Hey guys, new here!
I've got an old 1992 1HD-T 80 series with about 400000 km's on the clock. We've put a fair bit of work into her recently including a recondition on the turbo as it was leaking oil badly. Mechanic had the head off as well as it was blowing a lot of smoke - this was all fixed and it was running like a dream for about 500kms...
Cruising along the highway - temp goes up into the red. Sat on the side of the road for a bit and it was clear that it had dumped most of the water from the radiator - apparently through the overflow. Ran it past a local mechanic where we were - he suggested thermostat and radiator cap as a starting point. Did these but no change: overheated twice more - both times going off in about 20 seconds from rock steady in the middle to right off the gauge. Took about 4-5L of water each time.
Limped home and back to the guy that did the work. Here's what we know:
Oil is clear - water is not going there
No oil in water either
Pressure test on radiator is a-ok
Ran it at idle for about 3 hours with pressure tester in place - no increase
Put a CO2 tester on radiator as well which was apparently clear
Running it around town is fine - but after a few days the reservoir will be full and the radiator will be down 1L or so
It's keeping pressure in the radiator overnight and not sucking back from the reservoir
I think that's everything! He was initially saying 'it's not the head' but he's now changed his tune and wants to take it off again next week - thankfully on his time (warranty) but still...
What are your thoughts?
