Toyota Trouble

[STUNO]

My neighbour owns a Hi-ace van, a wreck on wheels. He is not at all car-savvy and went out on the highway with it. He told me later that it had been using water for a while ( it is a 3 litre diesel) and he had been carrying water to top it up for a while. It "slowed down and then stopped" on the highway. He got it towed home and I had a look today. It started and ran quite sweetly I filled up the cooling system, left the top off and turned the key, there was an explosion of water about 2 feet high out of the cap and the engine ran with a bad miss for a while until the water was all gone then it was ok. I didn't bother looking any further and see what the oil looked like. I could also see a leak from a heater hose - probably the cause of the trouble. He had been topping up the overflow bottle, not the radiator and we will never know when the head gasket blew ! Van is off to the crusher and he is looking for a replacement. In the meantime he is still going to use it without water because it doesn't matter what happens now

[Station]

My dad bought a Fiat Ulysse which ran for about a year. He used it to go to work and to the shops, never did a long journey.I borrowed it once and noticed the heater didn't work. I checked the water and realised there was -none in there- (not a drop). I put it in and pure white smoke came out of the exhaust and the water boiled.The bloke had sold him the car with a blown head gasket (blatantly keeping quiet about it), but the fact it had ran 'air cooled' is amazing.He got it fixed and sold it. Glad he did, horrible, horrible cars. The pedals are the worst as well (not flat, but pointing upwards and stiff as well).

[STUNO]

THE toyota has now disappeared from next door.I have a horrible feeling that it is being fixed and will soon reappear to disgrace the neighbourhood. His son was trying to get him to buy an auto trans car but he wont have it. He always reverses out of the drive then rolls off down to the bottom of the road with it still in reverse, the Toyota protests loudly but that doesnt worry him! Must say I dont think he has ever forgotten to select a forward type gear at the bottom as I am sure it would be heard from here. I will post a few photos if it returns... real autoshite.

[STUNO]

An update. The toyota did indeed get repaired at a huge cost, including a NEW cyl head.

But now more trouble, there is a large pool of oil underneath every time it is parked and the oil filler cap has been blown off the motor at least twice. Could his be a huge blow-by problem? , we will see the next episode.

 

The beautiful van in person. Would you have spent 1500 pounds plus on it???

The other side and rear are Worse

[VWPowered]

Would you have spent 1500 pounds plus on it???

no, never, ever, ever, never, no, nope, forget it, i'll give ya €50 its more than the scrapman will give ya