Head gasket

Oh dear one poorly head for both of us. I'm so glad I got a brilliant merchanic at last. His doing timing belt and water pump. Price is very good. He found and showed me split thermostat housing. His not able to find one pluses I need inlet manifold gasket. Please, please, can anyone help with the these things. Can't move forward until I find. Well at least we are now moving forward. Was thinking Woodie will sort this.Thanks for all your help. The inside is taking shape, been like a sauna. Pics soon.

Sent from Topic'it App

Can’t remember but is yours a 1.3, if it is contact woodie.

Yes it's 1.3. It feels so good to know the job is getting done. I'm getting a good job. The guy has worked on many. He said he forgot how awkward they are for working on. Things are moving forward. I shall sleep well now.

Sent from Topic'it App

Help please. I've been bothering Woodie loads. My head is sitting ready to put back on . My merchanic had a nightmare getting new inlet manifold gasket. Long story.... Higher 1.3 been in bits now for 3 weeks. I need my wheels rolling. Any thoughts where to order from. Diahatsu another 3 weeks. eBay not happening. Advised we can use old one with a good sealent. What do u think please. Jobs on for tomorrow. ASAP please.

Sent from Topic'it App

Hi I bought this headgasket set and it had gasket also for manifolds + it had new valve seals if you wish to change them as well:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEAD-GASKET-SET-DAIHATSU-HIJET-FEROZA-ROCKY-SPORTRACK-CHARADE-1-3-1-6-16V-VRS/110131599480?epid=1052653293&hash=item19a45ad878:g:j0wAAMXQO21RuMIb

Glad you got the gasket, hope all goes well.

Hi Raggy,

yeap thanks, the van seems to be going pretty well now, I installed new thermostat as well (it turned out that the old one had the main mechanism cut away so it was allowing the flow into radiator from the very beginning). I also flushed the cooling system something like 5 times. I also replaced the front windscreen and now Dajsu is ready to go - I will try to edit and upload some videos hopefully they will be useful for some people

I found the headgasket , I was wrong when I said it shouldn't have been replaced:


what was in the espansion tank


bad coolant eaten too deep into the head

CSI Motors wrote:Hi I bought this headgasket set and it had gasket also for manifolds + it had new valve seals if you wish to change them as well:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEAD-GASKET-SET-DAIHATSU-HIJET-FEROZA-ROCKY-SPORTRACK-CHARADE-1-3-1-6-16V-VRS/110131599480?epid=1052653293&hash=item19a45ad878:g:j0wAAMXQO21RuMIb

Thanks for that. Merchanic has found one and job now set for next Monday. Believe it when it happens.

Sent from Topic'it App

Woodie said he was taking a little brake from the forum, so it'd be best to email him.
The address on his business card is thehijetmaniow@gmail.com

I had to replace the thermostat housing recently. The only other thermostat housing I saw for sale was twice the price of the one Woodie sold me. So if he's got another one he'd be the man to ask.

Thank you. It’s sorted now. Woodie has helped me so much. A man with so much knowledge. I will keep you all posted next week.

Sent from Topic'it App

Head gasket back on. Timing belt, water pump, thermostat housing replaced. Runs well. That's the good news. The bad news is I need new clutch need a driver's side bump stop ,( does not exist) were can I get one of those from? rear exhaust, rear and front leaf spring bushes, and petrol tank on its way. What have I done .. Then it's into welding driver's door sill pluse other bits. It felt great to drive it, got to end on a positive note, why not, lessoned learnt.

Sent from Topic'it App

That’s some good news then, shows what a shyster the last owner/MOT tester were, MOT . Good luck.

Do you think I should take it to the same MOT station and tell them after they throw the book at me that one of their ex workers did last MOT and this was the person who sold me this. I wish I could have him strung, but know it's to late. I'm concerned about the bump stop . I had a chat with Woodie, he mentioned building it up by night welding then filling it down. Sounds like s massive job. Took it fir a run and get hi water coming out if the front grill. Just waiting for merchanic to come back. Anyone got a match. Well it had to be onwards and upwards as spent a lot so far. Will keep you posted. I may need a fuel tank also. Not sure how to post a request out there.

Sent from Topic'it App

Whoops mig welding it up.

Sent from Topic'it App

Welding and grinding sounds good to me, they do it all the time with aircraft parts. If you know someone who'll do the welding free or cheap, consumables will cost next to nothing.

I had to replace the rear section on my exhaust a few months ago. Local garage said it'd be £750 because they would have to import it from Japan. (crooks)
So I went on ebay, and there is a guy that makes them himself for £150.
Took a chance on it, fitted it myself and it was perfect.

I had a look through my ebay history to find the seller but unfortunately it's too far back.

When you do change it though, do yourself a favour and get new rubbers to hang it. That way you can just cut the old ones off and save yourself time, knuckle skin and sware words.

Was wondering if I can just fit exchaust without the need for cat. It's Ramshome 1'3 hijet.
After having head, water pump timing belt all running well. Took her out today and it overheated. Job was done perfect on fill. The rad started peeing out. Stopped straight away. Refilled, ploded home free wheeling all the way down the hills. Switched off at traffic lights. Pulled up at home and did the same when I switched of f. Any thoughts, can it just need a new rad. I got a good second hand one. I'm just hoping nothing more sinister. Having just laid out £670. Any thoughts.

