Help! Prado 95 series overheating on highway, fine stationary and around town.

[radical beek Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close radical beek]

Im new to this forum but work a 1997 90 series swb 3.0L damn hard as a beekeeper pulling up to 3tonne on a large triple axle trailer over very punishing bush tracks.
As far as overheating goes I've had some experience.
The NZ models have an air-con condenser in front of the radiator which prevents a front view of the actual radiator.
I ended up with the space between this condenser and the radiator becoming packed with grass seed.
In my case it was an easy fix for a ultra hard working truck, get rid of the air con condenser and replace the radiator, NZ$250.
This may not suit the Australian driving environment but in my view if the condenser is obstructing the radiator or as in my case is causing an obstruction to occur then you need to do something.

[pradosteve97 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradosteve97]

Im new to this forum but work a 1997 90 series swb 3.0L damn hard as a beekeeper pulling up to 3tonne on a large triple axle trailer over very punishing bush tracks.
As far as overheating goes I've had some experience.
The NZ models have an air-con condenser in front of the radiator which prevents a front view of the actual radiator.
I ended up with the space between this condenser and the radiator becoming packed with grass seed.
In my case it was an easy fix for a ultra hard working truck, get rid of the air con condenser and replace the radiator, NZ$250.
This may not suit the Australian driving environment but in my view if the condenser is obstructing the radiator or as in my case is causing an obstruction to occur then you need to do something.

thats stupid idea get rid of the a/c just fix the problem how hard can it be ?
Alot of prados went along way with the a/c on its alot hotter here than the island of many sheep, I've driven my 90 series on plenty of 40 degree days with the a/c on guess what it didn't over heat a couple of those days with a horse float behind it .

[radical beek Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close radical beek]

How hard can it be.

thats stupid idea get rid of the a/c just fix the problem how hard can it be ?
Alot of prados went along way with the a/c on its alot hotter here than the island of many sheep, I've driven my 90 series on plenty of 40 degree days with the a/c on guess what it didn't over heat a couple of those days with a horse float behind it .

As hard as removing the problem, which was the condenser creating a space for grass seed to collect on a daily basis.
It is impossible to clear this space without removing the condenser or radiator.

This is a work truck not a show pony and it works in the real bush that has real hills towing real loads.
On its days off it tows a double horse float.

[Fizbne Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Fizbne]

Strange, you learn something new every day. I'm guessing the sensor for the fan is post rad so any coolant that's gone through would be super cool and so it won't engage.

Yeah, it's relieving to have a rad that won't blow up on me, but since we've forked out a shit load of money on this POS Prado and it's proving to be not so indestructible Cruiser of the Land, we're gonna miss out the Outback trip and go up the East Coast instead. We'd rather break down in civilisation rather than 600kms away from the next stop aha.

I say it's crap, but it's really just a lack of maintenance from the previous owners of the car. And maybe some off-roading that I may have done as well... But that's besides the point.

Hopefully, we're good now. After our couple of night in Melbourne, it's back off to Mt. Koziziococizcozsco to camp there for the night and then onwards up the east coast WOO.

[pradosteve97 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradosteve97]

Radical break you point out the exactly why 85% of cars I've ever worked on owned by kiwis are pieces of shit.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Hi Fizbne, your problems are unfortunate and I do feel your frustration, but you did have the great wisdom to buy the correct choice of vehicle to minimise potential problems when travelling around oz. 95 series prados are unbelievably reliable and people have reportedly pulled massive kilometers out of these engines with few issues along the way when compared to other models in its class, but like anything preventative maintenance goes a long way. If you bought a Jeep regardless of the year & model then by rights it should never leave the driveway haha. My car has been very good to me and I've driven it in all sorts of terrain, done 2 Cape York trips in it, over a dozen Fraser Island trips. I've had this thing airborne a few times on the beach and on fast paced corrugated roads under full load (by accident), through many a bog holes, in deep water quite a few, driven hard in the never ending long uphill softest sand tracks I've ever experienced at Byfield NP in 43 degrees, driven in many 4wd parks I all sorts of conditions, snatched friend's GU Patrol and Challenger up steep clay tracks at Glasshouse where they had no traction and I was the only one who did with my new muddies, and out of soft sand bogs on Moreton & Fraser. Snatched a GQ bogged in near bonnet depth bog hole after 2 dozen attempts and engine/transmission/driveline floggings just on dark to get him out of there. I also drive my car up a 3km long steep mountain range every day to go work at 5,000rpm in 2nd at 100km/h for 2/3 of it and have done so for years and that's hard on any car as you can smell the engine burning by the time you get to the top. If I do it in 3rd it slows down to 50km/h due to the gradient. I feel if I owned another make of vehicle the my list of problems I experienced along the way would've been quite lengthy. I've notched up 353,000km now and two niggling little things have popped up after 100,000km of no issues. A minor coolant leak through a $7 thermostat O ring seal and a crank angle sensor playing up making the car lose significant power when driving up the long steep range. Pretty good I think. Maintenance is important and I certainly don't baby my car even though it's getting on a bit.

