NewHilux.net

Just had car serviced by the dealer that we bought it from. Picked it up at 1800 Monday night, 5 minute drive home then straight In the garage. Next day wife goes shopping with the kids. Notices the air con is blowing hot air. Rings dealer they say they didn't touch it but will book it in next day to look at it.
Finishes shopping, driving down freeway notices light on dash then notices temp gauge high. Luckily she's smart enough and pulled over straight away. Has a look around and notices there's nothing in the radiator bottle. Rang RAC got it towed to dealer. They say it wasn't bled properly, and that its a common issue with the Hilux. They filled it up and sent the wife on her way.
I'll be keeping an eye on it over the next week or so. I've asked them for something in writing for what has happened and what they did, but nothing yet.
Is the D4D susceptible to over heating and what should I look out for. There was no noises or steaming from the engine so it seems she stopped in time.

Thanks
Danny

Nope, not at all. The only known issue with the cooling is a blocked radiator fins or the water pump.

Sure the mechanic put the radiator cap on properly? Radiators require pressure to increase the boiling point of the coolant. Is there any noticable leaks inside the engine bay?

Either way sounds like you had a monkey servicing your vehicle!

Not bleeding properly will cause airlocks and overheating causing over pressure in system and possible coolant loss due to over pressure being released by rad cap. If the dealers weren't in such a f$@#&% hurry to scam as much $$$$ off u in as little time as possible they would spend the extra ten minutes to bleed the system properly. It is a common occurance in many vehicles and is caused mainly by laziness to take the extra time to make sure its bled completely before sealing the system up with the cap. Also a lot of coolant leaks occur when different brands are mixed or too much coolant is used

So what is the correct method for bleeding the system?

This is the method i used
Quoted by Toyboata on another thread:

Best way to service cooling system.
1. With vehicle running turn on heater then stop engine.
2. Remove drain plug on radiator or remove bottom hose.
3. Undo one heater hose from heater tap.
4. After all coolant has stopped draining, insert garden hose into heater hose and turn on medium pressure. Flush until clear water is coming from radiator and heater tap, then insert hose to heater tap and flush until clear water coming from heater hose and radiator.
5. Flush through radiator also until clear water exits heater tap and hose, this ensures all old coolant is removed from system.
6. Refit drain plug/bottom hose.
7. A good idea for bleeding system is to make a bleed funnel. Cut bottom out of 600ml coke bottle and get about 8" length of hose(vinyl hose from Bunnings is easiest to get or some radiator hose) that will fit snugly inside the radiator neck. Attach and tape it to the coke bottle neck and insert into radiator filler.
8. Fill with desired amount of coolant and watch the heater hose, the moment you see nice fresh coolant coming out of heater hose or tap, block that end off. Then when it exits the remaining outlet then re-attach the hose to tap. This has just started to bleed the system and ensures you can get plenty of coolant in.
9. Fill up rest of system with water until the funnel is half full and start the engine. Keep topping up as the level drops and you will also notice air bubbles escaping. Once the engine is at operating temperature, check that both top and bottom hoses are nice and warm, and if there's no more air bubbles then remove funnel and replace radiator cap.
This is the best way to ensure you get plenty of coolant into the system and dont end up with any airlocks which can cause overheating and head damage.
Hope this helps some of you.

That's a good general description jakelux, but not how you do a hilux. I did one yesterday at work, so here it is.

You don't need to have the engine up to operating temp, so the thermostat is open. There is a small bleed hole in the thermostat that will let the water drain through it and the air up past it.
Also, unless your old coolant is full of rusty muddy looking crap I wouldn't flush the system with water. I would rather have a little bit of old coolant in the system then plain water.

To replace the coolant, have the engine cool. Turn the heaters on. Remove the "radiator cap" which i on the clear attic header tank. Undo the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator. Undo the block drain to drain the coolant from the block. The block drain is on the left (passenger) side of the engin on the bottom of the oil cooler. It is a 10mm headed bolt that is right beside a support braket in front of the oil filter.
Once all the coolant is drained, tighten drain plugs.
Undo radiator air bleed on top of radiator top tank, its the 3/8 square drive plug, beside the small hose on the top tank.
Pour the new coolant into the header tank. Eventually the radiator will fill up. to speed the process, blow into the header tank to push the water to the top of the radiator. When the water starts coming out the bleed hole, refit the plug. Start and run up to temp. Recheck level. Done.

That's a very short, rushed explanation.

andy666 wrote:That's a good general description jakelux, but not how you do a hilux. I did one yesterday at work, so here it is.

The above explanation was posted by Toyboata on another thread, i renewed my coolant a couple of weeks ago and used his method and it worked great!
100 ways to skin a cat

Thanks guys.
Still not out of the woods yet. Wife had a short drive yesterday and the coolant level has dropped a bit. No visible leaks, oil looks ok. Will keep monitoring.

Thanks
Danny

How many is on it? Could it be the water pump, mine did something similar, occasionally got a whiff of coolant smell after running but no drops on the ground to indicate that it had failed.