Sent from Topic'it App

I know it used to be the case that you could only remove your cat if the vehicle was 1993 or older, don't know if it's still the same.

Did you take the rad cap under the seat off, fill from the front until it overflowed under the seat, then put it back on and fill from the front until it comes out the front?

I forgot to do the first bit and had to do it again.

Also, did you definitely get the air out of the heater matrix?

I hope that's the case. Any thoughts on best place for one. I filled as instructed. Learned all about filling. Made sure also to Hester was on the red. my van had bypass were the air nipple once was. Could do with another. Thanks

Sent from Topic'it App

I'm guessing the Hester matrix is the bit that had a bypass on. After filling I put rad cap on, left if underseat cap off, started engine watched air coming out, turned off and did more filling from front, out inside cap on and filled. I'm hoping that's right.

Sent from Topic'it App

Sorry my typing is crap. Put cap on underseat and put as much as possible in .

Sent from Topic'it App

I followed Woodie's method which you can do without even turning the key.
Is yours running LPG? That would explain the lack of nipples.

Strangely enough I think it did at one point as it has a small dual under van, similar to the dual you get showing battery level. Maybe that's why it had bypass. Do do you think I'm doing it right from what I told you?

Sent from Topic'it App

I'm heading over to my van today to tidy it up a bit for the mot, so I'll take some photos and see if ours are the same as mine is an LPG.

Ok that's great. I will post pic of the dial.

Sent from Topic'it App

Ok I'm back.
First off, if your's runs on LPG it'll have somewhere to put the LPG in.

Here it is on mine.


The filling procedure is on this forum somewhere but it takes a bit of searching so I'll try and explain it as best I can........

I'll try and keep this as clear and simple as possible incase anyone else stumbles across this thread.
So please don't think I'm being condescending.

Right, here we go.

This method is done with the van turned off and with a cold engine.

You will need:
A watering can.
Some hose. (about 2ft should do)
Electrical tape. (Not duct tape)
Coolant.

Step one.
Tape the hose to the watering can, making sure is doesn't leek.


Step two.
Wrap electrical tape around the other end of the hose about an inch from the end until it is a tight fit in the filler neck on top of the radiator.


Step three.
Remove the radiator cap, and the cap under the seat.


Step four.
Push the hose nice and snug into the filler neck on the rad.
Start putting the coolant in slowly while watching for the water to rise under the seat. You should be able to see it through the windscreen.
Mine rose and fell a few times due to the air escaping. Get it to overflow just a little, then put the under seat cap back on.

Step five.
Pull the hose out a bit so that the filler neck isn't completely sealed. Slowly fill the rad until the coolant starts dribbling back out of the filler neck.

Step six.
Make sure the temperature slider thing on your dash is set to hot. (Can't for the life of me remember the correct name for it)
Push the hose back in. It is very important that you have a tight seal around the hose at this point.

If your's is NOT LPG, you will need to open your bleed nipple on the heater matrix.
If it IS LPG (like mine), there is no nipple.

Make sure you have plenty of coolant left in your watering can.
Make sure you have the rad cap to hand.
Lift the watering can up nice and high, keeping the hose as straight as possible. Mine was about as high as the top of the windscreen.
Dump the coolant in hard and fast. The force behind the coolant will push it through the heater matrix.
The coolant will flow all the way around the heater matrix and return to the filler neck through the rubber pipe.

There is a tiny hole in the filler neck where this pipe joins.
Once all of the air has been pushed out of this hole and it is just a smooth stream of coolant, you have reached the tricky bit.

While still pouring the coolant, pull the hose out and put the rad cap on immediately.
You'll need to do this with the speed of a praying mantis to make sure no air gets back in.

Step seven.
With all of your caps in place, start your engine and find out if it worked.
You'll probably get some steam from the front as you'll have spilt coolant all over the radiator.

Step eight.
Dependant on the results of step seven.

Outcome number one:
Grab yourself a beer and congratulate yourself on a job well done.

Outcome number two:
Curl up in a ball on the floor and softly weep.


Hope that helps.

Sam, on the non-lpg (and maybe on the lpg) vans there is a bleed bung under the driver's seat that needs removing untill coolant comes out of it like the cap under the passengers seat. I've never heard of a bleed nipple on the heater matrix - where do you get this idea from?

Personally, I've not needed the can and hose - just ensured the front of the van is raised to help air rise out of the caps.

That might be the bit that got replaced with copper pipe on my van then.


Pieced it together from various posts on this forum. Couldn't find a definitive method to getting the air out of an LPG.
I've only ever owned this one so it is possible I've repeated some misinformation about the non LPG vans i guess.

This method worked for me though.

I did try raising the front and filling with a long funnel first but I had no luck with that.

Just come into this feed. Are you overheating? I have same setup. Having been filled after head gasket and new water pump, I'm overheating after 5 miles. My rad blew out Tuesday. Do you think this may be the reason? Bought second hand rad, hoping to fit tomorrow. I notice a small gauge under van, a friend thinks it was log also. Any advise please. Got MOT next week if we can get this sorted. Then it's off to have inner sill and driver's door sill welded. I'm becoming very poor. Thanks all , I could not come this far without good advise. Have a fab weekend.

Sent from Topic'it App