Have faith in the mighty Prado. You've got one tough car there. Don't let this issue bring you down and tarnish your trip. Buy a Gregory's Service Repair manual for $30 something and always know you can get instant help on here if you have any more issues.

Hope you have a wonderful trip in our great country and take home lots of memories.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Double post....

[radical beek Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close radical beek]

Radical break you point out the exactly why 85% of cars I've ever worked on owned by kiwis are pieces of shit.

What would your fix be for the issue of debri between these to coolers

[induna Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close induna]

The temperature sensor in the fan clutch is purely mechanical and is located on the fan clutch itself. It is a spiral spring that is made of a sandwich of two different types of metal that expand at different rates as they get hot. This causes the spiral spring to wind up as the temperature in the engine compartment rises, which then turns a metal plate that allows more oil to flow to the outside of the clutch causing it to slip less, and therefore the fan turns more quickly. If it is working correctly the fan MUST turn faster as the engine compartment heats up. If this is not happening, the fan clutch needs to be repaired or replaced. This may not be the primary cause of the overheating, but it is certainly a problem that should be addressed. The vehicle will be especially prone to overheating at low speed under load ifthe fan is not working properly.

[pradosteve97 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradosteve97]

What would your fix be for the issue of debri between these to coolers

Don't you have a pressure washer? every so often take the lower bash plate off and pressure wash there is a gap from the top and a bigger gap from underneath . You must not clean your car very often. I've sunk my prado in the mud a few times 1 time enough to fill the headlights up with mud and can't say I've ever got enough crap in between the radiator and condensor to make the engine over heat.

[radical beek Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close radical beek]

Don't you have a pressure washer? every so often take the lower bash plate off and pressure wash there is a gap from the top and a bigger gap from underneath . You must not clean your car very often. I've sunk my prado in the mud a few times 1 time enough to fill the headlights up with mud and can't say I've ever got enough crap in between the radiator and condensor to make the engine over heat.

Its driving through very tall seeded rye grass that is the main problem.
The gap between the coolers becomes full solid in one day.
washing it out with a hose doesnt work as the seed just turns to a slurry that then forms a solid mass.
The only way to get rid of it is to remove the Air con condenser and hose back through the fan cowl to wash the seed out.
If you look at an old prado radiator you mill see that they are often blocked with stuff in the fan circle

[topic97 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close topic97]

Strange, you learn something new every day. I'm guessing the sensor for the fan is post rad so any coolant that's gone through would be super cool and so it won't engage.

Yeah, it's relieving to have a rad that won't blow up on me, but since we've forked out a shit load of money on this POS Prado and it's proving to be not so indestructible Cruiser of the Land, we're gonna miss out the Outback trip and go up the East Coast instead. We'd rather break down in civilisation rather than 600kms away from the next stop aha.

I say it's crap, but it's really just a lack of maintenance from the previous owners of the car. And maybe some off-roading that I may have done as well... But that's besides the point.

Hopefully, we're good now. After our couple of night in Melbourne, it's back off to Mt. Koziziococizcozsco to camp there for the night and then onwards up the east coast WOO.

Yeah its not the prados fault - if the old owner hasnt looked after it then its not giving it much of a fighting chance! haha

[Fizbne Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Fizbne]

Just an update on my Prado.

Been sweet as ever since. We've finished our East Coast roadtrip and have now settled in Brisbane for a few months to recoup some cash. Then we'll carry on North to The Reef, West to Darwin, and then straight down the middle south to Adelaide.

[radical beek Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close radical beek]

Heres what Ive just done with my kzj 90 SWB 1kz-te workhorse tow wagon.
Full rebuild, bored , pistons, new head, turbo and pump.
3 core full aluminium radiator without trans cooler.
30 inch extruded Aluminium fined Trans cooler mounted on the bullbar
Removed EGR system and large throttle body butterfly.
Installed Motorsport stepper motor temp gauge with warning light as well as an exhaust temp gauge the same.
Housed these gauges in the dash computer console where the compass and pitch gauges were.
On the top radiator hose pipe from the head there is a blanked casting for a new temp sender unit.
This casting is drilled and tapped to 16mm and a 16mm to 1/8 BSP reducing bush is screwed in as low as possible to allow the 1/8 BSP sender to fit in.
The result of all this is a constant 84 deg C engine temp.
2.5 inch straight piped
EGT 700max
10psi boost max
Dump pipe next.