I am pretty sure my '79 FJ40 has blown a head gasket. I have been noticing that a little coolant has been disappearing for a while, but could see no evidence on the plugs. I also noticed that I got some white smoke/steam out the pipe when I first cranked it up in the morning. It was running great until last weekend when I cranked it after sitting for a couple of weeks. It was running rough and didn't get much better after warming up. I drove it about 15 minutes and it got where it was idling rough so I took it back home. I haven't looked at the oil yet, but I'm pretty sure it will have water in it.
I have searched the threads on here, but I haven't found one that has all of the info that I am looking for. Mainly, is there a kit of gaskets that Toyota sells that has everything I need for doing the job, or do I need to assemble all of the gaskets individually? If the latter, what gaskets do I need besides the head gasket?
I assume I need:
Head Gasket
Manifold Gasket
Water Pump Gasket
Thermostat Housing Gasket
Valve Cover Gasket
But what about:
Timing Cover Gasket
Side Plate Gasket
Anything else?
I would also like to get advice on what would be good to do while I have the head off. I have heard to do a valve job, obvioulsy clean up the head and have it checked (magnafluxed?) for cracks, maybe decked?
I was told that I might need to do a ring job and hone the cylindrers so that the improved compression from the valve job doesn't cause ring blow-by. Is this doable without taking the engine out? I assume I would have to drop the pan, so I'd need a new pan gasket. Would this be a good time to replace the rod bearings? And is there anything else that would be a good idea to replace? Push Rods? Valves? Valve guides? Oil pump?
My goal is to do the least work necessary, while getting the most bang for the buck. I don't want to have to do anything like this again in the near future, and I want my truc to be as reliable as possible (obviously).
If anyone has a writeup on this, hopefully with pictures,I would really appreciate a link.
Thanks for any help you guys can give me!
I have searched the threads on here, but I haven't found one that has all of the info that I am looking for. Mainly, is there a kit of gaskets that Toyota sells that has everything I need for doing the job, or do I need to assemble all of the gaskets individually? If the latter, what gaskets do I need besides the head gasket?
I assume I need:
Head Gasket
Manifold Gasket
Water Pump Gasket
Thermostat Housing Gasket
Valve Cover Gasket
But what about:
Timing Cover Gasket
Side Plate Gasket
Anything else?
I would also like to get advice on what would be good to do while I have the head off. I have heard to do a valve job, obvioulsy clean up the head and have it checked (magnafluxed?) for cracks, maybe decked?
I was told that I might need to do a ring job and hone the cylindrers so that the improved compression from the valve job doesn't cause ring blow-by. Is this doable without taking the engine out? I assume I would have to drop the pan, so I'd need a new pan gasket. Would this be a good time to replace the rod bearings? And is there anything else that would be a good idea to replace? Push Rods? Valves? Valve guides? Oil pump?
My goal is to do the least work necessary, while getting the most bang for the buck. I don't want to have to do anything like this again in the near future, and I want my truc to be as reliable as possible (obviously).
If anyone has a writeup on this, hopefully with pictures,I would really appreciate a link.
Thanks for any help you guys can give me!