Head Gasket Replacement - another one (1 Viewer)

[steffan]

i think i've been fighting this for a while, wishful thinking that it was something simpler: kept getting air in the cooling system in spite of bleeding it multiple times... new radiator caps, new hoses etc. if finely got to the point where with was loosing fluid - traced it down to a pressurized cooling system pushing fluid out the resovoir.
i did a bunch of searching on this but it seems most of the well documented head gasket threads or posts are missing pictures or correct links. i'm taking a bunch of pictures for my own reference, figured i'd post them, maybe help someone out. i'm not sure there is a correct or better order to all of this - just started on one side and working over. the good news, if there can be, is that i have just changed out all the hoses, belts etc along with a new exhaust and timing chain so everything should come apart fairly easily.

 

[steffan]

i started out by taking off the intake hose just for easy access, then pulled the heater hoses and brake vacuum, again thinking it would free up some space to pull the head.
egr and a couple of plugs

 

[steffan]

started working around the intake runners, starting from the bottom, firewall side and working forward. i thought i could just remove the entire vacuum hose manifold with the throttle body and runners but found out later it was easier (necessary?) to just pull a few vacuum lines.

 

[steffan]

some more plugs and the throttle body water lines

 

[steffan]

the plugs and vacuum lines on top of the valve cover and entering the intake

 

[steffan]

intake off - took about 60 minutes including taking pics and draining the cooling system. hopefully tomorrow i'll have more time and finish it up.

 

[jgranthevagrant]

Looks very clean compared to mine.

 

[BlueCruiser84]

I’m glad you did your due diligence with all these pictures and careful labeling. I pulled my first 22re about a month ago and just piled everything in the corner. Your pictures will come in very handy!!!

Brian

 

[vegasfj40]

I went through this on my 85 last year. Try to use OE Toyota parts. Worth the cost. Nice pics and documentation! What year is your truck?

 

[steffan]

this is a '92 pickup. got a little more time today and started tearing into it again. i tried taking the lower manafold off the head but a couple things complicated it. first, theres an allen (6mm hex) bolt through the thermostat housing that was really tight. i played with it for a while and finely, was able to work it out. unfortunately, in the process, its almost stripped out (more on that later). also, there are 2 bolts on the bottom that are all but impossible to access so I figured i'd just pull it with the head.
here are more vacuum lines on the way to removing the vacuum manifold

 

[steffan]

and its off

 

[steffan]

now the most fun - taking the wiring harness off. not as bad as an 80 series but it also runs right through the middle of the intake, starting with the fuel injectors and all the way back to the two O2 sensors and all the transmission sensors along the way. also, the starter and sensors along the side of the engine. it wouldn't be so bad if the plugs weren't so brittle and stuck together. i couldn't believe i managed to get them all off without breaking any of them

 

[steffan]

fuel line and heater hose

 

[steffan]

pulled the distributor - don't forget to index everything. exhaust manafold - easy peasy because i just replaced everything. all new studs etc with anti-seaze. then, power steering bracket

 

[steffan]

valve cover off. don't forget the ground on the firewall and the hidden bolt over the timing cover. fixing the timing chain, removing the cam bolt/ sprocket. remove the headbolts and pull the rocker assembly.

 

[steffan]

here is the damage. it was getting dark and looking like rain so i couldn't study it that closely. i don't have much (any?) real experience with this so if anyone sees anything obvious, please let me know. looks like maybe stop leak in the water jackets? pictures are working backwords: clean one is number 4 and then 3, 2, 1

 

[steffan]

the head had a bunch of junk in the combustion chambers - the plugs as well. not sure what that means? i had sprayed out the intake a little while ago so maybe that is the burnoff? again, no experience here, let me know. the head bolts on the exhaust side were terrible to get out - had to use my biggest breaker bar to get them out and then looked like this. is that normal? baked oil from the exhause heat? thread locker?

 

[KLF]

Yes, heat of the exhaust ports bakes the oil to the bolts. They can be a bear to get out.

 

[jgranthevagrant]

Overall it doesn't look worse than when I have pulled mine.

 

[Pacer]

The clean cylinder would have been cleaned by coolant burning off in that cyl, though I'm not seeing the failure in the head gasket.