If the coolant level remains above the low mark its fine. The coolant will find its natural level. I can fill mine to the full mark and after 2 days it has dropped 1", but never drops any further.

Remember, it's a low mark, not an empty mark.

andy666 wrote:That's a good general description jakelux, but not how you do a hilux. I did one yesterday at work, so here it is.

You don't need to have the engine up to operating temp, so the thermostat is open. There is a small bleed hole in the thermostat that will let the water drain through it and the air up past it.
Also, unless your old coolant is full of rusty muddy looking crap I wouldn't flush the system with water. I would rather have a little bit of old coolant in the system then plain water.

To replace the coolant, have the engine cool. Turn the heaters on. Remove the "radiator cap" which i on the clear attic header tank. Undo the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator. Undo the block drain to drain the coolant from the block. The block drain is on the left (passenger) side of the engin on the bottom of the oil cooler. It is a 10mm headed bolt that is right beside a support braket in front of the oil filter.
Once all the coolant is drained, tighten drain plugs.
Undo radiator air bleed on top of radiator top tank, its the 3/8 square drive plug, beside the small hose on the top tank.
Pour the new coolant into the header tank. Eventually the radiator will fill up. to speed the process, blow into the header tank to push the water to the top of the radiator. When the water starts coming out the bleed hole, refit the plug. Start and run up to temp. Recheck level. Done.

That's a very short, rushed explanation.

Great tips there Andy. thanks
Just on the heater being turned on, what exactly are you meaning. Do you mean power on the ignition and turn heaters to hot, and run fans??, air con, recirculate?

Just turn the dial around to hot, ignition off. This will open the heater tap and allow the old coolant out.

If the cooling system is not bled correctly the reservoir tank will need topping up after virtually every time the car is driven.
Mine did this because the water pump was replaced under warranty and the geniuses didn't bleed it.
I must have had to add at least 3 litres all up but 1/2 litre at a time. Thought I was losing it somewhere, but eventually the level stabilised.

The block drain is on the left (passenger) side of the engin on the bottom of the oil cooler. It is a 10mm headed bolt that is right beside a support braket in front of the oil filter.

I'm strugglin finding this thing, anyone have a photo?

Firstly thanks to Andy for putting up those tips and shooting me a photo of this *ukin drain plug in the side of the block. - spot on!

Finally got around to doing this, and as I thought it would be a *ukin pain in the arse of a job.
Pretty straight forward non technical job, but this *ukin drain plug in the side of the block……..its dug into the tightest possible spot you could imagine, surrounded by every *ukin imaginary piece of Electrical cabling and to top it off the head of the bolt is facing downwards.

So unless Toyota has some special long angled 10mm spanner? a conventional 10 mm spanner will not work unless it has 50cm long handle and Ive never seen one of them.
So you need to access this drain plug from under the car, directly under the drain valve!
Need to use long socket extensions and union joint knuckle to get the right angle on the 10mm socket
Than be prepared to get Coolant coming down on your head or run a hose off the drain pipe.
Could The Jap's really put a drain plug in such a ridiculous spot as they have??? *uk me.

Now re-filling with Coolant.
Im guessing Toyota have a special way to re-fill these things quickly, cause it takes for ever to circulate coolant throughout the block with the header tank being so small and emptying out quickly.
So I found at first the header tank took about 3 litres of new coolant to re-fill, brought the Lux up to operating temp….nothing…. wouldn't run through the system????? thinking what the *uk….
Started to put some revs into the engine to simulate driving to get more heat and Bingo….. thermostat must have opened. This process took a good 30 minutes to get nearly 10 litres back into her, with the stop starting, re-fill, rev her up, and so on and so on and so on.
Maybe lot quicker if you have two hands into this job.

So I got 8.5 litres of new Coolant back into her, so that tells me not all the coolant drained from the block, maybe it can never be 100% drained??
Anyway she'll do.

Thanks Again to Andy, your instructions were great mate!

Just be careful with the block drain plug, as it's brass and it will round off easily.
Fill up your reservoir to B position before you start.
It will take some time to bleed all the air out of the system.
Please check your levels for the next few days. It should be at full when cold, first thing in the morning, say.
Toyota SLLC coolant, is one of the best coolants, out there, but it is expensive.
The Roo.

Cool Roo, agree, yep the brass head shows signs of wear already, if I do this job again I will replace that bolt next time.
Id love to hear how and what tools you mechanic's use to accessing that drain bolt? Thats the best method I could find that worked with the tools I have.

2 x 5 litre Toyota SLLC bottles from my Toyo Dealer approx $33.00 each, you need 10 litres - So yeh its not cheap.
But I wouldn't risk running non genuine stuff in these temperamental engines.

Yea not cheap but good for 160 000km or 10 years. So good value. We have to capture and reuse the coolant when doing warranty jobs. As it is so good.

Does anyone have the part number for the bolt? My local dealer couldn't find it/said the part was not applicable for my vehicle according to the system.

If anyone has a picture that would be great as well.

Sorry duplicate post