Suzuki Club UK

I see where you're coming from, you want to cure the cooling problem, and as you own another daily driver, have the luxury of doing other future proof maintenance at the same time.

I thought I had head gasket probs as well recently, as well as the heating issue, check if you have white smoke (vapour) and possible smell of antifreeze from tailpipe after warming up, Mayo under the oil cap, smell of combustion and or loss of fluid in the rad reservoir, and general loss of power.

A Combustion Leak Detector tester kit (sniff test) £30-70 would give a pretty reliable verdict.

Thanks guys,

Right, no gunk under the oil cap, some white smoke upon warm up but mostly disappears once she's warmed up. I have been keeping an eye on the coolant in the reservoir and doesn't look like it went down at all since I've owned her (before the over heating incident)

I opened the rad cap this morning and watched for air bubbles while she was warming up and there was no air bubbles, though I did have to top up the rad with water.

So I think I might leave the head gasket for now and see how it goes, I do have the privilege of owning another car so if I did need to take the sj off the road again, it wouldn't be a major problem!

Again, thanks for all of your help, one day I hope to be knowledgeable enough to give advice to some other newbie with a problem

I thought my Head Gasket had gone, loosing water and milky residue on the Oil Cap, ran a full oil and water change, I still have to top up every so often, but I think it's just the old style engine..

Maybe the reason why she overheated?

Hmmm, I'm not convinced

Haha! just kidding, good result

Is that a rag?

Haha, yeah its a piece of rag or something, god knows how it ended up in there!?

My guess is that its been inside the cooling system for some time, and just happened to make its way to the water pump on my journey home. The props still spin but I imagine that piece of cloth would hugely restrict the amount of water flow!

I'm hoping this is the reason for overheating anyway! I have replaced the cam & crank seal today, will be putting on a new water pump, thermostat, timing belt, oil & filter, might do the fuel filter & spark plugs, and hopefully I won't need to do the head gasket!

Yeah, now seeing that pump, hopefully that's the only cooling issue and your head gasket will be good

How many miles on your motor btw?

Fingers crossed!

She's around 96,000. I'm still tempted to do the head gasket, a friend in work said the original gaskets were made of fibre? And that they rott away? But if I was to do the head gasket then I may as well do the piston rings at the same time and then who knows what else I might end up doing haha!

The blinking water pump I got from euro car parts is the wrong one! It seems to fit the engine OK but the screw holes for the pulley/fan are too wide.