Help please - blown head gasket???

try changing your thermostat if not ok creates pressure and can cause water to flow wrong way try with cap off when you start it cold

try this web site forum it is for 4 runners a USA site but my help
www.yotaech.com
Born to drive a 4x4 , not a keyboard
Peter York 4x4

sorry site is www.yotatech.comBorn to drive a 4x4 , not a keyboard
Peter York 4x4

Check that

z8igg6y - check that

some th8ing b8izzare go8ing 9on

Zigglemeister,
If you are using 1 to 2 litres of water per trip you have something wrong, if you have water being pushed into your overflow it looks as you suspect a head related issue. Have you filled the rad with water and left the radiator cap off to see if you get any air coming out of the filler? This is usually a good indication that the head is either cracked or the head gasket has developed a leak. Have you considered taking your 4runner back to the people who fixed it? This would be my first plan of attack. You need to be aware that if the leak develops and it sounds bad enough now, when you leave the engine after a run the water could drain into the offending cylinder and when you try to start the engine you might get what sounds like a dead spot when the engine turns over, this is the engine trying to compress liquid this isn't good, do you get any steam / condensation out of the exhaust? If you do this tells you the head gasket is leaking.
If you really want to get excited you could purchase a compression tester. Make sure it a high enough pressure rating, diesels are a lot higher than petrols, take all the injectors out full throttle and crank the engine over, there shouldn't be more than 50 psi difference.
I'm still of the opinion you should take the 4runner back to whoever did the repairs, you shouldn't be having this sort of problem after an engine rebuild, at least phone and let them know something is wrong, if you don't and you have a serious problem the first this they will say is "you should of told us".
Good luck with the repairs.

I had a similar problem with my motorcycle. It pushed coolant to the overflow reserve and out from there. It turned out that the head leaked pressure into the cooling system.

I changed the head gasket and tightened the headbolts really carefully. That fixed it.

Your symptoms appear to be the same, so the problem is most likely the same.

Take the car back to the place that performed the rebuild and explain the symptoms to them. The solution should be obvious to them, if they know anything about engines.

for more 4 runner sites try a search for JA + 4runner +topsitesBorn to drive a 4x4 , not a keyboard
Peter York 4x4

I agree with Martyn on this,One question is has it been looseing the water right from the time you had it rebuilt? if yes it is a long shot but it may have had the incorrect head gasket fitted. I have seen this happen before on rare occasions eg, it only takes one hole to be out of place different models can be close but not close enough.

Not necesarily an incorrect headgasket. If the headbolts are tightened in the wrong order or to the incorrect torque, it is enough to cause a leak.

ah seems my daughter spilt a drink into the keyboard, so had some bad things happening with my previous posts.

Was just trying to say - check that there are no air locks in the head or any other part of the donk as this will cause overheating of a parcel of air/coolant and force some out sometimes violently out of the radiator.

kes

Thanks very much everyone,
The info on the thermostat is very interesting, thanks howesy. Now I'll have to see if I can find one to try... I wish I could just take it back to the place that rebuilt it, unfortunately it's not quite that simple. I'm on a pretty remote island in Vanuatu and "having the engine rebuilt" was shorthand for spending several weeks working in conjunction with the main local mechanic on the island, who does know a bit more than me but not so much that you'd notice. I'm going to ask him what he thinks, though - he may have seen it before, this is the most common engine on the island. But as far as exhaust testers, compression testers, etc go, to the best of my knowledge there are no such animals anywhere round here! I may get lucky with a thermostat, but I suspect I won't find one of them on the island either. I did check the head gasket pretty carefully when it went on, there didn't seem to be any galleries blocked anywhere by it, so I'm fairly sure it's the right one.
I don't really think it's an airlock, because when the engine is running the airflow out the rad overflow (once it's lost its obligatory one-two litres) is pretty well constant.