Hey howdy, new around here but have been lurking for at least 6 months. Seems a lot of you have some helpful advice, so here go’s it.
First a little about me and my cruiser, I bought my hunk of junk nearly a year ago and have big dreams. My fiancé and I are working towards building a good “rock lander” as they call it. As of yet we have not installed anything to make this thing into the idea we both have.
This thing is leaking all of the oil, except for wheel hub and rear differential. Yesterday I was replacing the Thermostat, and when I got done my brother in law asked if I had done a coolant test. So I did a coolant test, and sure enough, just like magic blue liquid turns yellow. Now, as you can imagine, with the huge list of oil leaks and upgrades we have to do, we now have a head gasket to replace.
So now you know what’s going on, I’m handy enough to do suspension and timing belt and related stuff for my 02 Tacoma, so I’m not afraid to do the work myself. That said, I need some advice and tips. In addition to replacing the head gasket, are there any recommended checks/changes to make during the process? What should I look for? Do I really need a machine shop to resurface the head, or can I get away with just slapping a new gasket in and reusing the old head studs and hardware? What kind of special tools will I need? What kind of cool tools that will make this job easier. Should I sell this POS and buy a jeep?
Thats all I got folks, thanks for giving me a channels to vent and ask for advice.
With love, Dylan, Julianna
First a little about me and my cruiser, I bought my hunk of junk nearly a year ago and have big dreams. My fiancé and I are working towards building a good “rock lander” as they call it. As of yet we have not installed anything to make this thing into the idea we both have.
This thing is leaking all of the oil, except for wheel hub and rear differential. Yesterday I was replacing the Thermostat, and when I got done my brother in law asked if I had done a coolant test. So I did a coolant test, and sure enough, just like magic blue liquid turns yellow. Now, as you can imagine, with the huge list of oil leaks and upgrades we have to do, we now have a head gasket to replace.
So now you know what’s going on, I’m handy enough to do suspension and timing belt and related stuff for my 02 Tacoma, so I’m not afraid to do the work myself. That said, I need some advice and tips. In addition to replacing the head gasket, are there any recommended checks/changes to make during the process? What should I look for? Do I really need a machine shop to resurface the head, or can I get away with just slapping a new gasket in and reusing the old head studs and hardware? What kind of special tools will I need? What kind of cool tools that will make this job easier. Should I sell this POS and buy a jeep?
Thats all I got folks, thanks for giving me a channels to vent and ask for advice.
With love, Dylan, Julianna
