New Member of The Blown Head Gasket Club

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Angel?

Angel?

Joined
Dec 25, 2006
Threads
32
Messages
164
(This is not a club you wish to join - entry dues are high)

Thanks to this forum, I was aware of the potential for head gasket problems on this vehicle, and how to spot it (thanks to all before me, and their great write-ups). I believe that awareness had me keep an eye out for it ... engine at about 103.000 miles, well maintained, oil analysis clean ...

Noticed I was leaking a small bit of engine coolant, and the LC went into the shop immediately to determine cause. Turned out it was the heater hose on the engine back and bottom on driver's side that had failed. I had all hoses replaced, and had the compression checked all cylinders - all good and even.

Upon road test, the engine first ran great, later developed a misfire that previously was not present. And that evil cloud of white exhaust on re-startup was the clue. Immediately back in the shop for check, and cylinder #6 was found to be full of water.

Head was pulled, which visually confirmed the head gasket failed at cylinder #6 ... pics follow ...

Head gasket -note the bulge inward ...
Photo_022508_001.webp

Head - note how the right-most valve area is boiled clean ...
Photo_022508_002.webp

Cylinder bores - note how the right-most piston top is boiled clean ...
Photo_022508_003.webp

Head inspected, nice and clean, flat and true. Cylinder bores inspected, nice and clean, great condition. Cams and related inspected, nice and clean, great condition. So, back together with a new gasket it goes ...

Mechanic wraps up shortly ... and life goes on after this bump in the road ...

And pondering outloud - Has Mr. T stepped up to take care of this for anyone?
Photo_022508_001.webp
Photo_022508_002.webp
Photo_022508_003.webp
 
Angel? said:
Turned out it was the heater hose on the engine back and bottom on driver's side that had failed. I had all hoses replaced, and had the compression checked all cylinders - all good and even.

Upon road test, the engine first ran great, later developed a misfire that previously was not present. And that evil cloud of white exhaust on re-startup was the clue. Immediately back in the shop for check, and cylinder #6 was found to be full of water.
Click to expand...


Angel- your description of the hose the that failed sounds an awful lot like the PHH (pesky heater hose). Did the rig overheat during the time you noticed the leak (no real way to tell with the stock gauge unless the overheat was severe)? Or perhaps, in diagnosing the leak, the shop overheated the rig. If you ask me, it would be quite a coincidence for the HG failure to happen during or right after this leak was spotted/repaired, but you never know.
 
Last edited:
Be certain to send your old Head Gasket to C-Dan.

Not sure why he is collecting them.....but he is.
 
Did you have your work done at the local toyota dealership? What did they charge you.
I'm thinking of doing this as a preventive measure since we have small kids and go up in the mountains camping.maybe save the "check and see" charges.
 
I wouldn't do it as a preventative measure. You have no way of knowing if your head gasket will ever go bad. If you are rolling in the dough, then fine. It's just not something I would worry with until the time came.
 
'74 UA FJ said:
I wouldn't do it as a preventative measure. You have no way of knowing if your head gasket will ever go bad. If you are rolling in the dough, then fine. It's just not something I would worry with until the time came.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why you would do it as PM.

I wouldn't do it as preventative maintenance, but if I were going to drive it on an expedition, up to Alaska, down to South America, something like that, I would probably replace the headgasket.
 
Atticus said:
That's exactly why you would do it as PM.

I wouldn't do it as preventative maintenance, but if I were going to drive it on an expedition, up to Alaska, down to South America, something like that, I would probably replace the headgasket.
Click to expand...

Alaska and South America is a far cry from "up in the mountains, camping" as the other poster stated. I think that you have enough warning, if you pay attention to your truck, that you won't end up stranded in the local hills.
 
'74 UA FJ said:
Alaska and South America is a far cry from "up in the mountains, camping" as the other poster stated. I think that you have enough warning, if you pay attention to your truck, that you won't end up stranded in the local hills.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to argue with you. I'm agreeing with you that I would not do it as PM except under extreme circumstances.

I don't agree about "paying attention" to your truck; I think sometimes, it just goes, or its failure has been so incremental that you wouldn't pick up on any problems.
 
I may be stepping out a little bit with my assumptions. But from what I've read on here, I don't recall many folks ruining their engine as a result of the head gasket blowing. Maybe Dan can chime in, since he is collecting the blown gaskets. Dan, does it look like they are developing a slow leak that gets incrementally worse, or blowing out all at once and flooding cylinder?
 
inkpot said:
Howdy! So did you "steam clean" the other 5 cylinders?
Click to expand...

Hi John,

Unfortunately, the "steam cleaning" was from the coolant in the cylinder, rather than something I did intentually ...

Cheers,
Cal
 
alaskacruiser said:
Angel- your description of the hose the that failed sounds an awful lot like the PHH (pesky heater hose). Did the rig overheat during the time you noticed the leak (no real way to tell with the stock gauge unless the overheat was severe)? Or perhaps, in diagnosing the leak, the shop overheated the rig. If you ask me, it would be quite a coincidence for the HG failure to happen during or right after this leak was spotted/repaired, but you never know.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was the PHH. No, the rig did not overheat (or show symptoms of overheating, as I am aware of the dumbed-down coolant temp guage design. I too pondered whether this was just a coincidence ... which is why I asked to be present when they took the head off.
 
CJF said:
Angel?,

I take it the new gasket is the redesigned genuine Toyota?
Click to expand...

Yep, just as other the HG threads on this forum discuss and show - round coolant passages on the backside of six, rather than triangular on the original gasket.
 
'74 UA FJ said:
I wouldn't do it as a preventative measure. You have no way of knowing if your head gasket will ever go bad. If you are rolling in the dough, then fine. It's just not something I would worry with until the time came.
Click to expand...

I battle myself over this often. I have over 300,000 miles and haven't had to replace the head gasket yet.... so... I mean... reasonably speaking, how many miles can I expect? 400,000? 500,000? It sure feels like there should be a point I can call myself a winner in the
"head gasket enduro" and just stay ahead of the game and have it replaced before "it" happens at a really bad time.

What's the furthest somebody has gone with the original head gasket? Anybody know? I don't have an exact milage because of the oversized tires I've been using the last 14 years... but I'd estimate I've got 310,000+ with the original head gasket.
 
Kurt is over 300k with the original HG. I believe the HG is the only original part left on his truck. :D
-B-
 
El Perro Grande said:
I battle myself over this often. I have over 300,000 miles and haven't had to replace the head gasket yet.... so... I mean... reasonably speaking, how many miles can I expect? 400,000? 500,000? It sure feels like there should be a point I can call myself a winner in the
"head gasket enduro" and just stay ahead of the game and have it replaced before "it" happens at a really bad time.

What's the furthest somebody has gone with the original head gasket? Anybody know? I don't have an exact milage because of the oversized tires I've been using the last 14 years... but I'd estimate I've got 310,000+ with the original head gasket.
Click to expand...
Howdy! I'd say that you and Kurt are way ahead of the curve if you have never had to open the engine yet for repairs. I would do an oil analysis and compression check every year or two to watch for signs of accelerated wear so you could rebuild things at your pleasure, not at your panic. John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom