Banjo

Hi Graeme, Did you get that pesky coolant hose sorted OK ? Cheers Banjo

Hi Dave, Any decent data logging software these days, allows you to create additional graphing lines, that are parameters, not directly measured, but are functions of the parameters that are measured. DeltaT = T1 - T2, or common arithmetic ones like Power = Amps x Volts Here is a section of the graph above, showing Delta T, for the temperatures at each extreme of the coolant system. They say, "what gets measured, gets managed", or "without data, it's just a matter of opinion". Once you see data graphically, you see all little things that actually do happen, but are unseen generally. eg: Where the journey ends, on the red trace of top engine coolant temperature, the temperature actually rises, after you turn the engine off, whereas, the bottom radiator hose water temperature just falls away, immediately. Logical, when you think about it, but that is why cars with turbos & thermostatic coolant fans, "run on" after the engine is switched off. You walk through a shopping centre car park, on a hot day, and you can tell the cars that have recently been vacated; all sitting there, with electric fans purring away. Cheers Banjo

Hi Andrew, Sam over at SQ Engineering, might be able to assist you. Loves his Toyotas, & has vast experience with mods. on olde skool Toyotas. Genuine great guy. Sam-Q SQ Engineering 0421 010 890 You can also contact Sam on their website at http://www.sq-engineering.com/ Cheers Banjo

Hi Jeremy, I know you live a bit closer to the equator that we do, and it is probably on average hotter where you are, than what we experience, here in Australia. However, it is quite possible for the thermostat to not open at all, if the temperature of the coolant, doesn't reach the cracking open preset temperature of the thermostat. Generally, thermostats made by all the major manufactures, start to open somewhere between 80-84 deg C, & are fully open by about 95 deg C. Over this temperature range, the thermostat opens usually 8-10mm. You can pop a thermostat in one of your lady's saucepans, on a gas stove, (a practise my wife always frowns on) & watch this clearly. A thermostat is not an on/off device. It will open proportionally, dependent, on the temperature. So if it starts to open at 80 deg C, & is fully open at 95 deg C, (15 deg C spread) if you held the temperature at 87.5 deg C, then theoretically, it should hold at half open. Thermostats do not usually fully cut off all water flow. Most engines, including your 4K, have thermostat bypass circuits, where a nominal amount of flow occurs all the time. Toyota Yellow Workshop K Series "Bible" Page 5-2 Even the thermostat you use, will have a little hole in it, to allow water to flow a little, & stabilise pressure across the thermostat itself. There is no rubber sealing point on a thermostat. It is a simple metal to metal immersed thermostic controlled water flow valve. There are other ways of cooling the engine coolant, besides the radiator. Airflow over the block, despite it having just removed some heat from the radiator fins, is still much cooler than the coolant & block temperature. In very cold climates, where it is difficult to get engine & coolant temperature up to ideal operating temperatures, they block off the radiators all together, during winter, so that the thermostat can open up, & water flow increase. Many big diesel tracks, have grills in front of the radiator, that are actually louvres/shutters, that open & close, manually, or under thermostatic control, to reduce airflow. In winter in some very cold countries, it is common, to add electrical heaters inside the car, as turning on the heater, & "pinching" some of the engines heat, to heat the cabin up, is very detrimental to the engines performance. Most cabin heater water, never passes through the thermostat, because the take off point is behind the thermostat. The first 15-20 minutes of driving a car, is the period when it is most inefficient. Most wear in your car's engine, occurs in the first 2 minutes of driving, after starting the car from a cold start. That's why taxis used on shift work, which barely stop all day, get such extremely high kilometers out of their engines. Sorry to be so verbose, but to answer your query, the engine will not get "hotter & hotter", because as soon as it reaches 80-84 deg C, the thermostat will open, more water will flow through the radiator, & the coolant temperature will stabilise, or ideally maintain a temperature below boiling point of the coolant. Cheers Banjo

You may well be right, that Toyota never produced a true flat top piston, and that the flat top piston, Cameron referred to in the WiKi note above, is actually the shallow circle dished type. Here's a picture Altezzaclub posted once, showing them side by side. However, that's not to say, that true flat top 5K pistons do not exist at all. A quick Google/images, indicates, aftermarket 5K pistons out of China, with all manner of piston top designs. The 5K engine I have acquired with this head ID no: 95, has shallow circle pistons, like the one depicted on the RHS above. However, at first glance with the build up of carbon on top of the my pistons, you'd excuse someone who suggested it was flat. I've actually got a set of brand new 5K deep dished, 40 thou oversized pistons, in a box on the shelf, that I picked up on-line, a couple of years ago. Might use them soon. I was surprised to find this 5K engine still had hydraulic lifters. I would have thought, that if used for speedway, that they might have converted them to solid. However, I've heard guys on Rollaclub, say, with hydraulic lifters they've run their 4K & 5Ks up to 8000 rpm, & never experienced pump up, in the lifters. Cheers Banjo

