Hi everyone.
Acquired a LC100 2003 amazon spec 1HDFTE with the 4 speed auto tranny( my hunch is its a 442f)
Used the vehicle for a vacation last month ran into some overheating issues
Before leaving all fluids incuding radiator fluid,transmission fluid.diff fluids etc were replaced.A new fan clutch also installed. New watar pump oem was also installed
Explaining the overheating scenarios in detail a bit so as to help experts get the full view. Travel done with 6 occupants and their luggage, nothing too heavy just what ud carry for a week long trip, utilised the roof rack
1st heatup: attributable to my fault, this is the 1st diesel in ownership and i was gunning it and pretty ok to keep it mashed to the floor and above 2k rpm for steep ascents. We climbed from apprx 11.5 k feet to 13.8k feet in approx 10-12 odd kilometers, with the last 5 km having the steep stuff, all of a sudden i felt the car not having any power in 2nd and transmission shifting back to 1st, tht happened for arnd 8-10 times by which time theeir was no motivation in 1st either, and more or less complete power loss, check engine light came on so i parked it on the side, put in in neutral for a bit...opened the hood the fan was working....after about 2-3 minutes shut it down and let it cool for around 10 mins .this happened a couple hundred feet from the top of the mountain pass so after the rest it fired right up, got to the top. The coolant reservoir took approx 1.5 litres of additional water . Just to add , a lot of steam was seen initially from the to of the engine around the head gasket area. Anyway, it continued without any hiccup after this for the descent and onwards travel on almost straight tarmac ( just to add the mountain pass was all tarmac too) the car took a non stop journey of 5-6 hrs in temps ranging from 37 degrees celcius to 19 degrees celclius without any issue.
Get it checked up the next morning, the head gasket was intact, the oil was good thankfully, however the thermostat was stuck. Due to non availability of the part , we did without the thermostat as cabin heating wasnt a requirement. Anyway, next task was another climb , arnd 6 km and steep inclines .....from 8ish k to a bit above 10k feet. The car did not exactly heat up with the check engine light per say but it was mighty close to the top bars bordering on the red zone a couple of times, got to the top, cooled off the radiator externally and all was well.a top up on the radiator reservoir was called for ( i guess the lower boiling point at such heights plays its part too) The same drive up was done r times in 3 days and it kinda got better with me trying to keep it in the sweet spot between 1.6 to 2 k on the rpm, not lugging the engine or 1revving it too hard. Last couple of tries we got there with a couple of bars below the redzone on the temp indication.additions in water reservoir were a requirement everytime thought....and you could hear it gurgling and boiling almost everytime you got to the top.
The next and most challenging climb (again tarmac) consisted of a 9k feet climb in approx 45km. It went well the 1st 4-5k however as soon as it hit apprx 9k feet above sea level the needle started rising. Being mindful of this i pulled over twice before the main ascent of the last 2-3 k, and topped up the reservoir, said my prayers and went like i was walking on eggs whilst not lugging the engine 9(for context, new sedans like the corolla and civics were zipping up this ascent no issues at all)Thankfully no more issues, and strech of 200 odd km, including a motorway stretch of 110kph for arnd 80 km brought no issues.
A week later took it to another trip with a max height of 9k feet and gentler inclines , and it all went without a hitch, the needle just once moving slightly past the half way point and back in arnd half a min.
Sorry for such a long writeup ,however needed to put it up to get some clarity:
- what could possibly be the reason for such heatups? Ami doing something wrong in the way i drive?
- could it be the radiator? The other 3 culprits (pump,clutch and thermostat) seem to be outta the picture,unless iam missing something. The gasket was found to be fine, just to add
- considering its an LC100 , its supposed to be engineered to take all this in its stride, isnt it?
- also, the oil pressure seems to be always stuck at 1/4th no matter up down heat up no heatup, however when travveling north of 60 mph it starts going up ,ease up and starts to fall.
Need to get to the bottom of this as the primary reason for getting this vehicle was mountain terrain travel with the family, and reliability & dependibility is key. Thanks !
