Thread: Cylinder head buggered???

I went to change the glow plugs in my lux tonight and noticed what looked like coolant pooled around my 4th glow plug, the exposed threads looked a little corroded too. I had been told by Toyota a while back that they had detected a fault in one of my cylinders, and they suspected it might be cracked. Not long after that I went to another mechanic for a chat and he reckoned if it was cracked it would spew coolant when you pop the cap off the radiator when it's hot - it doesn't. Also had my buggered radiator replaced by a specialist, who ran a pressure test when he replaced it and said it seemed fine. It's getting progressively more difficult to start though on cold mornings, I know one of the plugs has dragged the others down, but seeing this has got me worried. It doesn't blow any white smoke ( that I've noticed), doesn't lose coolant at a great rate of knots, and the oil and water are fine (not milky). I couldn't get the glow plugs out cuz all the injector pipes were in the way of my spanner. What do you guys reckon I should do? Maybe pulling the dodgy plug for a look would be the obvious answer. Can you get the head X rayed? What kind of money would I be looking at to get the tests done??

I'll go put it back together and run it with the radiator cap off. See what happens.

What year/model hilux.

KZN1## series cars with the 1KZ-TE are prone to cracking the head, about 2k in parts from toyota (trade) About 1400 for the head alone. You can do a leak down test, and a TK head check test. Take it to a decent diesel specialist. some one like Taupo Diesel Solutions Limited Taupo Area | Yellow® NZ as I assume your in taupo from our messages. I would take it to them for a diagnosis, and then deal with it. I chucked some liquid glass in the old mans 1kz hilux late 2010, and it's still going strong.

I'll keep them in mind. I cranked it up to 3K rpm on the hand throttle with the cap off the radiator. It bubbled at low revs but I think that was more to do with the vibration of the motor. At high revs it did nothing just sat there. It's a 3L, not a surf. Meant to be relatively bullet proof. Hopefully it's nothing major. Toyota does have some what of a reputation of bullshitting.

Chances are unfortunately it will be cracked ,,,we used to do lots of them still do a few ,,,,the 3L opposed to the 1kz's normally crack because they have been hot where as the 1kz can just let go,,,normally in a pre combustion chamber ,,,and even when you pressure test them can be hard to pick up.
Tk check will pick it up combustion issues most of the time ,,,but from the sounds you have more a coolant prob,,, on saying that there is a chance it is only a blown head gasket but you really need to get the head off and get it checked ,,you can normally see if the 3l's are cracked they go between the intake and exhaust seat or a fine crack from the pre combustion chamber.
If it is cracked ,,,the best bet is a new head and then you need to get a changeover done which is removing valve gear ,,,valves and springs etc and getting them changed over into your new head and geting the shim tapppets set ,,,this needs to be done by a machine shop ,,,if you get the head off ,,,,goood guys in taupo are Henson and murray ,,,talk to Brian or scott If you have any worries with parts or any other questions pm me

Thanks bush rash. I'll look into getting it checked out as soon as I can.

So what makes you guys think that the head is cracked or gasket blown pls?

Toyota Diesels do crack heads. I worked for toyota for 3 years, I sold A LOT of 2l and 1kz heads. The 3l isn't as common, but still can crack.

Fark should of read the thread a bit more throughly for some reason i thought you pulled a glow plug and it had coolant on ittoo many hours at work today,,,if you have changed the glow plugs and its still hard to start ,,,,get a compression test done which is not a biggie if all looks ok start looking at the fuel side ,,,,,if the compressions are low on all or isolated cylinders youll have to dig deeper ,,,,,,,,sorry bout the confusion

haha all good. If it isn't as bad as it could be I'll be happy. Really don't want to have to pay for a new head and everything that goes with it. To clarify, I saw what looked like a green pool of liquid behind my 4th glow plug, and some corrosion on the exposed part of the glow plug and immediately thought "fuck my life". I couldn't get the glow plugs out to replace them cuz the damn injector pipes are in the way. The manual makes it sound like a piece of piss to do, till you end up having to pull heaps of shit apart just to get a screw driver where it needs to go...

hi beavis, the joy of motor vehicles
95% of the time you will know you have a cracked head or blowen gasket by the test mentioned earlyer in the posts by running with cap off, if it blowen you will get a fountain out the radiator, also had one case that the crack was by an exhaust valve with flooded the exhaust but again was easy to tell becauce toyota didnt make a steam powered 3L
you also shouldnt need to take injector pipes off, did a 3l hilux last week and got them in,once you get that intake pipe off and the cover that sits on the rocker cover
it a piece of piss from there

Make sure you replace it with a genuine Toyota part not some POS from China! Might as well use a genuine head set as well.
It's been a few years since I worked on the L series engines but they are very easy to work on, do they have core/frost plugs on the top face of the head?

Just replaced the glow plugs. Nothing dodgy going on from what me and my mate could see. Hopefully it starts better tomorrow. I probably panicked seeing that green shit. It doesn't have any of the other symptoms of a blown head so fingers crossed.

How did the coolant get onto the outside of the cylinder head?

Did you test the glow plugs you removed? Have you confirmed that the glow timer is work? (test lamp on the glow rail when you turn the key on, should light up for 11sec approx) On some toyota's the glow light in the dash will light up for the correct time but no power is getting to the rail.

All these things and more could be a fault - that is why us Mechanics get paid the big bucks!!! LOL

You shouldnt lose any coolant. Almost every vehicle will crack its head if you cook it. The main reason we see is blocked radiators or generally poor condition of coolant system. Bigger exhaust always helps get rid of the heat particularly in turboed motors. If you do need to replace the head do yourself a favor and stick with a genuine Toyota head. See too many aftermarket soft heads or incorrectly machined heads that cause no end of trouble and the genuine heads are usually only a few hundred more dollars anyway.