3fe blown head gasket, looking for parts/advice (1 Viewer)

[Oregontrailer]

I bought my ‘91 for $2500 a few years ago, running decent but in need of a lot of love. I’m very much an newb when it comes to working on cars, so as I’ve been addressing problems on this rig, I’ve done the easy stuff (bushings, suspension, general maintenance) and had my good mechanic buddy Robert help with the tougher bits (birfs, t-case rebuild, rear locker install, etc). When I first bought it, Robert expressed some concern about the cooling system, and we did a full flush at the time.

Over three years the motor has ran like a top, but last weekend on a rare 4 hour interstate highway trip (normally this is just a trail rig for me, but there was a Landcruiser meetup I wanted to go to….I stopped at a rest area on the way home to pee and noticed the 3fe was misfiring slightly. I figured I was pretty close to home so I took it easy the rest of the way and when I parked it at my shop, it was missing bad, and the exhaust was white and sweet. My mechanic is next door, so he popped over to confirm HG blown…

He wants me to swap, I’d love to honestly, but I’m saving for a big move this year and can’t have that much of an open-ended project at this time. That said, this cruiser is my therapist, and without it I’m gonna be a sad fella, so I’m inclined to get after the easiest fix here, to replace the HG with Robert’s help. He’s worked on this rig for me plenty, but he’s not a Landcruiser guy (was a race car mechanic for 40 years) and I was hoping to get some tips/tricks/recommendations from people experienced with the 3fe… Like what else should I be looking at or replacing while I’m in there? Also, who knows the best place to get a new OEM gasket relatively quickly? Some of the rubber hoses are hard as a rock too so I anticipate need to replace a few of those too, is there a preferred place to shop for those parts? Any advice is appreciate, thanks in advance!!!

 

[Marco Lau]

You need to find out what caused the HG to blow in the 1st place... You had mentioned it was running like a top in the past 3 yrs of your ownership, so what was the culprit of the HG? How many miles on the motor? What have been done to the rig prior to the HG, etc? Need more background on the rig. Was the engine running hot? Did it overheat at some point of your ownership while on the trail? The stock gauge sits in the middle between 150-225F.... so if it gets to about 3/4 on the gauge, you are overheating....

 

[Oregontrailer]

You need to find out what caused the HG to blow in the 1st place... You had mentioned it was running like a top in the past 3 yrs of your ownership, so what was the culprit of the HG? How many miles on the motor? What have been done to the rig prior to the HG, etc? Need more background on the rig. Was the engine running hot? Did it overheat at some point of your ownership while on the trail? The stock gauge sits in the middle between 150-225F.... so if it gets to about 3/4 on the gauge, you are overheating....

So, it was running like a top, in MY opinion, which is pretty uninformed considering it’s the only 3fe I’ve ever driven. I should have said, “it never left me stranded or concerned about its condition.” In 3 years of driving it I never once saw the temp gauge climb above the halfway point, but I can’t say for sure the gauge has been functioning correctly. I can say I was always surprised at the amount of heat coming through the firewall on the driver side, but I figured it was all because the exhaust runs on that side. There were a few times after some big climbs that kept the fan running for a few minutes after i shut her down, but it didn’t concern me at the time (again, I’m a noob, and I don’t know what warning signs to look for…. I bought with 212k miles, currently has 225k, and have no clue what had been done to it before, other than it was definitely not a pavement princess nor garage queen. I have noticed that oil pressure was a little lower than normal the last couple times over driven it, but still at the bottom of the “normal” range.

Come to think of it, if there was a time that I could point at for significant “abuse” in my ownership, it was last August, on the hottest weekend on record in Oregon, I ran the Gambler 500 in my 80, towing a custom built 1000 lb garbage hauling trailer (I build offroad campers for a living), and it got so hot I cooked my alternator’s regulator, and had to run the rest of the weekend with all my lights on to keep the voltage down to keep from cooking my battery. it was obscenely hot out, but the motor never showed any problems, and I even had my mechanic service the cooling system prior to the weekend, knowing it was gonna go through the ringer. Anyway, that’s the one time in my ownership that I imagine I could have done some damage, but that was also at least 1500 miles ago, so IDK?

