New To Lucidas - Cracked Head?

October 6, 2010

Hi all, I'm new to this site and to toyota buses! I researched a bit beore buying one, and bouht one with receipts for a new head about a year ago, so thought i'd be safe for a while, but I'm suspecting the worst!

Please bear with me while i try and explain all the problems (in woman terms!) i'm having, as I don't know which are relate/relevant!

So, I bouht my 1995 2.2 auto TD 4x4 lucida about 3 weeks ago. From day one after I park it on my slightly sloped drive facing uphil I have a few spots of oil on the ground, but not if I park it facing downhill. When I stop the bus after driving, I get water coming out the header tank overflow. Apart f5rom these 2 things it's been perfect, no smoke, runs perectly etc..

Then 2 days ago I came out of the supermarket, went to start the car, it turned once then nothing, tried again... same thing. Noiced the air con was on, and turned it of thinking maybe it was draining too much power? and the car turned over and started fine, but poured out oodles of white smoke, which cleared once i upped the revs, but came back while sat on idle at junctions all he way home. The smoke was smelling really badly of diesel, so I assumed at the time it was excess fuel from turning over and not starting.

The starting thing happened again once id got him and unloaded shopping to go on the school run, and again it poured out white smoke on idle at evey junction, then when I tried to leave school, it wouldn't start and turning the aircon off didn't work. It almost souded as tho there was half a turn then it was getting stuck? Eventualy, I tried putting it rfom park to neutral and it fired up first time, again with oodles of white smoke on idle. Just about to pull away and a little orange rad light came on which went out again after a minute or so, I had no water with me so decided to take it a mile down the road to my mums to check the water, the header tank was half full but covered in a brownie froth, i topped it up with tap water (all i had at the time) and took it the 5 miles home. still smoking on idle, but clearing.

Next day, no problems.. smoking stopped, starting fine etc..

Day after (today) took kids to school (5miles away), had white smoke for a few mins until it warmed up as usual then nothing. Got nearly to school and realised that usually by now the heater is cooking me alive, but today it was blowing cold air still, looked at temp gauge, which was not far off the red, it usuay sits at half way once up to temp, I eased off the pedal slightly (was only doing 40mph) and the temp went down to 3/4 pulled over at school and checked the water, and loads of boiling water flew out of header tank, but its still over half full... so long story short, is my head cracked!?

Sorry I've gone on a bit!! Thanks if you've got this far!

October 6, 2010

I hate to confirm your fears, but this does indeed sound like classic head gasket failure/cracked head. Untill it is checked properly, I would recommend that you dont use it or it will do further damage. I think the reason that the car has at times not started is that the cylinder has filled with water and then "hydrauliced" on the water in the piston. (Did the car run lumpy when it did start?)The lack of a heater means that there was too little water left in the engine to pump around the engine.

What area of Cornwall are you in? I know of a mechanic that is trustworthy if you want it checked over.

October 8, 2010

I hate to confirm your fears, but this does indeed sound like classic head gasket failure/cracked head. Untill it is checked properly, I would recommend that you dont use it or it will do further damage. I think the reason that the car has at times not started is that the cylinder has filled with water and then "hydrauliced" on the water in the piston. (Did the car run lumpy when it did start?)The lack of a heater means that there was too little water left in the engine to pump around the engine.
What area of Cornwall are you in? I know of a mechanic that is trustworthy if you want it checked over.

Thanks for your reply. I am in Hayle, right down the bottom end!

It's run perfectly fine since I've had it, even after it wouldn't start.. no lumpiness, no missing, no loss of power, etc.

Since posting this I have had a friend of mine who is a mechanic have a look at it, tho he's not too familar with import Jap stuff. We emptied the coolant, which all looked to be pretty clear, and tried to flush the system with a hose pipe throught the header tank and through the top hose from the radiator, but the water would fill the header or pipe, then just come back out the same way... filled it back up with as much as it would take, not sure how much this was as it was from the hose as a test before wasting coolant/de ironised water, and tried to bleed the system, but after getting the car up to temp, and getting the air out from top rad hose, heater matrix hose and the hose under the passenger seat, the heaters still ran cold. the heater matrix hoses ad the hose under the passenger seat also remained cold, but all hoses on radiator heated up.

Took the thermostat out, put it in boiling water, and it opened very slowly to about 5mm, which I'm assuming is nowhere near efficient enough! Toyota dont stock any import parts so I got a cheapie stat from mill autos just to try, and the same is happening, water on half the engine heats up and the other half stays cold, which would suggest the stat isn't opening?

I took it for a short test run, while it was alreay up to temp (just below half way up the gauge) it got no hotter until I tried the heater after a couple of miles, which was now hot, an the temp shot up, and started to go back down again after the heaters went cold about 30 seconds later! Temp then stayed the same the 2 miles back, and heaters are still cold. It lost no water during this run. I also read somewhere else that if there is pressure in the header tank after starting the bus from cold and casually strolling to thr front to open the bottle, is another sign of a cracked head, I've also tried this an theres no pressure when I do that. I'm not quite sure what else to try?

I'm just really hoping theres another explanation other than the head, as I spent every penny I had buying this bus, and as a single mother of 3, with another due in Dec.. im very stuck for cash!

February 19, 2011

I'v just joined this website so the info may be too late. I used to live in Newlyn untill I moved out to Spain.

When filling with coolant make sure the heater is set to hot. Remove the top heater matrix pipe and put a funnel in pipe and fill untill water comes out of the heater. Refit pipe and check water level in resevoir draining if needed

March 24, 2011

Bad news.... Classic estima head crack symptoms... Drove mine back to Manchester from Devon fully loaded aftermine cracked, they just keep on running till they won't start again. To fix properly you will need to but genuine parts . Copy gaskets tend to be for avensis and carina engines which sit upright and the coolant runs theright way round the block estima gaskets have different sized waterways to force the coolant evenly round the head. This I's the most common cause of heads cracking so soon after replacement. There is a mobile mechanic from an estima forum who is highly reccomended for his work on these vehicles and will have the job done right outside your house . I do not know if it's ok to post his details on here with it being another forum. But can do if it is confirmed that I would not be treading on anybody's toes. Bad news is you are looking the wrong side of 1400 fir the work but he does warranty his work and is highly recommended by many.

March 24, 2011

Bad news.... Classic estima head crack symptoms... Drove mine back to Manchester from Devon fully loaded aftermine cracked, they just keep on running till they won't start again. To fix properly you will need to but genuine parts . Copy gaskets tend to be for avensis and carina engines which sit upright and the coolant runs theright way round the block estima gaskets have different sized waterways to force the coolant evenly round the head. This I's the most common cause of heads cracking so soon after replacement. There is a mobile mechanic from an estima forum who is highly reccomended for his work on these vehicles and will have the job done right outside your house . I do not know if it's ok to post his details on here with it being another forum. But can do if it is confirmed that I would not be treading on anybody's toes. Bad news is you are looking the wrong side of 1400 fir the work but he does warranty his work and is highly recommended by many.