At 51000 miles, the car started to overheat quite suddenly - it had hitherto been unfailingly reliable.
It appears that a plastic thermostat holder close to the cylinder head had broken - this causes the thermostat to become inoperative. The cylinder head gasket blew, and was replaced, but the cooling system - locked by the blocked thermostat would not operate.
This is a basically good car ruined by poor manufacture and design. The failure of the thermostat housing lead to head gasket water pump and radiator replacement. The cost of repairs will likely exceed the value of the car.
This part of every car was once made from metal, but that was proving to be too reliable so they changed it.
Plastic holding thermostat also broke on my car.
Big job finding replacement,scrappers seem to know and
charge accordingly.
I also had the problem of thermostat housing failure, but noticed it before overheating. I modified so I could fit a standard brass thermostat for a Toyota. Since then no problem.The car has now done over 135k miles and still going.
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Mine overheated once. Changed the thermostat and fan switch.
Overheating again will have the rad flushed soon, hopefully that should solve it otherwise it's a cambelt and waterpump change.
The head-gasket is fine though. It's a tough little car.
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