20 Minutes and $4000, call it good. At least, I'm Sure there is someone that has done it in that range, according to them.
How difficult a job is replacing head gasket? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter wesayso
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
For those who have done the HG, is the consensus to pull the engine? And if pulling the engine, should the trans and engine both be pulled, or just the engine?
I've done the HG and think that deciding to pull the engine or not depends on a lot of factors that are unique to each situation and not limited to the HG work itself. Some important factors in the decision:
- is there some work you need to do that requires the engine be removed (ie not just the HG)?
- do you have a garage or shop where you can pull the engine then spread out and do the work on it required?
- how quickly do you need to turn the work around to get the 80 driveable again?
- how many extra items need attention and how likely you are to need to go more deeply into things beyond the HG work?
- So much can be done in place but a lot of it is harder that way and there's a tipping point where it's easier overall to pull the engine for sure. If you have failed motor mounts, upper pan arch seal leak, front timing cover leak plus all of the top-end stuff like HG replace, old sensors, front-end seals, power steering leaks, etc. and you want to fix them all you could manage it in place but would be way ahead pulling the engine to do them all at once.
Azca
If there is a harder way - I will find it...
I pulled
I pulled mine with the trans. Yes it is harder to get out of the rig. I wanted to clean and inspect everything anyway back there. You can pull the engine without the trans but, it requires 95' of wobbly extensions, half a dozen work lights as well as two men and a dwarf. Ok, I am exaggerating... a little. You will need about two to three feet of extensions, need to lower the trans support and have to dink with a few things. Hence the reason I pulled as a unit. I like easy, when I can't get easy, I want it as easy as I can.
Besides, replacing the crank seal, oil pump seal, power steering hoses, PHH, all fire wall hoses etc, become much easier.
My thread on the engine pull is here: Engine pull and rebuild, final thoughts… - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/engine-pull-and-rebuild-final-thoughts.886406/
To be clear, you do not need to pull it. For me, I also wanted to address some other items, I had some time, and did not want to deal with the issues of having a 50+ year old working in confined spaces and the required contortions. That said, if I had to do the HG, I would pull it again in a heartbeat.
I pulled mine with the trans. Yes it is harder to get out of the rig. I wanted to clean and inspect everything anyway back there. You can pull the engine without the trans but, it requires 95' of wobbly extensions, half a dozen work lights as well as two men and a dwarf. Ok, I am exaggerating... a little. You will need about two to three feet of extensions, need to lower the trans support and have to dink with a few things. Hence the reason I pulled as a unit. I like easy, when I can't get easy, I want it as easy as I can.
Besides, replacing the crank seal, oil pump seal, power steering hoses, PHH, all fire wall hoses etc, become much easier.
My thread on the engine pull is here: Engine pull and rebuild, final thoughts… - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/engine-pull-and-rebuild-final-thoughts.886406/
I pulled the engine to do mine. Ended up replacing the whole engine. But, that is another story.
If I were to do a HG job again - I wouldn't hesitate to pull the engine again. Just much easier access to everything, you can really clean things better, and much less contortion of the body.
- Thread starter
- #26
It's never put out this much steam. I've had the truck for ten years. I think the initial misfire on startup is because of water in one of the cylinders. I'll pull the plugs for inspection when I get a warmer day.
- Thread starter
- #27
I take it the head wasn't warped or had any other damage? If you didn't do a valve job, why did you pull the cams?Blew my HG back in 2014 towing my popup... knew it immediately, limped it back home 50 miles pulling over every now and then to prevent it from overheating adding water to Rad a couple times iirc. I bought the Toyota OEM HG Kit, Toyota Rad Fluid, new belts and hoses, etc. and got started within 2 days as it was my daily driver at the time...
I removed the hood, air filter assy and any other items that prevented me from sitting in the engine bay to remove things (2.5" OME lifted)
I had the Head and Intake assy on the bench by that first evening, spent that night and the next morning cleaning everything up and it was back running by day 3 (albeit long days).
I did use my Bendpak car lift to remove the head and intake assy as one piece but that could be done with an engine hoist. To stay organized, I ziplock bagged and tagged every set of nuts and bolts and misc brackets I removed keeping them in the white box in last pic which made re-assembly much easier. IIRC, I did use the car lift to tighten the exhaust pipes to the exhaust manifold. I would think under normal circumstances, most folks could get it done within 3-4 days or a couple weekends if they were motivated to do so... since you mention age, at the time I was a spry 48 yr old
In hindsight, I should've had a valve job done but as I said it was my daily driver so I approached it simply as a 3 ( to 4)repair.
View attachment 2567789
View attachment 2567790
View attachment 2567791
View attachment 2567792
View attachment 2567795
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2004
- Threads
- 186
- Messages
- 11,060
- Location
- Boise - Idaho
- Website
- www.snlandcruisers.com
This helps and you can always sell it on CL after the job.
www.summitracing.com
Cheers
Traxion 3-100 Traxion Topside Creepers | Summit Racing
Free Shipping - Traxion Topside Creepers with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Creepers at Summit Racing.
Cheers
No warpage... cleaned everything up with wirebrushes and solvents and re-installed everything as is... had already done the PHH mod and other repairs items prior. It was 6 yrs ago and I just recall following the FSM disassembly instructions but others can correct me if i'm wrong but iirc, you need to remove the cams to get access to the head bolts. I didnt touch the valves (other than cleaning).
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2004
- Threads
- 186
- Messages
- 11,060
- Location
- Boise - Idaho
- Website
- www.snlandcruisers.com
Because you can’t pull the head (or head studs) without pulling the cams?
Cheers
Yup. You can see them....but you can't pull them.
- Thread starter
- #32
Is that a brand new head?
New head
If the OP is a mechanic, this is a very straight forward job. I left the engine in and had no issues. I spent most of the time working sitting on the inner fender with left foot on engine mount and right foot where radiator sits. I’m 6’3”. I didn’t pull the harness so left the lower intake strapped out of the way.
Had the head decked and a valve job. That was $900. Probably in $2500 total and 4 Saturdays.
Had the head decked and a valve job. That was $900. Probably in $2500 total and 4 Saturdays.
- Thread starter
- #35
New head will run about $1600.00 shipped. Not a bad price considering.
New non OEM head? I feel like head gaskets get a bad rap for the fact that once you have room you feel the need to replace everything else that has been neglected because it was a PITA without the room. ~$700-1200 worth of hoses bolts clamps shims fuel filters etc later.
I found it a prudent thing to do and time to do it (while you're in there stuff). But yes, most folks will incur expenses beyond just replacing the head gasket and having machine work done to the head.
That is mostly understood....or should be.