Acquired a LC100 2003 amazon spec 1HDFTE with the 4 speed auto tranny( my hunch is its a 442f)
Used the vehicle for a vacation last month ran into some overheating issues
Before leaving all fluids incuding radiator fluid,transmission fluid.diff fluids etc were replaced.A new fan clutch also installed. New watar pump oem was also installed
Explaining the overheating scenarios in detail a bit so as to help experts get the full view. Travel done with 6 occupants and their luggage, nothing too heavy just what ud carry for a week long trip, utilised the roof rack
1st heatup: attributable to my fault, this is the 1st diesel in ownership and i was gunning it and pretty ok to keep it mashed to the floor and above 2k rpm for steep ascents. We climbed from apprx 11.5 k feet to 13.8k feet in approx 10-12 odd kilometers, with the last 5 km having the steep stuff, all of a sudden i felt the car not having any power in 2nd and transmission shifting back to 1st, tht happened for arnd 8-10 times by which time theeir was no motivation in 1st either, and more or less complete power loss, check engine light came on so i parked it on the side, put in in neutral for a bit...opened the hood the fan was working....after about 2-3 minutes shut it down and let it cool for around 10 mins .this happened a couple hundred feet from the top of the mountain pass so after the rest it fired right up, got to the top. The coolant reservoir took approx 1.5 litres of additional water . Just to add , a lot of steam was seen initially from the to of the engine around the head gasket area. Anyway, it continued without any hiccup after this for the descent and onwards travel on almost straight tarmac ( just to add the mountain pass was all tarmac too) the car took a non stop journey of 5-6 hrs in temps ranging from 37 degrees celcius to 19 degrees celclius without any issue.
Get it checked up the next morning, the head gasket was intact, the oil was good thankfully, however the thermostat was stuck. Due to non availability of the part , we did without the thermostat as cabin heating wasnt a requirement. Anyway, next task was another climb , arnd 6 km and steep inclines .....from 8ish k to a bit above 10k feet. The car did not exactly heat up with the check engine light per say but it was mighty close to the top bars bordering on the red zone a couple of times, got to the top, cooled off the radiator externally and all was well.a top up on the radiator reservoir was called for ( i guess the lower boiling point at such heights plays its part too) The same drive up was done r times in 3 days and it kinda got better with me trying to keep it in the sweet spot between 1.6 to 2 k on the rpm, not lugging the engine or 1revving it too hard. Last couple of tries we got there with a couple of bars below the redzone on the temp indication.additions in water reservoir were a requirement everytime thought....and you could hear it gurgling and boiling almost everytime you got to the top.
The next and most challenging climb (again tarmac) consisted of a 9k feet climb in approx 45km. It went well the 1st 4-5k however as soon as it hit apprx 9k feet above sea level the needle started rising. Being mindful of this i pulled over twice before the main ascent of the last 2-3 k, and topped up the reservoir, said my prayers and went like i was walking on eggs whilst not lugging the engine 9(for context, new sedans like the corolla and civics were zipping up this ascent no issues at all)Thankfully no more issues, and strech of 200 odd km, including a motorway stretch of 110kph for arnd 80 km brought no issues.
A week later took it to another trip with a max height of 9k feet and gentler inclines , and it all went without a hitch, the needle just once moving slightly past the half way point and back in arnd half a min.
Sorry for such a long writeup ,however needed to put it up to get some clarity:
- what could possibly be the reason for such heatups? Ami doing something wrong in the way i drive?
- could it be the radiator? The other 3 culprits (pump,clutch and thermostat) seem to be outta the picture,unless iam missing something. The gasket was found to be fine, just to add
- considering its an LC100 , its supposed to be engineered to take all this in its stride, isnt it?
- also, the oil pressure seems to be always stuck at 1/4th no matter up down heat up no heatup, however when travveling north of 60 mph it starts going up ,ease up and starts to fall.
Need to get to the bottom of this as the primary reason for getting this vehicle was mountain terrain travel with the family, and reliability & dependibility is key. Thanks !