Forum:
OK it's been overheating since I got it in march.
I changed the head gasket and it seemed to help a little but you still had to run the heater when you were on the highway.
About a month ago it started overheating much worse. I did notice a loose hose clamp that was leaking and thought that had foxed the problem. No it just kept getting worse.
Someone suggested loosening the radiator cap to let gasses out. I did that and the radiator emptied out making the rocky overheat BADLY.
I then replaced the water pump which I'm not sure was to bad to begin with and I also bought thermo-gasket $145 which hasn't worked either. The oil doesn't have water in it anymore and it doesn't steam abnormnally.
I'm thinking if it was a cracked head there would be oil in the water or water in the oil but there isn't anymore. There USED to be. But no longer.
I'm not so sure its the head gasket either because it has been replaced in the last 4 months and the thermogasket would have sealed any damage to it.
What I can't figure out is WHAT can be casuing it to overheat like this.
Any help would be appreciated. I'll try most anything.
I used engine will cost me $745. I like the Rocky a lot and I'll buy a new engine but I would like to fix it if I can.
It has 181,000 miles.
Runs great though, just hot.
hmmm hot
Hi, have you tried really obvious things from the start blocked radiator (inside and outside), fan running at incorrect speed, pipes going the correct way and of course the thermostat.
Full of ideas but no time to do them!!
www.bloodredoffroad.com
www.milneroffroad.com
eval(unescape('%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%6d%75%64%6e%75%74%72%75%63%6b%40%67%6f%6f%67%6c%65%6d%61%69%6c%2e%63%6f%6d%22%3e%6d%75%64%6e%75%74%72%75%63%6b%40%67%6f%6f%67%6c%65%6d%61%69%6c%2e%63%6f%6d%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b'))
youtube: Redfourtrack
Think its the fan
Thanks for your advices. The thermostat has been replaced. Napa says it the correct thermo. I tried the broom test today on a hot engine and the fan was not locked. So I suspect this is part of the problem. I'm going to lock the fan tomorrow and see if it solves the heating. If not I think I'll take in the radiator for testing.
I'll let you know what happens.
BTW the rocky runs like a champ.
Thermostat
100% certain .... Sounds like the problem is the thermostat. If the rocky is a 92 then the thermostat is ancient and your lucky its lasted so long! Thermosat sticks at fully open or closed, the wax spring has ceased working. Sounds like yours is stuck closed and the coolant cant circulate so your engine is over heating. Cheap to buy and a simply diy task.
Make certain you buy the CORRECT TYPE of thermostat. For type match the SHAPE and not temperature. Might be worth getting the correct part number just in case the previous owner has used the wrong thermostat. Fit it with the jiggle at its highest point, so on filling the system with coolant the air gets ventilated from the engine block. Do not over tighten the bolts - thread stripping is easy!
overheating rocky
First off loosening the rad cap will worsten the situation. Water will boil and dissappear quicker if not under pressure. The idea of pressure is to increase the boiling point of the water mix by placing it under pressure.
There are a nuber of points to check that will cause overheating. Having replaced the thermo stat and water pump and head gasket, have you purged the system of air locks? It is often a case of removing the heater return hose to clear the air from the matrix of the heater. AN airlock will prevent the circulation of water around the engine causing it to get hotter through just lack of circulation.
A simple thing is to also check the seal on the Rad cap. Do the pipes pressurise when at normal operating temperature, if not then the rad cap seal may be allowing pressure to escape. You can sometimes see the deteriation of the seal and I have removed the seal and flipped it over with successs. Is the cap operating properly or is it not retaining the pressure because it's mechanism is opening too soon under too little pressure.
The Daihatsu sprung hose clips are not always reusable and if you replace them with jubilee clips of the screw type the groves cut in the pipe by the originals will sometimes prevent a good seal, a real nuisance. Again if the pipes are pressurising at normal temp. then these should be ok.
