Still in Shock

[jtmosca]

I was pretty stoked to get the 80 back from Trollhole’s today. I had them work on all things engine/cooling/power steering/fuel related (except for the head gasket). It was running great on the trip home...

But apparently 24 miles from the house the head gasket decided to go. I’m still in shock at the unbelievable timing of this.

 

[fourtrax]

Ouch

 

[pkniland]

Jesus that sucks, hows the ES running?

 

[jtmosca]

The ES made it to SC and back without the HG blowing. So by comparison it’s doing great.

By all measurements, it’s doing fine. Thanks for asking.

 

[erymer]

Dammit dude. I’m so sorry to hear that.

 

[jamesurq]

That sucks big time. Sorry to hear that

 

[stevezero]

man, that's horrible. Hopefully you can get it back on the road soon.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Bummer. Sucks to do all that preventative maintenance just to have something catastrophic happen.

Good news is that all of that will be fresh and new when the HG is done.

 

[Malleus]

At least it's clean...

 

[fj40z]

@jtmosca that sucks!! I know the feeling. I Spent around 2 grand in parts and materials only to have a 5 dollar oil filter destroy my motor. Sometimes things like this just happen. Have the head gasket fixed and with all the other things you just had done she’ll be good as new.

 

[uzj100]

Sorry that happened!

 

[little_joe]

Dang that sucks. Hopefully you have the means to do the HG job, and get many years of trouble-free service from it...

 

[jtmosca]

Thanks for the condolences guys.

@fj40z I thought of you when this whole went down. I would say that we should start our own exclusive catastrophe-story-club but I bet membership would be busting at the seems pretty quickly. I know I'm not the only one with some sad tales.

Ironically enough, last October I almost tackled the HG in a preemptive move, and then again in January when I dropped it off, Marshall and I talked about it and I almost had him add it to the list.

Now that it is hydrolocked as well, my big concern is whether I have any bent rods or did any damage when the needle was in the red. Everybody think positive thoughts for me. I think I caught everything in time, but who knows.

 

[jtmosca]

At least it's clean...

Yes, yes it is.

I snapped this pic just before I began my fatal drive home...

 

[BillWright]

Excellent opportunity to check the top end and head for tolerances, make sure you don't spin a crank or jam a valve before you get home next time.
Or next time might be just after the top of Heartbreak Mountain halfway to s*** Creek valley below.

 

[fj40z]

@jtmosca don’t second guess yourself too much. Hindsight is always 20/20. Here’s another sob story from my debacle that I’ll offer up, not for one upsmanship but solely for moral support.

So when I decided to just swap motors I went with one I really new nothing about. When I got it @GLTHFJ60 picked it up for me and dropped it off at our barn. After looking it over a bit I noticed a machine shop stamp on the block and a Toyota parts sticker on what looks to be a new head. I’m really pumped because it looks like this motor has a new head and the gasket had been replaced. Then I run the VIN off the motor and find that the 80 it was in was totaled with 90 thousand miles. Now I’m really happy because I just scored a super low mileage motor. So I tow the 80 to a shop I have used numerous times and the guy has worked on Toyota’s for over 30 years. He’s a great guy and a hell of a mechanic. He knows me well and he knows that I usually know exactly what I need and what needs done. I had a fairly extensive list of everything I wanted swapped over from the bad motor since all of the work that had recently been done to it. I told him to do what was on the list and I would do anything else.

He does exactly what I asked for and a few other things that he had thought of and 3 days later it’s ready. I pick it up and he’s put some test miles on it and it’s running flawlessly. So I pay him and make arrangements to pick up the bad motor a few days later so I could pull a few more parts off of it.

Now his shop is no more than 5 miles from my house so I take off hawkeyeing my gauges like crazy. I got a call before I was home and momentarily took my attention from the gauges. When I realized it I glanced down to see my temperature gauge pegged out in the red. My heart sank and my stomach knotted up. I pulled over and wanted to cry. I had just spent 2 grand a few months before and then spent another 2 grand on the motor and swap only to be setting on the side of the road with an overheated 80. I immediately thought the head gasket had blown. So I call the shop and tell him what has happened, we talk for a few minutes and then I realize I forgot to put on my list to swap the new thermostat from the old motor to the new one. I was sick knowing I had probably just blew the head gasket on this motor because I forgot to write something down. He pulls the thermostat from the old motor and drives to where I’m at and installs it on the roadside. Thank god the motor was fine. I almost roached another motor from a minor oversight.

I said all that to get to this point. Cruisers are machines. Damn good ones but still just a machine. No matter how much we obsess over them and no matter how much money we throw at them from time to time they’re bound to break whether it’s from time, mileage or in my case an oversight.

Fix it up and enjoy it.

 

[S4Cruiser]

@fj40z = cruiser addiction therapist. You’re like the sunshine on a cloudy day...

 

[stevezero]

@fj40z = cruiser addiction therapist. You’re like the sunshine on a cloudy day...

Now if he could only melt the frozen crap on the road....

 

[fj40z]

Now if he could only melt the frozen crap on the road....

Well I can’t do anything about frozen crap but the sun sure is melting the snow

 

[lt1fire]

It's stories like these that spur the "while you're in there....." suggestions.

Sucks that this happened