3FE Head Gasket (1 Viewer)

[Rush]

I don't see a lot of threads about doing the 3FE's head gasket, so I thought I'd start one.

Video of bubbles in the cooling system:



Oh look, a Starbucks latte where the oil should be:

Previous owner state he did a head gasket because it got hot on the freeway.
He used the Ishino Stone one from partsgeek, not the Toyota one.

I'm not sure he torqued correctly, as the cooling system did leak pressure when I tested it.
My trusty $20 borescope revealed this s***show inside the cylinders a day later:
Cyl4:

Pistons should have an oily puddle on them, right?

And I see where that one's getting its coolant:

I'm fairly certain the PO didn't do the HG right, or at least he just didn't clean up the block surface.

 

[Rush]

Status:
Did a full rebuild.
Spent a week after installing the motor just running through diagnostics to find it was the injectors.

Now it runs!

 

[Rush]

I'll provide links to the resources I needed in this post here.

Manuals:

EDIT: I recommend reaching out to @jonheld for the FSM for this year (FSM Scans), since the below-mentioned and freely available FSM PDF (60-series) is close but no cigar.

For most of this, I followed the basic procedures for head removal/replacement in "3FE REPAIR MANUAL.pdf" - RM134E
F_3F_1985-1988_engine.pdf
F_3FE_1988-1992_engine_RM1341.pdf
(from 3f_3FE_1985-1992_engine - Google Drive which was originally shared here: LOADS of Toyota Landcruiser Manuals)

Tools:
13mm x 1.75 tap for the block-side head bolt threads:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BOGUY2M

Straight edge:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DQCBHJ6

Parts:
Head-> block dowel pins: 90253-17003 - Genuine Toyota PIN, DOWEL, CRANKSHA

Procedures:
My First Galley Plug Fix

Sealant cross-reference chart:
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2013/MC-10132083-9999.pdf (P/N 08833-00070, Three Bond 1324 or equiv. = Loctite 271)

 

[Rush]

Steps taken so far:

Drained oil, added new, replaced filter.
Better, but not great:

Idled without rad cap on, observed bubbles (see video in first post)
They could have been due to low coolant, and the system just purging air, but I'm not sure.

Started here:

The rest of these are for reference, in case it's helpful

Note that the oil cooler is bypassed... I'm going to put the good, new hose on it as it's been cleared of wrongdoing (UPDATE: It's not the oil cooler: 3FE Head Gasket )

 

[Rush]

The cold start injector's connector was disconnected, I'll make sure to get it back on

 

[Rush]

Note the line feeding the cold start injector was bypassed

 

[Rush]

I have a really hard time believing these should be crossed, unless it's just a junction for the hose to supply vacuum elsewhere

 

[Rush]

Photos of the vacuum spaghetti, not that I trust the PO...

yes these heater hoses are kinked a bit, I need to find proper 90-degree ones

 

[Rush]

This wire to the AC compressor was ripped off of the connector... I'll be fixing that

more vacuum spaghetti

 

[Rush]

That could use a bit of cleaning...

 

[Rush]

These crack juust past the end of the pipe

 

[Rush]

This one came off of the FPR

 

[Rush]

I still have a hard time believing these should be this way...

 

[Rush]

Fuel return line

 

[Rush]

 

[Rush]

The FSM didn't mention removing the AC compressor that I noticed, so this next part was a fun surprise.
Underneath this hose:

These two 14mm bolts holding the PS pump to the head are easy enough to remove:

But this guy, hiding between the head and the AC compressor, is not.

Looking at the motor from the passenger side, you'll see it just behind the AC compressor:

 

[Rush]

A 14mm socket, with a 3/8" square to 9/16" hex/bolt head adapter gets you this far:

But it'll eventually be too deep and you'll need to switch to a 1/4" drive rachet:

Which will itself eventually be too deep, and necessitate going to a 1/4" square to 7/16" hex head adapter, while suspending the socket with a magnet:

at which point you should be able to get it all the way out of the head.

(This post brought to you by Harbor Freight, lol)

 

[Rush]

An empty air filter housing holds the removal torque sequence for you nicely:

After which you should be pretty close to hefting this bad boy off of the block and discovering that opening the petcock on the radiator does not drain the head of coolant:

 

[Rush]

As the borescope shots above indicate, the cylinder 2/3 boundary

and the 4/5 boundary

both seem to have been letting coolant into the chamber:

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I love all these pictures. When your all finished up and have the vacuum hoses figured out you should replace all the vacuum lines on mine lol