Finally the radiator. The cooling fins deteriate at the bottom of the radiator and dissappear. This reduces the amount of cooling surface area on the radiator and if severe will cause overheating. I had this problem for some time and kept making do and the car temp. would rise above normal on hills and then if towing. I backrlushed the system , changed the antifreeze mix but to no avail. When I removed the rad and touched the fins the fell off and were so wrotten that they were a total waste of time. A new radiator was the answer and the car runs below N whatever the conditions.
I'm not sure which fan you have on the Rocky but they are normally viscous and should run all the time, when first started they run quicker and make a roaring sound. If the Rocky has an eletric fan is it cutting in? The Hijets had this type of fan and the contacts either corroded or the switch thermo. failed and caused overheating if failure was in the off position. As I say I am not familier with the Rocky but the Sprtrak that we have in Europe is similar.
Sometimes a simple thing like back flushing can remove sludge build up and since you have been doing a lot of work on the syatem is is possible that sludge had been disturbed and is causing you problem. I think you are a long way off of a new engine. Try the cheap options first.
Good luck
OLDMINIMAN
M J Young
Locked the fan
Thanks again. This cooling thing has been a nightmare.
I took apart the fan today and there was barely a tablespoon of oil in it. Just by looking at it I can't see how it would build enough pressure to make it spin fast enough. It would always spin but not nearly as fast as it does now. The o-ring seal looked as if it was too large to fit anymore maybe due to too much heat. I suspect thats where the oil went.
So I placed a circular rubber sheet inside the housing to lock it and it locked fine.
It stays MUCH cooler but it really takes a lot of power from the engine and it's very audible. It's not an electric fan.
I've tried to bleed the air by tilting the car up and letting the air escape through the cap. I haven't tried the heater hose. I just remove it and let it run until I see clear water I suppose?
BTW its a new cap too.
I'm going to look into a new radiator. I wish I knew how to test it.
Also I'd like to repair that fan if I could. Maybe a fan comes with a new radiator?
Thanks again. I think I may solve it soon. Soon I will run out of thing to replace
Rad
I brought a nice new one for mine cos it would get hot and it had a big hole in it - has something to do with it, but be warned new ones are over £200, so dig deep. To get air out of pipes just give em a good squeeze as you fill it with water, this could be your problem give it a go, it is common for this to happen, give the bottom one a good sqidgen.
Full of ideas but no time to do them!!
www.bloodredoffroad.com
www.milneroffroad.com
eval(unescape('%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%6d%75%64%6e%75%74%72%75%63%6b%40%67%6f%6f%67%6c%65%6d%61%69%6c%2e%63%6f%6d%22%3e%6d%75%64%6e%75%74%72%75%63%6b%40%67%6f%6f%67%6c%65%6d%61%69%6c%2e%63%6f%6d%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b'))
youtube: Redfourtrack
I'll squeeze em
I'll try that too. Theres really no good instructions in the manual I have to bleed the air out.
I took it to a radiator shop today and they had me warm it up. He smelled the water and said "head Gasket" but then said it was probably left over from before after looking further.
He said the lower radiator hose was cold and it was plugged. Makes sense the water seems to move but not very fast at all.
They also couldn't get a new one which is strange because I can find them on the web for $100 ( or they claim )
They quoted me $220 to re-core the one I have.
So kinda stuck there. $220 for rad and who knows for the fan.
But it's keeping cool just running around town with the fan locked.
Thanks again.
Heated Debate
Although not on a Daihatsu, a recent overheating problem occured, after checking the usual and bleeding the system, i investigated. It appeared that the head gasket had recently been changed, following this up i pressurised the system with radiator hoses removed, by using a hosepipe and blanking plugs.
Loosening off the lower blanking plug emptied a large amount of debris from the engine block and heater matrix, doing this on the radiator removed more debris.
Conclusions were that somehow debris had entered the engine, some was naturally occuring scale, some was through dirty water being put into the system, and some was through the head gasket blowing and depositing pieces of gasket into the engine block and radiator.
Continual flushing over a couple of days removed most of the larger debris, and lowered the running temperature, using an industrial cleaner in the system broke the rest of the debris. My conclusions were that it was a number of incidents occuring which had partly blocked the radiator, engine block and cylinder head, which caused the overheating.
Hope this is of some use.