair Trading and your states equivilent of the MTA.

Keep us posted on the outcome, as I am sure many others on this site will follow this with interest.

Good luck

I'm in my fourth Prado over a ten year period. A slow learner some on this forum may say:-)

I've not heard of a cracked head on this type of Landcruiser.

If you're really keen on getting hard data about the incidence of cracked heads on Prados you could try the specialist Prado forums - "PradoPoint.com", or the Yahoo "Lcool" Prado group.

George

I've had a lot of friends with Prados, two have had cracked heads on the aus delivered 1KZ-TE.

One was a 2001 TX auto, and the crack was very fine and difficult to detect. Head was replaced. Vehicle had done about 120,000k from memory. One owner.

Second was a 2000 model RV, that was an ex-govt vehicle, and bought at auction. Cracked head discovered when it was about 4 years old and about 100,000k.

It's quite probable that the person who owned it previously had got it hot. Alloy heads don't neccesarily crack straight away from heat.

As I said in the first post, the temp guages are very crappy and people may not even realise that it had been hot. Generally poor maintence on the cooling system. If the car had done 100,000k's or so and has not had the cooling system flushed it's not going to be running A1 in the cooling department. The auto's also produce a lot more heat in the radiator because of the ATF cooler. I have an aftermarket cooler on my surf , but the radiator is also smaller than the aus 1kz-te's.

Just out of interest, what are they charging for the new head?

All alloy heads can crack from being cooked or having an air lock somewhere in the cooling system. The VL commodores were buggers if you didn't bleed the cooling system properly.
I would say they have been hot at some stage. It doesn't take much to crack the alloy. We did a Camry this week at work. You can usually get exchange heads which will be heaps cheaper than new.
For you records my 1KZTE is fine after 50k 2005 model.
120scruiser

Hi all just joined this forum.
I have Ford courier turbo diesel 2.5litre alloy head 2000 model.
Head finally died 4 weeks ago, was cracked and then finally blown head gasket on number 4.
Brought vechile december 05, march 06 vechile boiled.
Has plastic radiator tanks, so i removed them and found the radiator core's 90% blocked and took 4 hours to unblock.
Who ever had the vechile before me would have had the same problem, so they traded it, and the damage was already done and it was only a matter of time before the head would fail.
Took head to mechanic to be tested and it failed, was cracked and the alloy had become soft from heat damage, and should not be reconditioned.
So i had to buy new head and will hopefully fit it tomorrow.
The is a killer $2150 for new head, that included complete gasket set and new set of head bolts and timing belt. cheaper from the united kingdom, but there are also cheap copies over there that are duds because the alloy they are made from is soft.
Good luck with yours,
and make sure the radiator is taken apart and cleaned.
Don't bother using a radiator cleaner.
They don't work on blocked radiators, if the cores are blocked and no fluid can flow through the cores, then the radiator cleaner cannot flow through the cores.
And replace the thermostat, and make sure they give you the correct thermostat for that engine.
If you can afford it get some one else to do it all for you.

My 2001 TD RV Prado, 180,000 km has had a possible head problem for some time. It would lose radiator fluid and also push it into the overflow after several hours on the highway. I put chemiweld in it as an experiment. That slowed the problem. Now it only pushes water into the overflow but when I put it back the radiator is full so fluid lose is minimal. It has no problem around town so my wings are clipped until I get the money to fix it. Though I have done a little on the highway.

On a day's trip on the highway, I let it cool after a coupla hours on the road then pour the 1/2 or 3/4 filled overflow tank back into the radiator.

Lots of people have told me it is not a head problem but my mechanic says everything else has been tried. People say it is just the fluid is not getting sucked back into the radiator. I agree with the fluid doesn't go back, but I reckon it should not be getting pushed out so much that the fins in the top of the tank are exposed. If it was only a cup or so, fair enough. Too much I reckon, but I could be wrong.

Tried new radiator cap. Pressure test. Oddly enough, once I smelt strong exhaust type smell in the radiator on the road when the fluid was low. But by the time I got the Prado in to the mechanics and got the radiator tested for exhaust gasses, it came up nilch. I reckon I should not have put the fluid back as I reckon that just pushed out the gas! At one time there was a faint black buildup in the overflow tank but I cleaned that out and has not built up again. I think it was a tell tale sign that problems were starting.

My mechanic asked Toyota for warranty help even though not under warranty but they flately refused it. Nothing to do with them, they said. Then they said, "Don't try and fix it, just replace it with a new one." My mechanic said that the answer indicates there is some problem with the heads. This does not mean that this is a BIG PROBLEM but probably that it is a weakess in an otherwise extremely reliable motor.

I have been doing the rounds trying to find suitable alternatives, given the cost of the repairs and my almost non-existant finances and will sooner or later post up on various forums the businesses that were kind enough to reply to my emails requesting info on their products.

troppy

I think I might have mentioned in an earlier post - definitely a known problem. Perhaps not common, but definitely happens often enough for Toyota to be aware. I also mentioned that it would be number 3 cylinder affected, which you have now confirmed. If you do a lot of towing, then avoid laboring the engine, keep the revs up by using a lower gear. This keeps maximum airflow through the motor and hopefully keeps your exhaust gas temperatures down to safe levels.
Hope all turns out well for you under warranty.
Cheers
Gerry