My radiator was leaking coolant so I typed in “cooling” in the shop manual and clicked “order all”. If only it was this easy! This post sums up all the custom parts I went through.
Full disclaimer: I could probably sourced ‘83 3B (engine) cooling hoses somewhere and order in one package. But short Google search didn’t bring any obvious candidates so I moved on to a custom solution.
What gives
I noticed the radiator leaking a bit of coolant at the seam on top edge. At first it wasn’t that severe and a quick refill solved the problem for a while.
Than COVID came and I had to close shop in a hurry. It wasn’t until my last load of the day — a 650kg jointer — and a long, long hill that I noticed smoke from under the car. I pulled over and at this point my engine go so hat oil must have boiled. Not good.
After the engine had cooled down I refilled with water I got on me and it didn’t look like it’s even remotely full. My father was close by and came with with 3x2 liters of water and it STILL wasn’t enough.
We sorted a water shortage eventually and finished the move. But it was enough for me to pull the trigger on the cooling system rebuild.
Radiator
It was the first big purchase I did for the Cruiser after I got it. It then spent good half a year on a shelf waiting for me to figure out the rest of the cooling. I tried pocking around for an original radiator but all had inlet and outlet on the opposing sides where mine had both on the right.
Alliexpress came to the rescue with the “All Aluminum Radiator Cooling For TOYOTA LAND CRUISER BJ42 BJ43 BJ44 BJ45 BJ46 3B 3.4L DIESEL manual MT” for a mere $200 plus shipping.
Thermostat
Factory Service Manual provides a handy way to check the thermostat working – heat it up in a pot and take note of the temperature at which the valve opens. If it’s 80–84°C you’re good.
However it turns out temperature gauge costs almost the same as a new thermostat, so I replaced the whole thing. And it saved me some cleaning as well.
The flush
With the new thermostat and a radiator it was real shame to put it back together using the existing hoses. Everything you see on the picture above was flowing (?) in these hoses.
I then went on to flush the system without the radiator in place. I didn’t want the old gunk clock the new radiator from the start.
Using all the hoses I bought and some old pieces I constructed a radiator bypass: when it was done the water pump outlet was directly connected to the thermostat housing.
I was so proud of myself up until I realized I don’t have an opening any more to fill the coolant with the cleaning agent.
After a bit of head scratching I eventually end up using the highest heater host for that task and I was done in no time.
Installing the turbo… hoses
After becoming a gold customer at the turbo supply shop it looked like I could match all the old hoses pretty good.
The most complicated bit is the water pump to radiator lower mount. It bends in three places and the radiator OD is different from the water pump OD, so there’s got to be a reduction in the middle somewhere.
Pictures below show most of the hoses and how it all eventually got together.
What end up working was:
- 3x 18mm 90° elbow for all around the place
- 2x 18mm 45° elbow for that funny looking “S” right up the firewall
- 1x 38mm straight piece between water pump and thermostat housing (we’ll get to it later)
- For the lower radiator hose: 1x 45mm 90° elbow pointing down, next 2x 45mm 45° bends, and 1x straight 45-to-38mm reduction to the radiator
I used low profile aluminium connectors where necessary:
- 1x 18mm for the “S” shape piece
- 2x 45mm for the lower radiator hose
Bonus round: from the cabin side I decided to bypass the heater core because I new the wiring is next and the heater assembly blocks pretty much most of the access to the wiring behind the dash.
If you do that (don’t know why) add two 18mm 90° elbows and a 18mm connector.
This also means that when it’s time to put that heater back in I will have to drain most of the cooling fluid again.
Good times.
Grand finale
Right after I put it all together and started the engine I noticed a leak from the water pump. I got an original AISIN pump on order (just $90!) and went on to disassemble all that again.
Plus of that was that the freaking 10cm 38mm straight hose between thermostat and pump was very easy to put back on.
All in I think it was worth it. I have a very intimate understanding of the cooling system and all the components are new. Since then I have wheel it pretty hard and the temp needle WILL NOT MOVE above optimal.
Build log
- Replacement radiator from China $200
- Thermostat $16
- Hoses, clamps connectors: easily $120
- AISIN water pump $92
Below, in a beautiful glory shot, is the preview of what’s coming. Follow me on Instagram to get the behind the scenes / work in progress.
