I hope its not to bad........... (1 Viewer)

[dannyvp]

Well 2 weeks ago my FJ60 blew the top oil cooler hose not far from the house. The gauge never made it to the orange. This morning i replaced that hose and filled the fluid back up.................

Now here we sit................ (actually its been towed now)

We noticed some strange rattling noise about 3 miles from the house. I looked at the gauges an the temp gauge was under the orange. I pulled over and shut it off. It was hot.
There was plenty of coolant in the truck. i noticed this "leak", i'm assuming it is the head gasket.

IMG_4348 by danny vanpelt, on Flickr

IMG_4347 by danny vanpelt, on Flickr

 

[60 toy ota]

If by not too bad you mean just a head gasket, you may be right

 

[OSS]

If that's coolant, yep.
But at the very least, retorque the head bolts and see if you got lucky.

 

[dannyvp]

well at 34 years old and not knowing what the PO did with the truck i guess you take some risks.
Hoses were on my todo list for sure. There might have been more to this than hoses though or maybe not.
The shop is hopefully going to look at it tomorrow. It doesn't look like a hard job to me. I just hope the head is still in good shape.

 

[OSS]

Every 2F at this point has had or needs the head to be rebuilt. For some 2Fs, its been done a few times already. So if the head has never come off on your engine, its past due. (If that's any consolation).

 

[dannyvp]

It would have been nice to plan and save for, not just ..... surprise its time.

 

[dannyvp]

what is in a head rebuild?

 

[HemiAlex]

-Valve job
-possibly replace valves
-springs
-resurface the head deck surface
-new springs/seals/shims and gaskets

Check the head for cracks while it's off. The procedure its called Mag Particle/Magnaflux or MPI. Don't spend a dime on the head til you know its free of cracks.

I had all my head work done for under $500 with parts.

 

[Seth S]

Check/grind the intake/exhaust surface flat too. Also most likely machine the intake and exhaust flanges together and flat.

 

[gregnash]

While you are at it you should replace the T-stat and the water pump unless you know the age of both items. On top of that there are multiple small hoses that are associated with those items which I would replace as well as a "while Im in there" type repair.

If you know a good, old school exhaust shop that knows how to machine intake/exhaust manifolds you might want to look at that while you are replacing the manifold gasket.

 

[dannyvp]

well I got a call from the shop.
Looks like around $1500. Fluids, hoses, belts and head work. That cost will not cover machine work, that will be extra.
Compression test pushed a lot of air to the radiator. (I think that's what he said)

Makes me wonder is the original owner knew there was a problem. I wonder if stop leak or something could do this.

 

[gregnash]

well I got a call from the shop.
Looks like around $1500. Fluids, hoses, belts and head work. That cost will not cover machine work, that will be extra.
Compression test pushed a lot of air to the radiator. (I think that's what he said)

Makes me wonder is the original owner knew there was a problem. I wonder if stop leak or something could do this.

1. Never use Stop Leak or anything like that unless it is an absolute last resort. Lots of info out there about how those types of products tend to gunk things up and cause more damage than good. Basically it is a temporary solution to get you home so you can replace EVERYTHING with new.
2. $1500 sounds a little steep to me if that is not including labor. I would call around to some of the local machining shops and see what they would charge for a head rebuild. If I remember correctly mine was only like $200 with the shop I used farming out the manifold work. They hot tanked, magna-fluxed, replaced a few things and redid all the valve seats under this. Time out of hand was maybe a week.
- Fluids and that type of stuff is relatively cheap. Talk to Onur (@beno) for the full kit you would need to do EVERYTHING, I think my kit from him was close to $800 but that included a lot of other items (like oilpan gasket, side cover gasket, new waterpump, etc.) that were not directly part of the head rebuild.
- If you have the space and time do it yourself, will get you that much more familiar with the truck and you will have piece of mind knowing what all was done, when and how much it cost you.

I got lucky in that I was able to do it in my buddies heated barn in the winter on nights and weekends. He had a plethora of tools from when he was a mechanic and offered a hand when needed. But it definitely was something that I could have done in my 1-car garage without much issue. Main thing is space needed to set everything aside, in order and market what goes where. Like everyone has said, take lots of pics during the removal, label everything you can (blue painters tape, tags, ziplocs with the section you can write on, etc.) and go through it methodically. You will be just fine if you take your time.

 

[dannyvp]

great thanks for the info. I wish I had the space and time to do this myself.
The $1500 includes labor, just not machining of the head if it requires it.

 

[Spike Strip]

You wouldn't be the first person to be sold a vehicle with a bottle of stop leak in it... Lot of unscrupulous a-holes out there.

Foolish not to spend the money for machining the head while it's off- if it has never been off before. Add another $400 or so.

 

[gregnash]

great thanks for the info. I wish I had the space and time to do this myself.
The $1500 includes labor, just not machining of the head if it requires it.

Ok then that really isn't bad as the machining of the head should really only be another couple hundred bucks. So you are looking at probably right around $2k for all the work and everything. You think that would be an accurate statement?

Grab a full quote from the shop for EVERYTHING and then see if you can get him to knock the price down a bit if you do it in cash. Lots of smaller shops will knock a bit off if you hand them greenbacks.

 

[FJACS]

Foolish not to spend the money for machining the head while it's off- if it has never been off before. Add another $400 or so.

I agree. This shouldn’t even be an option. The head must be surfaced.

 

[dannyvp]

Yea 2k is what I'm expecting now. I was hoping for 1k, but that didn't work out so well for me.
The head will be machined. Should I have that oil galley plug done also?

 

[Spike Strip]

Should I have that oil galley plug done also?

ABSOLUTELY.

 

[gregnash]

ABSOLUTELY.

Absolute no brainer while it is off. So much easier to reach, clean, etc. while it is off. Also, don't forget to paint the head after everything is done WHILE IT IS STILL OFF!!!

 

[dannyvp]

What do you paint the head with?