Time to pull the head?

[TonyT]

1998 Cruiser with ~160k miles. Starter went out and wouldn't engage. Pulled the intake manifold and found dried coolant slush at the block/head interface. Engine got hot about a year ago when a heater T broke but has been fine ever since. Starter failed due to corrosion from either sitting or getting moisture under the intake. Liquid in the picture is mostly from the throttle body lines when I pulled the manifold.

Question: Do I 1. ignore it and pretend that nothing is wrong? 2. Pull the valve cover and tighten down the head bolts? or 3. Bite the bullet and pull the head?

This was my wife's daily driver until she got a new car and the cruiser sat for most of the last 6 months. It was going to become my daily as I slowly upgrade things. This is going to be a keeper that will be passed down to grandkids 50yrs from now...

 

[Bisho]

1998 Cruiser with ~160k miles. Starter went out and wouldn't engage. Pulled the intake manifold and found dried coolant slush at the block/head interface. Engine got hot about a year ago when a heater T broke but has been fine ever since. Starter failed due to corrosion from either sitting or getting moisture under the intake. Liquid in the picture is mostly from the throttle body lines when I pulled the manifold.

Question: Do I 1. ignore it and pretend that nothing is wrong? 2. Pull the valve cover and tighten down the head bolts? or 3. Bite the bullet and pull the head?

This was my wife's daily driver until she got a new car and the cruiser sat for most of the last 6 months. It was going to become my daily as I slowly upgrade things. This is going to be a keeper that will be passed down to grandkids 50yrs from now...

If it has run recently and looks like this, I'd clean it up and run with it. There isn't much residue there, and it looks pretty old. Keep an eye on the coolant and oil to make sure they aren't going where they don't belong. Worse case, you find the oil in the coolant or vise versa, and you end up pulling the head. I don't believe tightening the head bolt will do you any good if the head is warped.

 

[TonyT]

Quick update. No fluid last night but when I went back to check late this morning I found a new puddle. Looks like it's going to claim a spot in the shop for a while. Thanks for the input but I'll be reading up on the tips-n-tricks to replacing a head gasket

 

[Rhetoric]

What a bummer! Godspeed on your journey to get this motor going again.

 

[LXamsoildude]

Unfortunately I find myself in this current predicament as well. Mine is a 2000 with 330k on her. Last year it got hot a mile out from my house. I found out that the radiator had failed, small crack on top of plastics. Replaced it, and also found that the water pump was seized prior owner didnt use OEM water pump... I did a new OEM water pump timing belt kit, all new pulley's , fan clutch, fan clutch bracket. Tested the cooling system, pressurized it, and used head block tester, never turned colors stayed blue. Thought I was golden. Fast forward to present 1 year later, 24,000 miles. Never got hot since, ran fine. Got a misfire code #3, #7 pulled coil packs, good. Pulled plugs, bore scoped #3 and has coolant in it. No coolant in engine oil and parked it immediately. I called around locally, and yes, most shops wouldn't touch it, because of miles, and or don't want the job lol. I just ordered new oem parts to deep dive and replace head gaskets, starter, valve cover gaskets, etc. I would like extra info on someone who has done this job before. A write up or even someone local I'm in Tucson AZ, I absolutely love this rig and want her to live again. I'm very familiar with doing the water pump, timing belt, but never had to mess with doing a head gasket on this engine. It was literally just at Speedway of Lexus and had them do the upper control arms, lower ball joints, CV axles and trans service, now this happened. blah! Help a cruiser head out.

 

[OEMGUY0720]

Labor-intensive but doable. It’s the VVTi motors that can get a little complicated when one has to compensate the right thickness of the head gasket to end up with correct overall stack height of the head unit after machining it, otherwise when VVTi cam profile engages it will misfire. Good luck on the rebuild and keep us posted.

 

[LXamsoildude]

Labor-intensive but doable. It’s the VVTi motors that can get a little complicated when one has to compensate the right thickness of the head gasket to end up with correct overall stack height of the head unit after machining it, otherwise when VVTi cam profile engages it will misfire. Good luck on the rebuild and keep us posted.

Yeah, my main concern is making sure the cams stay in phase, getting everything back and happy and properly timed lol. I'm glad it's non VVTi. Still waiting on parts to get here. But it will definitely be lots of labor that's for sure. At least its on my own time and not time crunch. I've got a lexus ct200h hybrid for my daily. It gets triple gas mileage anyway lol.