We've had a spot of very hot weather in the past week or so, so I thought it might be a good idea to check the health of the cooling system. I have two (2) coolant temperature sensors fitted to the engine. One is in a spare spot, in the thermostat housing, directly under the thermostat, which is the point in the engine, where the coolant is hottest, & controls the thermostat opening. The other is in the lower hose, where the coolant should be at lowest temperature after passing down through the radiator. The difference between these temperatures, indicates the efficiency of the radiator. By logging both temperatures, you can see everything changing. You can see the max temp is about 88 deg, which is when the thermostat opens, & the temperature drops. The difference between the readings, is the cooling effect of the radiator. These were short runs, so the wiggly bits at the top of the graph, could well be stopping at traffic lights. When you do a long run in the country, the wiggly bits are the thermostat opening & closing. Look how long it takes the block to cool down, even over night. I forgot to hook up an ambient temperature sensor, so you can relate these temperatures to the prevailing O/S air temps at the time. Next time ! Here is a shorter/zoomed section of the above graph, depicting just one early morning trip to the city, to drop my daughter off to work. Note that the coolant temp, only once reached 80 deg C, so it it is probable that the thermostat never really opened, because it was just after dawn. The lower temperature (blue), is a result of the ram effect of the air through the radiator. This is where a thermofan can assist, as the fan would be off, unless the temperature exceeded say 90 deg C. I am considering fitting a thermofan, as the engine is then not driving the fan constantly, and sucking a couple of HP, that could be better spent, going to the wheels. Cheers Banjo

I just had a quick look around my garage, at a few heads I have here, to see what head numbers are on them. Stock standard 4K-c, which was one of my early engines, that only came out, because it was emitting a bit too much smoke. Has ID no: 3. 4K engine which I've never had the head off. Has ID no: 59. Hmm ! This number does not appear in the WiKi, but all numbers starting with 24010, appear to be big port 3K heads, so might be very useful. This head also has the big round Welsh plug / bung, in the back of the head, which I believe is a signature feature of a "big port" head. Someone gave me this engine, which had a spun big end bearing, & had been left outside to rust. I think the engine had been done up before failure, so it was in fairly good condition, other than the crank journal issue. Block is currently being turned into a coffee table for my "man cave" (one day), with a glass top. Ah La Top Gear ! Here is another one I found, with no: 5 ID number, which is a stock 3K head. This next one, has ID no: 20, indicating a 4K head. So basically, out of all the 8 off heads floating around here, I can identify all, except this no: 95, which I will hopefully get to the bottom of. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jeremy, The 5K heads do have a "lug" under the edge of the no: 1 & no: 4 spark plug recesses. This particular head, which is on a 5K, I am about to fit my experimental COP conversion,, has head identification no: 24. This number does appear in the Rollaclub WiKi. According to the WiKi, a head with number 24, should not have lugs under 1 & 4 spark plugs. Not sure whether this is a misprint, as the pic above definitely depicts lugs & no: 24. There were apparently 5Ks produced from the factory with dished pistons, & some with flat top pistons. Haven't had the head off this engine yet to see what it has got. Probably could pull a spark plug out, bring the piston to the top of the bore, & put an bright individual LED, soldered to two thin wires, down the hole, to throw some light on the subject. (no pun intended) P.S. So I'm not sure whether all 5K heads had the lug under no: 1 & no: 4 spark plugs, or whether there are 5K heads floating around, without the lugs in the casting. Maybe someone on this forum, can confirm this piece of info. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jeremy, I gather you are referring to these clearances ? The 3K & 4k engines shared the same cylinder bore diameter of 75mm. That's why heads could be so easily swapped between them. The 5K bore was 5.5mm greater in diameter, at 80.5mm. There was enough area there to fit 3K & 4K heads, to a 5K block, as long as there was not deteriation of the water jacket openings in the head, like yours, which had corroded almost under the area where the cylinder edge seal is, on the head gasket. Funny, I checked my 4K-U with dished pistons tonight, & the head on it, has identification no: 12. That number doesn't appear in the Wiki listings, either. Cheers Banjo

Here's another little something, that someone may recognise, about this head. The cover plate on the back of the head, does not have an outlet pipe on it, like my 4K-U, which feeds the heater box under the dash. It was probably fitted to something, that didn't have a heater. Fork Lift ? It has an additional little bracket, someone may recognise. Cheers Banjo

