Finding someone who can repair my HiAce

Hi All,

So it turns out my HiAce may have a head gasket issue but finding anyone in the Bristol, UK area who will even do the work is proving difficult.

Does anyone know of any garages who are decent to do the work in a nut shell the issue is

Water tank doesnt empty but the engine water is pushed out via the tank leaving the engine empty of water, weird though as it drives perfectly doesnt show its over heating (and the temperature gage works fine)

I really want to get her ship shape and on our first adventure

Help please


Dan

Dan

I overheated my 1991 2.4 petrol Hiace many years ago and thought i'd cooked the head gasket too

first, try taking the radiator cap off (from cold) while idling, and check after a few minutes if there are air bubbles in the radiator fluid

second, take off the oil cap and look for any white gungey foam (water in the oil)

this is not a silver bullet, but may indicate a blown head gasket. If you are not consistently refilling oil or water, then you might be ok

if in doubt, a simple compressing test at the local mechanics might indicate whether you have a head gasket problem or not

Hi
I am new here but have some experience of this. I have a 2.8 4x4 version that was suffering with cooling problems causing it to overheat.
I spent a lot of time checking everything hoping that it was not a head gasket but in the end I used a gas sniff test and had to bite the bullet.
I spoke to a guy (Tony) in Basingstoke who is very familiar with the engine as it is also used in the Hilux and was intending to take it to him to sort out. The place is called 4x4toys
When we went into lockdown I decided to do it myself and removed the head and took it to a shop in Bristol to have it reworked properly. It was not a cheap fix but it has been run for a long time at high revs and looks to be fixed now. Not been out on the road with it yet as I am working on some other bits still.
In your position I would get someone to do a coolant gas test to see if you have combustion gas in the coolant. It is a very simple test and takes very little time. I seem to be quite local to you and I have the kit to test it if you need a hand.
Other obvious thing is to test the radiator cap to make sure it is releasing at the correct pressure. I also have a tool for that.
Wouldn't hurt to check the thermostat as this is a simple test.
All of the above can be done by any local garage and should cost very little