Toyota LiteAce 4YEC headgasket failure?

[swizzly]

Hey Guys,
my name is janis and i am living in beautiful switzerland. i only owned rwd turbo volvos yet but bought a toyota liteace yr22 to build a campervan.

So i am totally new to the toyota world and have a few questions..

My car (1995) has the 2.2l 4-yec engine with a 5spd manual transmission and 220kms on the clock.

I spent the last month fixing rustholes and did a lot of welding. (not used to rust - volvolife haha)

It is finally rust free, so i am starting with a stage zero on the engine.

I replaced the coolant, which looked horrible (black) and flushed the whole system.
Filled up with new one (50/50) and went on a testdrive. The car runs fine but the temperature-gauge stays at 10 o´clock.
Is this normal or should it be in the middle (12o´clock)? I noticed that the coolant hoses were pretty hard and hot. The pressure got away after cooling down though.

Oil is clean and coolant free. But i am concerned about the pressurerized system and colour of the old coolant.
No time for a gas test, unfortunatly.

Any Ideas or experience? Where is your temperature gauge while cruising?

Cheers Janis

[foolishme83]

Hi Janis

I am in Australia and we also have the 4y engines.

It is normal for the hoses to get hard after you have driven a bit as the cooling system is pressurized.

My advice would be to replace the Radiator , Thermostat and all coolant hoses. The parts are not that expensive if you go through Ebay.

There is also a heater core (mini radiator) under the dashboard and it would be worth checking it out and maybe flushing it out.

-Geoff

[Burntboot]

As FM said, hoses will get hard when the system is hot.
Before firing up the parts canon, given that this is a new to you ride, take some time to evaluate what you have.
A TV will find a way to empty your wallet in short order and diagnosing problems accurately is the only way to make it affordable.
A new rad won't help if the clutch fan stuffed.....

Temperature gauge would ideally run at 12 O'clock, but many run at 10 O'clock without issue.
The real question would be just how accurate is the factory gauge, some are spot on, some not so much.
But a new OEM stat and gasket would be the first order of business no matter what, then drive and monitor.
An auxiliary gauge would answer allay any concern over gauge accuracy.
I think there might be a thread or 3 on cooling systems, a search might yield answers to all your questions, even some you didnt know you had
:)

[swizzly]

Hey Guys,
thanks for your replies. i'll look into it deeper, i really need to step away from my volvo experience, because they did a lot different. especially the coolant system.
Thermostat and filler-cap is on it's way from japan and as soon as i got my new disc rotors i'll be able to go for a longer testrun.

Greetings
Janis