They do Wayne. I thought the same thing. I haven't measured them as yet. Will get the vernier out tomorrow, & maybe pop one out. Cheers Banjo

I can assure you this particular engine has been apart, hence, I can't assume anything is as it was originally, when the engine was made. It definitely is has a 95, head identification number, but I have searched the net, & can't find any reference to it whatsoever. However, a quick look at this afternoon, provided a few clues. The head appears it was used on a K series engine that was originally fitted to a forklift or something, that used external water cooling. Maybe a water cooled manifold ? The head water lines are still there. Just cut & welded up. Most K series heads have the two plugs at the centre of the head, but this head has two (2) additional water jacket access points next to the front & rear head bolts on the manifold side of the head. The other tell tale feature is the home made spacers under the steel rocker mounts. The steel rocker mounts could well have come from a 3K engine, as I believe they all had steel mounts, rather than aluminium, which were widely used on the 4Ks. However, the 3K block was lower than the 4K & 5K engines, so they may have made the spacers up to obtain the correct "sweep" of the rocker face across the top of the valve stem, using one of the 6-8 different pushrod lengths that were used in K series engines. This is what the combustion chamber looks like. Hope someone can spot something, that can give me a clue as to where a no: 95 head was used. Cheers Banjo

Yeah, from our own WiKi . . . . My initial thoughts were, that maybe if the head was off a 4K with flat pistons, then, when mated with the 5K block, with greater swept volume in the cylinder, the CR would be much, much higher. At the weekend, I'll lay it all out, & have a good look at everything. I might even measure the capacity of the combustion chamber in the head, & work out the CR it must have had. Just that I've never come across a no: 95 head before, so would love to know, what K engine it was originally fitted to. Might help solve the riddle. Cheers Banjo

Hi Omar, Great ! We now have that happy ending I mentioned earlier. Now, when you get it all sorted & running well, do yourself a favour, & liberally apply degreaser to your engine & engine bay, then pressure clean it. It will make it so much easier to work on in future. Cheers Banjo

There is an old saying that says "what gets measured, gets managed". You certainly will not solve this issue with lots of hypotheticals. With electrical issues, you commonly need measurements, to work out exactly what is actually happening. You seem to feel that the fuel pump is an issue, & Graeme's suggestion to measure the volts supplied to the fuel pump itself, to see if there is a voltage drop between battery & fuel pump, is a good one. Voltage drops do not occur unless there are loads. It is imperative that the fuel pump load on the electrical circuit is measured. Most cheap multimeters have a 10A DC current range. Very few fuel pumps draw more than 10A. The average car's fuel pump will draw about 4-8 amps. Fuel pumps can overwork, & draw excess current for a number of reasons. A blocked inlet filter. A pinched inlet pipe or line. A faulty motor in the pump itself. Here's a video, that shows you how to measure the current very simply. Just remove your fuel pump relay, and place the meter between the NO & COM terminals on the relay socket. Once you have this info, about the amps the pump is drawing, you might be surprised, that the answer to your problem is simple, & easily fixed. Remember, this car has had an EFI conversion, so someone at some time, has added wiring etc. that may be undersized. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibJW8lHugNI Cheers Banjo

Good advice Keith ! Spark Plug tubes are the bane of a lot of K series engine owners. Someone on Rollaclub posted they purchased a set of 4 from Toyota, & they were near nearly $ 90.00. Ouch ! A few grams of aluminium & 4 rubber washers/seals. Cheers Banjo

Hi Guys, Have acquired a 5K engine, completely stripped. It looks to be in fairly good nick. The engine has been used for speedway at some time, & could have/highly likely, been modified. The pistons are flat tops, & the head has identification no: 95 between spark plugs 3 & 4. Can't find any mention of no: 95 in the Rollaclub WiKi under "Heads". Anyone got any idea, whether a head no: 95 is actually from a 5K, or another K series engine. Lots of measuring to do, in the next few weeks, to try & work out, what has been done to this engine. Cheers Banjo

My reference to 0.25 in is in inches. That's why I added the 0.025". That (") means inches, 25 thousandths of an inch. If you have bearings marked as +.25 oversize, then that is in mm, (1/4 of a millimeter) I suggest you check the main bearing caps. They usually have an arrow on them, that faces forward, & a number 1-5 indicating its position front to rear. The Pistons have a mark on the top, which should face the front of the engine. The conrod is straight, & has a mark on the front side also. The match marks on bearing caps, should always be together, & be on the camshaft side of the engine, off memory. I guess you are going to put it all back together again with caps it the right place, and new bearings, & see whether the tightness is still there ? Cheers Banjo

