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I was heading away for a nice relaxing weekend (worked all over the festive break.) I got about 20km from my destination and noticed I was overheating.
Limped it to camp minus the camper and dropped the water. At this stage the engine was making a really weird ticking noise I put it down to the fan belt. Tried the next day and same thing it overheated within a few minutes. Limped the car to a zone where I could be towed (I was in the hills and out of my racv zone and no cash to pay the 500 they wanted to get me) I had to let it hit the H a couple of times as I was in a to dangerous position to pull over. I let the engine cool before proceeding again. dropped the oil and fluids today. No milk in the oil or metal that I can see. However some percular things in the cooling system.

The water is flowing in a pulse like state not constant. Fluid is flowing out both pipes of the heater lines when I run the car. Block one the other flows out.

It has also started to become difficult to start and shoots a ploom of smoke. I'm convinced it's white Mrs is convinced it's black.
I have Attached video.

Some precursor info. I had a weird noise start a few months back. Took it to my mechanic and he said it's the fan belt. I sprayed the fan belt with belt conditioner (I think that's the name. It's not belt grip but similar) and noise dissapeard. Repeated this several times.

I took the side round piece off where the top hose to the radiator connects and found a disformed diaphragm maybe? (pic attached)

Just trying to diagnose some things before sending to mechanics.

 

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Can you top up coolant to correct levels (including the header tank and surge tank) and drive it until it reaches jormal op temp, then pull over and turn engine off, raise bonnet and stand beside the lower tank with the yellow cap and listen for gurgling, if you hear that the head needs to come off, head gasket most likely and possible cracked head, but head cracks don't normally extend to water galleries.
Could also be a blocked core, that crap in the pic is astounding.

So thats not a diaphragm? It's attached to the gasket so I thought it must have been a melted diaphragm of some sort.
I have pulled a heap of **** off it atm the moment so will have to put it back together.
Edit: any idea on the smoke and sudden hard to starts? Could it just be the oil is now to thin from overheating? It has never been that hard to start either.
@-Brad about 18mnths ago.

 

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Did you happen to mix coolant colours?

I didn't do it. But unlikely as the whole system was pulled apart to replace the fan.

 

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@geeyoutoo put her back together this afternoon. Filled her up ran her until temp was half way and turned it off and no bubbling.
Problem is it was leaking out of the water outlet gasket (the ones above) so hoping it just didn't drain out the water.
The worst part is we only have a repco and they don't sell the gasket.

 

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Just a update, dropped all fluids and flushed the cooling system. Haven't taken it for a drive yet but have sat here for about 5 mins with the warm up switch (I think that's what it is?) on and nothing over half.
Also smoke has now cleared. Mechanic watched the video and deemed that to be over fueling.
Going to get the fan belt changed again thiugh. It needed to be sprayed with belt conditioner again to stop the ticking. The belt is only 18mnrhs old and maybe 10k km


Edit: took her for a drive made it about 5 mins a d over heated. Guessing it has to be a water pump.

 

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Belt spray should never be used on the serpentine belt unless in emergency, once used change belt ASAP. We have heard of length issues with non genuine belts, the dimension tolerance is quite tight. It maybe a good practise to check out the belt tensioner while your at it, bushes can wear causing a change in belt tension.

Tensioner was replaced with the belt. It makes this weird ticking noise similar to a dodgy injector in a petrol car. Give it a quick spray on the aircon compressor and it stops.

I will get them to swap the belt out when they do the pump. I'm guessing I need a new water pump but no idea how to rest for it.
Car idled for 30 min and temp was perfect. 5 min drive and off she goes.

 

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Can anyone confirm if this is normal.
I did just flush and drop the water so could it possibly be air?
26 January 2023


Still trying to troubleshoot sorry guys.
I had the coolant tank to full. But weirdest side effect has just popped up.
Running it with the the heating switch on and temp was normal turned it off to check for bubbling like @geeyoutoo reccomended and no bubbling.(edit: after the below issues the coolant rank was bubbling and the overflow was pressurised)
Started it back up and ran it at about 3k noticed the temp drop dramatically and the heater is no longer pumping hot air.
The temp gauge was moving with the revs but has since normalised.

 

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Air needs to be evacuated from the system when refilling, air pockets always exist and must be removed. In my build thread I detailed a method of bleeding using a cut down soft drink bottle with a hole drilled in the cap pushed into the radiator filling neck, this allows you to fill the radiator above the top plastic tank level, as level drops you add more coolant, leaving the engine on fast idle makes it easier to monitor once thermo opens.

Tha ks for your time. I just keep going back to worst case scenario.
I'm starting to lean towards a dodgy thermostat or water pump. The stopping of the heater blowing hot air is confusing me.

 

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Sounds like an air pocket.

Last one for now as I'm heading to the gym to destress.
Made a janky setup with what I had. Ran for 10min with switch on. Revved a few times and temp gauge dropped to c. Turned switch off and it went back to normal operating temp. Been running like in the video for about 30 min no overheating but no hot air from heater either.

 

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@geeyoutoo managed to seal it up and managed to get some hot air out of heater.

Line from top tank to block is flowing. Water is still bubbling.
What I have noticed though is if I fill the top tank it sucks it straight into the rad and overflows my funnel.

If it's not a head/headgasket I'm really starting to lean towards a stuck thermostat.

 

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Checking thermostat is a lot easier, so I would start there but sadly I'm not sure that is the issue.

What would the likleyhood of it being head/headgasket? There's no water in the oil or excessive white smoke so I'm not sure.

 

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Edit:Answered a text mssage in here by accident lol

 

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Why! I've never needed to do that, and I've done it many times in the 23 years of owning my Patrol, to complete circulation the flow out from under the top tank is required.

I closed the main tank and filled from the top tank with a sealed funnel.
I am still getting severe bubbling so sadly think I have a headgasket issue.
@geeyoutoo is it possible for this to happen and not have white smoke out the exhaust?

 

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Yes it is, I had no white smoke when my gasket failed to the small water gallery between cylinder 3 and 4. I had done pressure tests, I had done the sniff test and all passed (we do know the sniff test on diesels is not always effective), but I still had bubbling in the lower tank so time to remove head and look.

Yeah I'm pretty certain it's a small leak in the gasket. If it was a piston I'm sure I would have loss of power.

 

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Cheers guys
It is now bubbling the coolant res instantly so definitely a head gasket.
Just really hoping that's all's it is

 

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Keep us informed mate.

If you see it come up for sale you will know it was more 😂. Budget can't afford much more than a head gasket