The reality of the Landcruiser Head Gasket Issue

[NLXTACY]

Most that spend $50K+ don't want to be driving a $5K truck now. They are in 2-Hundos.
The average Annual Income of a New Land Cruiser Owner is $300K+, or guys like @NLXTACY!

Yes I want to be driving a 200 but I'll wait til they hit the 30s. Oh and I've never hit 300k, hell these days I'd be happy to hit 30k

 

[Robkc]

I believe the HG issue is directly related to cooling system maintenance and the vague temp gauge that doesn't register until you have a serious problem.

As many have stated it is hard to get a perfect understanding of PO maintenance/history and know how many times and to what severity a vehicle has had overheating issues. Some PO's catch a coolant leak at the first seep or replace the aging hoses with appropriate PM care while others not until it dumps the coolant. Hose age and leaks aren't the only issue as aging radiators and fan clutches can contribute to a persistent overheat stress on the HG. How many times has the AC been shutoff by the ECM due to coolant over 227F but the temp gauge is right in the middle affected HG integrity before the the owner realizes there is a cooling system problem.

 

[PabloVTA]

how many pre -96 have had a blown HG?
mine did go bad, had the bad gasket, was replaced with re-designed gasket and still going.

 

[Wayne]

246,300 miles, no HG problem.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

When I pulled the original HG at 405,xxx miles to do a valve job, it was still in great condition and sealed perfectly

 

[SmokingRocks]

I blew mine in June, just now getting it back on the road. I attribute the failure to an early year accidental overheating due to a radiator failure which was due to operator error. Basically it was my fault.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Well over the 200k mark, replaced the HG when I did the timing chain and guides. Did the chain and guides because it had audible chain slap, sprockets got replaced as did the tensioner..head gasket looked pristine when the head was removed. All the other gaskets I replaced while they head was off ( bought a whole top end kit) didn't look as great, but the head was sealed tighter than a nuns thighs.

 

[1973Guppie]

If it ain't broke..............

 

[surfpig]

Original HG. I had some minor overheating issues in my first year of ownership but fixed them. This year, after 4 years of ownership I had an oil analysis done. No sign of HG failure was evident. But I'm pretty low miles compared to a lot of folks here.

 

[scottryana]

If I was putting all of my eggs in one basket, you can be damn sure I would have a new head gasket in that basket. It is not the same as driving 5-10 miles back and forth to work, having a house to live in while the truck is being worked on etc.

Interesting and very helpful responses so far, thank you SO MUCH. My intent and I haven't really been hyping it is that I'm leaving in 8 weeks or so (sooner if the snow flies) to travel and live full time out of my LC80. I am currently selling everything I own including my house. We are spending $$$ to baseline and reasonably upgrade the vehicle including the prinsu roof rack, arb front bumper, second battery, solar, RTT, tall skinny tires, and interior sleeping platform. A HG has been on my mind, but I see no indicators including a very nice #6 spark plug that looked just like its other 5 brothers. I'm tempted to rent a EG radiator test kit and oil analysis to ensure no contact with exhaust gasses in my radiator fluid. Then every 10K do it again.

For the time being and the purpose of this poll...I just want to separate the hype from the reality and so far it seems like it's working.

 

[half k cruiser]

I would also depend on your degree of mechanical ability, or $$$ your willing to part with. If I was taking my wife to live out of my 97, I would pull the head, do the gasket, and have the valves done. Might as well seal up all your front end and power steering leaks while your at it. At the very least the blackstone analysis would be top of my list.

 

[jcardona1]

My '96 had an external HG failure at 173k miles. Hard to argue with actual proof:

 

[retrofive]

I think this may be a poor place to get an accurate reading. I say this because although 'mud is a large community, people come here typically looking for answers to their problems. I would have to believe there is a larger number of 80 owners out there that don't know 'mud exists. Now that isn't saying they have or haven't had their HG go.

My opinion is that HG's go in almost everything eventually. My suburas ate them. My honda's have had some go. People come here looking to fix their HG so I think you see a higher amount content based on the failed threads.

my .2

193k orginal HG, 3 owner, no maintenance.

 

[60wag]

Some HGs failed catastrophically blowing coolant out in clouds, some HGs just let a little combustion gas squeak by under certain conditions. Eventually the small leak will become a larger leak. My point is that it isn't either good or bad, there is an in between condition going from good to bad. If you are going to rely on your truck, or keep it for another 10 years, you can wait until you're stranded or have caused additional damage to the engine, or you could replace the HG before the major failure and stop worrying about it.

Yes I did had the HG done on my '96 at 165k. I was able to get bubbles in the overflow tank when the engine was held at 4k rpm. I had no overheat issues or any other indication of HG problems.

 

[Box Rocket]

I've experienced both. My '93 was purchased in 2000 with 110K miles on it and I was the second owner with a good idea of it's history. I sold it last year with ~330K on it with no HG issues. The '95 I have now was purchased last year with 187K on it, I believe I was at least the 4th owner and spotty (at best) knowledge of the vehicle history. Blew the HG roughly 6mo into ownership (or at least found out it was blown at that point) with mileage at ~195k. Truck has ~217k on it now, all stock, no SC, new radiator. Like everyone else I've heard the paranoia for years but it didn't cause me much more than a mild concern. Now that I've had one blow, I guess there's some legitimacy to the concern but I would still not recommend replacing a HG as a preventative measure, unless there are some indicators of problems.

 

[Brentbba]

Original owner, blew HG at 205K at #6 cylinder. I had stressed our inline 6's pretty good over a good 8+ years towing a 4000lb trailer for my scout troop. Did that really cause it, who knows. I only got anywhere near overheating (according to stock temp guage) one time, ironically while towing said trailer. We were headed up a steep long grade and I was watching the guage like a hawk. It started moving, I turned on heater full blast, slowed down a little and needle returned to normal. Replace as PM, nah.

 

[Kernal]

This topic has come up in the past (?6-8 years ago) and IIRC the number the experts came up with was somewhere around 25% of 1FZFE's on the road had developed head gasket leaks. So maybe the majority of head gaskets that were going to leak have already done so ie: the weak have already been weeded out, the strong survive??

 

[SmokingRocks]

This topic has come up in the past (?6-8 years ago) and IIRC the number the experts came up with was somewhere around 25% of 1FZFE's on the road had developed head gasket leaks. So maybe the majority of head gaskets that were going to leak have already done so ie: the weak have already been weeded out, the strong survive??

Its more related to maintenance. Is the rig well maintained and closely looked after? if yes then the propensity of HG failure is much less.

Inversely has the rig been neglected (perhaps -and most often is the case here- by the PO?), has it been overheated? If yes then the chances of HG failure are higher.

 

[LS1FJ40]

93. 324k. PO replaced the HG after the radiator exploded and overheated. Replaced around 310k. I have no idea what gasket was used, who did the work, or how much work was done. I'm guessing it was a budget job even though he claims to have spent north of $4k for it and the radiator.

Mine drinks (chugs) oil but not a drop of coolant since I got it. So I'm guessing the valve deals are shot. Which tells me it was a budget job done by a shoddy mechanic.

Oh well, I'll drive it like I stole it and see what happens. I don't worry about. That much.

 

[ZackR]

I'm the 3rd owner (bought at 270k, now 284k, owned for just over a year). No HG issues thus far. Second owner bought the vehicle at 70k in the late 90's and was super on top of the maintenance, including cooling system.

I'm truly not worried about it, even with all of the attention it gets on the forum.