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Hi fellow prado owners,
I had the misfortune of blowing a head gasket the other day. Sudden loss of power, revs would not go above 2000 and the fastest moving temp gauge I have ever seen. Felt like the handbrake was on.
So $3300.00 dollars later I am back on the road. I thank the mechanic who did mine because this included a new head, radiator, parts and starter motor. (Man he was thougher). Power steering rack is to come.
The $169.00 head gasket wasn't the problem. The big drive a mac truck through crack in the head between cylinder 3 and 4 was.
The reason I write this blog is so you can be for-warned. 1. Between 150,000km and 180,000km prado heads are known to give up the ghost. According to every mechanic (since the epic event) I have spoken to it happens a lot. (Great) The heads have to be replaced as when this happens the head looses its tempure (hardness) and become soft so if you do a head gasket they have to replace the entire head.
That all said the main reason for my rather drawn out blog is one of the main causes of the death of my motor was.
The radiator was full of grass and western muck. ( I couldn't see all this. when looking at it with out a torch it looked fine).
The temp gauge is to low on the motor so doesn't read there is a problem till your engine is dead.
I will be looking into getting another temp gauge fitted somewhere higher so if there is a problem I will now earlier.
Check your actual radiator by undoing the cap and not looking at the filler bottle is another lesson I learnt.
Ahh well there goes the trip this year.
Thanks for reading my gripe.
Cheers Passin'through
I had the misfortune of blowing a head gasket the other day. Sudden loss of power, revs would not go above 2000 and the fastest moving temp gauge I have ever seen. Felt like the handbrake was on.
So $3300.00 dollars later I am back on the road. I thank the mechanic who did mine because this included a new head, radiator, parts and starter motor. (Man he was thougher). Power steering rack is to come.
The $169.00 head gasket wasn't the problem. The big drive a mac truck through crack in the head between cylinder 3 and 4 was.
The reason I write this blog is so you can be for-warned. 1. Between 150,000km and 180,000km prado heads are known to give up the ghost. According to every mechanic (since the epic event) I have spoken to it happens a lot. (Great) The heads have to be replaced as when this happens the head looses its tempure (hardness) and become soft so if you do a head gasket they have to replace the entire head.
That all said the main reason for my rather drawn out blog is one of the main causes of the death of my motor was.
The radiator was full of grass and western muck. ( I couldn't see all this. when looking at it with out a torch it looked fine).
The temp gauge is to low on the motor so doesn't read there is a problem till your engine is dead.
I will be looking into getting another temp gauge fitted somewhere higher so if there is a problem I will now earlier.
Check your actual radiator by undoing the cap and not looking at the filler bottle is another lesson I learnt.
Ahh well there goes the trip this year.
Thanks for reading my gripe.
Cheers Passin'through
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