Starting a rebuild - what would you do? (1 Viewer)

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I stick by my original arm chair diagnosis. I am very glad you were able to respond. That means we will gladly offer up more opportunities for you to do this work yourself and gain the satisfaction of knowing you were able to solve this on your own (MUD credit). Call Cruiser Outfitters in Utah, order the valve cover gasket, the six spark plug gaskets that go in the valve cover, cap, rotor, wires, spark plugs, and what ever else the new guy (not Bryce now) recommends. Stay below the cost of the quoted repair and you will be fine. BTW-the tool roll in the back drivers side has a funny lookin socket with a hole in it. That and the silver rod can be attached together to be the PERFECT way to remove the cylinder six spark plug. It’s like Mr. T made it just for that reason.

EDIT: If you have the tool roll with everything in there, no need to buy tools. You have everything you need already in there.
 
Sounds like your spark plug tube gaskets are letting oil by, this is super common and can be fixed simply by removing the valve cover and putting new seals in. A compression test still could've been performed, better yet a leak-down test should have been performed which would easily have proved/disproved the HG diagnosis.

You can do that test yourself with a compressor and a rented leak-down tester from your local auto parts store.
 
@FZJ253 So its not as bad as it originally sounded.

It would have driving very poorly on cylinder 2 misfire. You would have had a code for 6 also if you had a broken plug. I don't think you can drive it with 2 and 6 down at all. Did it ever run well for you after you purchased it?

The leaks are typical for these many years, and really not a bad job to do. Maybe he left out some info but the description doesn't support headgasket failure. and faulty piston rings is not usual so i think you are probably more likely to just be dealing with the gaskets and seals up top and that can be done all at the same time.
Yeah - I've owned it for a little over a year, and for most of that time it ran just as well as my last 80 that had an engine in great shape. (She was t-bone totalled).

And yeah - def drove poorly with the cylinder 2 misfire, and I wasn't getting a code for 6. Possible then that cylinder 2 was the issue and they broke the plug on 6 themselves. I did drive it home, but I believe the cylinder 2 plug was replaced, so I'd have been driving with just 6 down. So, drove there with 2 down, fixed it, broke 6, drove home with 2 up and 6 down. I haven't checked if I have a code for 6, but now I'm curious..maybe there's silliness going on with their reporting of that as well.

Anyway - all academic on that front I suppose. Hopefully my regular shop agrees in regards to gaskets/seals.
 
This might fit too. Might have to work out a custom adapter though.

1634755062397.png


Driveline could hold the 1,622 HP I'm sure.
 
You don't state the mileage, these things go well over 300k with out a rebuild.
Even if there oil in the cylinders it's probably just need Valve guide seals like mine did at 260k
X5 the mechanic broke number 6 spark plug 🤷‍♂️
You really need to find someone that know these trucks or work on it yourself !
 
I drove my FJ40 for about 2 months with a cracked cylinder head on 3 cylinders till spring break (time to fix it) early 90s and poor college student. Granted, non electric engine but basically the same. Stick some antifouling plug adapters on it and use it til it breaks.
 
Over 3.5 years and 40k miles of faithful daily duty driving with a couple of LA to PNW roundtrips mixed in, I was refilling about a quart of oil every 1.5-2k miles toward the latter half of my 80 career. That’s with using a bottle of lucas oil at 5k oil change intervals.

Just a few months ago, I noticed my coolant level decreasing pretty drastically all of a sudden. No gooey soup anywhere. Just lower coolant level both in the expansion tank and radiator.

I parked it immediately at 277k miles to start gathering new parts for a 100% oem long block rebuild.

Having pulled the engine, below is what I discovered:

273F6CD8-827D-4710-B661-94213C43D547.jpeg


I got lucky and that’s my story.

Gl!
 
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Over 3.5 years and 40k miles of faithful daily duty driving with a couple of LA to PNW roundtrips mixed in, I was refilling about a quart of oil every 1.5-2k miles toward the latter half of my 80 career. That’s with using a bottle of lucas oil at 5k oil change intervals.

Just a few months ago, I noticed my coolant level decreasing pretty drastically all of a sudden. No gooey soup anywhere. Just lower coolant level both in the expansion tank and radiator.

I parked it immediately at 277k miles to start gathering new parts for a 100% oem long block rebuild.

Having pulled the engine, below is what I discovered:

View attachment 2868419

I got lucky and that’s my story.

Gl!
What is it that were looking at ?
 
Over 3.5 years and 40k miles of faithful daily duty driving with a couple of LA to PNW roundtrips mixed in, I was refilling about a quart of oil every 1.5-2k miles toward the latter half of my 80 career. That’s with using a bottle of lucas oil at 5k oil change intervals.

Just a few months ago, I noticed my coolant level decreasing pretty drastically all of a sudden. No gooey soup anywhere. Just lower coolant level both in the expansion tank and radiator.

I parked it immediately at 277k miles to start gathering new parts for a 100% oem long block rebuild.

Having pulled the engine, below is what I discovered:

View attachment 2868419

I got lucky and that’s my story.

Gl!
Looks like a blown heat gasket on# 6 cylinder which dumps coolant into that cylinder and burns it off.
It's also the most common place for the gasket to fail and were mine went.
I would also guess that it was the valve guide seals were the major contributor of you oil consumption.
 
Over 3.5 years and 40k miles of faithful daily duty driving with a couple of LA to PNW roundtrips mixed in, I was refilling about a quart of oil every 1.5-2k miles toward the latter half of my 80 career. That’s with using a bottle of lucas oil at 5k oil change intervals.

Just a few months ago, I noticed my coolant level decreasing pretty drastically all of a sudden. No gooey soup anywhere. Just lower coolant level both in the expansion tank and radiator.

I parked it immediately at 277k miles to start gathering new parts for a 100% oem long block rebuild.

Having pulled the engine, below is what I discovered:

View attachment 2868419

I got lucky and that’s my story.

Gl!
If blowing a head gasket is lucky, I would hate to have bad luck ;) 🤷‍♂️
 
If blowing a head gasket is lucky, I would hate to have bad luck ;) 🤷‍♂️
no, the lucky part is the problem being identified before a major failure happening


to the OP, i'd remove the broken #6 somehow and do a compression / leak down test and go on from there. While it could be as bad as you say it is, it could also be a simple case of replacing a few seals and degreasing the engine. Also regarding the common #6 HG leak, one can use a endoscopy camera or a mirror to see how things are down there.

I generally remove the intake and exhaust manifolds when doing such service (replacing valve seals), degrease everything and install new seals / gaskets where applicable.

What kind milage are we looking at and what type of oil do you use
 
no, the lucky part is the problem being identified before a major failure happening
Where I come from a blown Head Gasket is a major failure 🤷‍♂️
:cheers:
 
Where I come from a blown Head Gasket is a major failure 🤷‍♂️
:cheers:
understandable but, in cruisers case it could be a difference in $6000 parts vs $1000 parts. problem being identified at early stages can be beneficial

in most cases though the #6 blowout is cause of old coolant or use of water instead of coolant. (bad maintenance)
 
Circling way back here, but just thought it might be helpful. I replaced an ignition coil, six fuel injectors and the fuel pressure regulator. Runs like a champ now. Only engine code is the EGR stuck wide open, and the thing is frozen on.

Lesson learned: don't take your truck to a s***ty shop for a misfire diagnosis.
 

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