OK, Jeremy; Lets look at the facts. As the oversized (+0.025") big end shells you removed, were in the engine, & it rotated OK, we have to assume the rod journals have been ground undersized at some time, & had oversized slipper shells fitted. However, if brand new +0.025" shells have now been fitted & they are tight, then either . . . . . 1. The crankcase journals were not ground undersized to 0.025", and the grind was something less, & very worn 0.025" shells were fitted. OR 2. The new +0.025" shells are incorrectly marked or labelled. Stranger things have happened ! In the absence of accurate vernier calipers, so you can measure each journal at three points, you really have no option, but to reinstall the shells you removed. It is possible that these are also very worn & that's why your oil pressure is low. One option you have is to "shim", the rear of the big end bearing shells. Bear in mind that oversized shells come in various sizes. +0.005, +0.010 etc. so a +0.025 has plenty of white metal on it, as the shell metal backing would all be the same thickness. I've never shimmed a big end shell, but an old mechanic, once showed me one how to do it, and it certainly worked for him. With the rod & cap ends & slipper shells spotlesslessly clean, he would line the shell backing contact area with 1 or 2 cigarette papers. (Tally Ho was the brand I think he used) Before fitting the shell bearings, he would work each end of each shell on wet & dry emery paper, so they could come closer together. He'd then assembly wet, & tighten, & then spin the crankshaft. He would do this a little at a time, until he felt it was just getting tight, & then put enough cigarette papers behind, until it spun freely. He did this with each journal one at a time, with no other rods connected. It could take him all day, although I must admit he was working on an old straight 8 cylinder American car at the time. This may seem an extreme fix, but if you are in the jungle" & do not have the measuring equipment, or resources to do a complete repair, this might be an option. Frankly the problems you have had with this 4K in your "Jeep", I would suggest that you try & get hold of one of those 4K or 5K long second hand engines, you told us as being freely available in the Philippines, & assign this engine to the scrape heap, or as back-up spares. Cheers Banjo

I've had a problem with poly bushes also. I fitted SuperPro blue bushes all round, on my KE30 2 door, front & back a few years back. I like Pete, used all the lubricant supplied. Initially I was happy with them, & to some extent, the bushes on the front, have been pretty good. However, my issue has been the rear ones creaking & groaning. It's bloody horrible, especially at low speed going over speed bumps in car parks etc. If you Google noisy polly bushes, there are some classic Utube videos with audio, to make the point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwlofW23Jyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl2HeNrut7s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpEZUbHVhUs I have spoken to Fulcrum about it. Apparently, they dry out, and that's when the creaks start. Fulcrum advised that they have now changed the design of the bush, such that it has little grooves on the inside that retain more grease. I believe they may have also changed the grease type also. They suggested I remove the bushes & regrease them, & the problem will go away. Apparently, there are still a lot of the old (obselete) pulley bushes being sold on-line cheap, without the grooves. I happened to unwittingly get these. Frankly, I'm not interested in removing & regreasing the bushes every couple of years. I am definitely going back to the original rubber bushes, and will also be placing an order for a set of rears initially, from Amayama, although I note a complete rear set will set me back about AUD 150.00. In the next few months, I am going to remove the springs & have them reset, so the new bushes will be fitted at that time. I may be wrong, but the way the rubber & poly bushes work, appears to be quite different, to natural rubber ones. With the poly bushes, all friction surfaces are lubricated. There is no lubrication with a rubber bush. It uses a crush tube & a "squashing" action, such that the rubber in the spring actually becomes a torsional component. Anyone who ever removed an old rubber bush from a 40 yo Rolla, can testsify that the rubber binds to the crush tube & the the spring eye. I've even had to drill & file out, old bushes sometimes. I thing the secret to the rubber bushes, is the quality of the rubber itself. Despite the cost, I would not be lulled into purchasing cheap rubber bushes, of which there are plenty on line. OEM ones hopefully are the real deal. Like to hear any other comments regarding this. Cheers Banjo

Old MS85 Crowns are now a bit over 40 years old, & could well have had an alternator originally with an external regulator. My check of the web indicates that. However, when a car gets to 40 years old, anything can change in that time. Very easy to identify. If it is an alternator with an external voltage regulator, & you have to replace it, I would be upgrading it with one, with an internal regulator, with a bit more output than the origial 50A. Cheers Banjo

I recently purchased a 2004 Echo for my daughter's first car, & it has proved to be a wonderful car. I've be going over it completely, & would now drive it anywhere, as it is so reliable. The drivers door actuator was playing up this week, so I have removed all the door lock mechanism & door handle. No mean feat, as there are lots of pivots & levers in there. The actuator is a sealed unit, & I would like to test it on the bench, to confirm it is completely dead. It has a 6 pin socket at it's base. I have scoured the internet looking for an identification diagram, for these 6 pins, and/or a wiring diagram for the 2004 Echo, but have been unsuccessful in locating either. Can anyone on here help in pointing me to a source of either of these electrical diagrams. Much appreciated. Cheers Banjo

Hi James, As it has broken off so far up, under the hex head of the bolt, you could possibly get a piece of steel bar, a metre long, & drill a hole in it, in the middle, so it just clears the bolt. As you have a welder, you could weld the bar to the broken bolt, & then use it like a "T" bar, to put some force into it. Weld it, as low as possible. (take the water pump off) If it doesn't move at all, or the bolt shaft starts to twist, then it will have to be off to the machinist, as you don't want it breaking off again. Being up front, it might have got some water into it, and is rusted in proper. You don't want it breaking off just below the surface of the block, so the machinist doesn't have a flat surface to get an exact centre point for drilling it out. Good luck, & let us know how you go. Cheers Banjo

Hi James, I wish you luck at the machine shop. I think head bolts are a very overlooked item, but can cause issues, if not installed correctly. When our K Series engines are 40 odd years old, you never quite know what has been done to them by others, in the past. Theoretically, the head bolts stretch when they are pulled down, & should be replaced at some stage, but it doesn't happen very often. The first thing to check when putting a head back on a block, is to ensure the threaded holes in the block, for the head bolts are perfectly clean. Some spray degreaser & a air nozzle, can usually fix this, but you must wear goggles. Use a bit of stiff wire to unblock any rubbish at the bottom of the holes. It is a good idea to run a die down the thread in the hole, but if not available, then a head bolt, with a perfectly clean thread, and a bit of light oil on the thread, will usually suffice. You should be able to wind the head bolts down by hand, without any binding. Next ensure all the head bolts are the exact same length. Take one head bolt, & fit the thick hardened washer, & screw it into a hole until it touches the bottom. Pull the washer to the top, & with a steel ruler, measure the distance between the top face of the head, & the underside edge of the washer. Note this measurement "A" to the nearest mm. Now measure the thickest of the head from the bottom face of the head, to the top of the head bolt boss. Add to this the thickness of the head gasket, which compressed, will normally be about 2-3mm. This total measurement should be approx. 10mm greater than measurement "A", previously measured. If not, then you might have the wrong length head bolts. This is very important, when swapping heads. You do not want the head bolts ever bottoming out in the bottom of the block threaded holes. I personally have always put some sewing machine oil on the head bolt threads, before fitting & tightening them up, in sequence as per the manual. A drop of oil on the top of the thick washers does not go astray either. Never tighten head bolts down on aluminium heads without using the thick hardened washers ! Oh, and use a tension wrench. If you haven't got one, then borrow one. Cheers Banjo

Hi James, The head bolts on the K series engine are a substantial bolt. There are probably harder aftermarket ones available, but I have never heard of a standard head bolt snapping off like that. From what you describe it sounds like it snapped off just below the hex head of the bolt. It sounds like the bolt is so rusted in at the thread, that the bolt thread has not moved at all. You really have no option, other than to lever the head & block apart. In doing so, you may score the inside of the head bolt hole in the head, but it is soft, so should not do too much damage. What are the condition of the other head bolts you removed OK ? Was this bolt on the back or front corner of the head ? My guess is it was a rear corner, as the back of the engine runs hotter than the front as the engines get older, & the cooling water circulation at the rear of the block deteriorates, as gunk builds up in the water jacket. Were there big thick hardened washers under the head of each head bolt ? If the washer is omitted, then the bolt can bottom in the threaded hole in the block, causing all sorts of grief. From memory, not all K series head bolts are exactly the same length. There is always a possibility that the bolts are too long. This problem can be exacerbated, if the head has been excessively skimmed at some time. I would suggest that once you get the head levered off, that you take the block to a machine shop where they can professionally remove it, although it might take a few days. I'd hate to see you lose a good 5K block, if you have a go, & it doesn't work out. A machine shop has several options. If they can't get it to move after a day or so of penetrating oil, they can cut the head bolt off flush with the block top, they then can clamp the block & drill/machine out the centre of the bolt, right to the bottom. More penetrating oil, & a large easy out, might then prove to be your salvation. Let's know how it goes. Cheers Banjo