Head gasket, no again

[isaacfinnegan]

So, a hose off of the oil cooler basically just fully busted 10 miles from the Bay Area to Pismo Beach where I was planning on taking the truck on the dunes. I didn't notice until 5 or 10 minutes so I blew the head gasket. This will be my second of the three head gasket replacements needed on this truck, the previous head had a crack in it.
I've got the head off now and want to ask, what should I think about doing that isn't too extensive while I've got the head off?

Qm

Blown head gasket

• isaacfinnegan
• Dec 30, 2017

 

[NMfjCruiser]

Replace all coolant hoses including heater hose and rear heater hoses if you have one.
I was surprised at how many different individual hose are on a 60.

 

[OSS]

Use the Toyota head gasket
Chase all the head bolt holes with a tap.
Blow them out.
If your head bolts are a bit rusty, consider replacing them. You'd be surprised how much easier new head bolts torque compared to old ones... less friction = tighter clamping force for a given torque value.

 

[Michael Hanson]

HI, I second...replace all hoses.Mike

 

[vipergrhd]

Get new head bolts if your budget will allow and get a Toyota gasket kit. Don't skip on having it check for cracks and have them clean the surface.

 

[g-man]

send the head off to a specialist who will disassemble, clean, check all the valves and seats, replace springs and reassemble and check clearances. He'll let you know if you have any worn or bent valves ...and you'll need to get him new ones along with springs.

 

[HemiAlex]

All hoses, all cooling system parts and run straight distilled water if you can wait til it’s warm enough to do so. Flush it several times and watch all that gunk move out of the block. Go to a high quality aisin, zerex, motul, amsoil or shell coolant and burp the heck out of it.


I did the head swap, and didn’t do any of that. The day after it blew the 3” Long radiator hose. Then I replaced all the hoses on the radiator and oil cooler, plus i deleted the rear heater.

I chased some small coolant drips and flushed the system, then I’ve had no issues 15,000 miles later. I used a fel pro head gasket also.

I’d do toyota HG next time.

 

[DickM]

• If you are not replacing head bolts, clean them up before reusing. A brass wire wheel in a bench grinder will make them like new if there is no penetrating rust.

 

[isaacfinnegan]

Current state: took the head to a shop, they checked for cracks and leveled it. Waiting for thermostat housing gasket and carb insulator gasket (hopefully coming tomorrow). Also have some permatex copper gasket sealant I've replace some hoses already, and plan on checking all and replacing some more in a week or so, also need to get a new radiator, mine's kind of cheap and I think I need to have it sent in for 'lifetime warranty' replacement as it seems to have a high compression leak along some of the seams.
One of the hoses connected to the heater valve seems to have a hi temp leak but it has a weird non-adjustable permanent host clamp thing on it.
Going to try to put on the HG and head Saturday, readjust the valves, get everything running, and also run/flush the coolant system with distilled water.

Headbolts look great, BTW.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

I never saw mention of the much needed retorque of the head bolts...did you retorque the bolts after a few heating cycles? I will admit, I am running a 10 dollar head gasket on my cammed 2F, which spends most of its time at or above 3 grand on the tach- for almost 5 years now. I put a lot of stock into flat mating surfaces, clean threads and bolts, and A BOLT RETORQUE after a few heat cycles. use a crowsfoot to get the bolt under the rocker shaft- or yank the rocker shaft to get to it...but do NOT skip the retorque...

 

[gregnash]

Think everyone has pretty much touched on everything that needs to be done. Since you have now blown two head gaskets what is the health of your water pump like? Maybe be worthwhile to replace the water pump and fan clutch if you do not know the age (many believe they should be replaced at same time) and have the budget.

If you are near Georg @orangefj45 then he can help you with items and what not. And definitely agree that you need to chase the head bolt threads. I have the tap/chaser if you need, just hit me up with a PM and I can send out (just in NV so should only take a couple days to get to you).

 

[isaacfinnegan]

So, actually Georg @orangefj45 did the last head rebuild and also needed smog work the last time. So I have pretty high confidence in the overall system (not necessarily all the hoses).
For history:
3 years ago the radiator failed and loss of coolant led to blown head gasket. I took the head to a shop, the owner seemed very savvy, but had his son do the magflux/resurface. 1 month later the head gasket blew again in the EXACT same place. I needed smog work, so I took it to Valley Hybrids, and when putting it all together they found a crack in the head and replaced the head, ran heat cycles, re-torqued, etc.... They got everything (plus a bunch of mother minor work) done and the Truck's been great since.
This most recent issue was a completely failed hose off of the oil cooler. Definitely going to be redoing / checking all hoses over the next couple weeks, as hose failures have been the only real mechanical issue over the last year.

 

[isaacfinnegan]

Ok. Everything is back together. I used Permatex Copper gasket for both the head gasket and gaskets on the exhaust manifold and thermostat housing. I didn't take out the plugs when I took the head to the shop, so #4 wasn't firing right. After all new plugs, it purrs again. I managed to lose one of the valve cover bolt seats, so I'll need to replace that. And I still want to flush the cooling system, replace some hoses and change out the oil + filter. That will happen next weekend or the one after.

I'd like to not do the head again on this truck. Gonna reach out to Georg and see about an engine conversion as soon as he has time.
Thanks again to everyone who helped with pointers.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

Not to cause concern, but most guys do not use any additives on the head gasket. generally, head and manifold gaskets should go on dry. I use Toyota FIPG for the pan, side cover, and water pump and thermostat, but only the thinnest smear...I try to shy away from that stuff when it comes to exposure to fire and flame...

 

[isaacfinnegan]

Not to cause concern, but most guys do not use any additives on the head gasket. generally, head and manifold gaskets should go on dry. I use Toyota FIPG for the pan, side cover, and water pump and thermostat, but only the thinnest smear...I try to shy away from that stuff when it comes to exposure to fire and flame...

Yeah, I was on the fence. The permatex stuff is for exposure to that kind of thing, and I read quite a bit on here before making the call. Seems like there's two camps on this.