 

[Oregontrailer]

Slightly off topic, but for anyone interested in the Gambler, heres a video we made from that weekend-

 

[Marco Lau]

So, it was running like a top, in MY opinion, which is pretty uninformed considering it’s the only 3fe I’ve ever driven. I should have said, “it never left me stranded or concerned about its condition.” In 3 years of driving it I never once saw the temp gauge climb above the halfway point, but I can’t say for sure the gauge has been functioning correctly. I can say I was always surprised at the amount of heat coming through the firewall on the driver side, but I figured it was all because the exhaust runs on that side. There were a few times after some big climbs that kept the fan running for a few minutes after i shut her down, but it didn’t concern me at the time (again, I’m a noob, and I don’t know what warning signs to look for…. I bought with 212k miles, currently has 225k, and have no clue what had been done to it before, other than it was definitely not a pavement princess nor garage queen. I have noticed that oil pressure was a little lower than normal the last couple times over driven it, but still at the bottom of the “normal” range.

Come to think of it, if there was a time that I could point at for significant “abuse” in my ownership, it was last August, on the hottest weekend on record in Oregon, I ran the Gambler 500 in my 80, towing a custom built 1000 lb garbage hauling trailer (I build offroad campers for a living), and it got so hot I cooked my alternator’s regulator, and had to run the rest of the weekend with all my lights on to keep the voltage down to keep from cooking my battery. it was obscenely hot out, but the motor never showed any problems, and I even had my mechanic service the cooling system prior to the weekend, knowing it was gonna go through the ringer. Anyway, that’s the one time in my ownership that I imagine I could have done some damage, but that was also at least 1500 miles ago, so IDK?

The fan you were referring to after you shut the engine off is just to keep the exhaust manifold and intake plenum cool after shut down. The 3FE uses a mechanical fan, you probably already know this. A tell tale sign of overheating is coolant dumping out of the overflow bottle, AC cut out @ 225F etc. Anyways, perhaps the damage is done, so maybe do a coolant test to confirm HG? You should never shut down the rig after a big climb immediately so give the coolant chance to cool off with the engine running and circulating....Keep us posted and good luck.

 

[Oregontrailer]

The fan you were referring to after you shut the engine off is just to keep the exhaust manifold and intake plenum cool after shut down. The 3FE uses a mechanical fan, you probably already know this. A tell tale sign of overheating is coolant dumping out of the overflow bottle, AC cut out @ 225F etc. Anyways, perhaps the damage is done, so maybe do a coolant test to confirm HG? You should never shut down the rig after a big climb immediately so give the coolant chance to cool off with the engine running and circulating....Keep us posted and good luck.

Thanks for the tip, that’s fresh info to me for sure. I usually shut it down right away, thinking that would be the best way to cool her down…. I don’t remember ever having the coolant dump from the overflow, but i did have a coolant hose pop off at highway speed last summer. I pulled right over, let it cool down, reinstalled the hose, and added some water to get the level back up.

Anyway, thanks again for the info, I do appreciate it!

 

[Marco Lau]

Thanks for the tip, that’s fresh info to me for sure. I usually shut it down right away, thinking that would be the best way to cool her down…. I don’t remember ever having the coolant dump from the overflow, but i did have a coolant hose pop off at highway speed last summer. I pulled right over, let it cool down, reinstalled the hose, and added some water to get the level back up.

Anyway, thanks again for the info, I do appreciate it!

BTW, there is a full level mark on the side of the coolant overflow bottle on the pass side. Check the coolant level regularly and see if the water level is full.

 

[truedge]

I have a 91’ with 200k and I am replacing the HG now. Marco is spot on. You have to confirm what caused it. I suggest a thorough leak-down test. In my case it sat for two years after running fine then it was fired on very bad gas which bent nearly all the pushrods. Just got head back from the machine shop to where it was milled and all valves were resurfaced and seals replaced and today I and ordered all new OEM lifters, rods and head bolts. I’m a bit concerned with and Aftermaket HG I ordered by ITM. What is also critical for both of us with replacing such parts is proper break-in oil. Anyone think I should be concerned with such a HG?