What percentage of 80's need Head Gasket?

[rtarh2o]

Just curious, I keep reading posts from newbies about buying an 80 series. In almost every post it is mentioned that the head gasket should be replaced if it hasn't been done yet?
I owned a 94 and sold it with 175,000 miles, never replaced the head gasket or the heater hose.
My son currently drives a 97 with about 140,000 miles, I drive it occasionally as well. It too has never had the head gasket or heater hose replaced.
I am just wondering what percentage of 80's have the head gasket go out? From reading the posts you would think it is 100%?
My guess is that it is actually a fairly small percentage, anyone have any ideas?
I have a hard time going to the trouble and expense of replacing a head gasket as p.m.
The heater hose I can understand, most hoses should be replaced over time, but I am from the school of thought "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" on the head gasket.
Rusty

 

[retrofive]

They all do.... at some point

 

[cme4lyt]

x2 Yes, they all will...at some point !

 

[7schulz]

20% if you search there is a poll on this.

 

[tirewater]

If you have a hard time justifying doing the work, the answer is simple. Don't.

Perhaps look at regional issues. I tend to think that climate has a large contributing factor to hose failures.

Just curious, I keep reading posts from newbies about buying an 80 series. In almost every post it is mentioned that the head gasket should be replaced if it hasn't been done yet?
I owned a 94 and sold it with 175,000 miles, never replaced the head gasket or the heater hose.
My son currently drives a 97 with about 140,000 miles, I drive it occasionally as well. It too has never had the head gasket or heater hose replaced.
I am just wondering what percentage of 80's have the head gasket go out? From reading the posts you would think it is 100%?
My guess is that it is actually a fairly small percentage, anyone have any ideas?
I have a hard time going to the trouble and expense of replacing a head gasket as p.m.
The heater hose I can understand, most hoses should be replaced over time, but I am from the school of thought "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" on the head gasket.
Rusty

 

[Atticus]

50% of my Land Cruisers have needed it. So, I'll say 50% of all 80s need the head gasket replaced at or before 168,000 miles.

 

[jlg32281]

the good thing is that if it does fail, as long as you don't overheat the truck, there isn't any other damage caused. now it always sucks to break down on the side of the road, but i won't be replacing mine until it fails.

 

[Brentbba]

You have to remember, boards like this are going to have more posts on issues looking for help and resolution rather than posts saying that all is well.

Based on Atticus rational/logic - 100% of all cruisers will need a HG after 204,000 miles and 15 1/2 years of life.

 

[Taildragon]

I have a theory on why some of these head gaskets fail. I'm sure you have noticed that the tranny won't shift into overdrive until it has reach operating temp. This can be problematic if you jump into a cold truck and go straight to >50mph.

What I believe is happening on some rigs is that people hop in a cold rig and expect to accelerate to highway speeds. This is horribly bad for an fzj80 due to the tranny not upshifting to od. Therefore the motor is screaming and heating up a rapid pace different from the head. This combine with the water temp gauge being as worthless as tits on a bull.
Btw I'm at 155k original headgasket, fwiw.

imho Justin

 

[bugsnbikes]

Heres my theory:

The cooling system (mainly the temp guage) doesnt really effectively show when cooling systems arent up to par.

I think that many people run their rigs slightly HOT for MANY years. How many people really change their coolant religiously every yr.? Or tend to fan clutches that start to underperform?

the answer is: they would----if they knew they were running slightly HOT.........but they dont due to the temp guage.

My guess is the 20% HG failure is 20% of fan clutches that are degrading early..........and undercooling.

My guess is that this is partly why theres fewer 93-94 failures compared to 95-97s. (fan clutch is better in the earlier models).

The main culprit is these wonderfully asbestos free HGs we got.......but add to it a propensity to run HOT without any clue that this is occurring for 50,000 miles and its a recipe for guaranteed failure.

 

[landtank]

IMO the head gasket is no longer of any concern. That's because age has caught up to that failure and now all the gaskets in the engine are junk. I've torn down a couple recently and there wasn't 1 good gasket in there.

So if you are buying an 80 there is no reason to sweat the HG because even if it was done the whole engine needs to be gone through anyway.

 

[greentruck]

What percentage of 80's need Head Gasket?

Well, actually, ALL LandCruisers need a head gasket.

If yours is busted, then you'll need another.


Seriously, unless I planned an expedition somewhere to the farthest reaches of the planet, I'd never consider a head gasket as a PM item. Sure, I might take the parts along...
Heck, there's probably more LandCruisers in the farthest reaches of the planet than many other vehicles. Even there, you'll probably find a mechanic.

 

[cme4lyt]

Here's my theory....

We're talking about engines with 150K miles plus, right ? Arn't we being a little hyper critical ?

Can you name another 'users group' that chats about vehicles with 150K miles to 350K miles plus ? Yeah, you're right, NONE !

I'm guessing if this subject was mentioned in other 'user groups', you'd be talking about HG issues there as well ?

I have an HG issue but knowing that I purchased a engine with 222K miles plus, I kinda expected it !

Rgds...

 

[rtarh2o]

Good point about the high mileage being the norm, didn't take that into consideration, most any vehicle approaching 200,000 miles probably has had a head gasket replaced.
Another thing I am going to try that might save things is a product called Evans Waterless Coolant. I am currently running this in my Mercedes G350 because they are prone to head gasket problems too. The great thing about the Evans is the fact that it has a very high boiling point so there is basically very little pressure created even when overheating, you can even remove the radiator cap at operating temperatures (probably even hotter) without anything spewing out at you! I have had a couple hoses let go on my Mercedes, with normal coolant I am sure it would have a steaming spewing mess and possibly stranded me, with the Evans it is just a leak, or a drip, no big deal, gives you time to make it home for repair.
It is very expensive ($40 per gallon)but it also lasts forever and without the internal pressure may make the head gaskets last another 100,000 miles.
Rusty

 

[OverLand Cruisers]

It lasts forever?
Tell me more....

 

[jhanley]

my truck has 198k and still rolling on the original HG. I'm on this site so much, I think about it failing everytime I drive it

 

[Lc80series]

That's funny Jhanley! I'm always worried about something on my 93 but it keeps trucking. Reading 80-Series Tech will do that to you. Bought mine about a year ago with 138K. Not sure if the head gasket has been done. I know I haven't replaced it...yet.

 

[MARLIN375]

I've had 2 fail. Well, my wife was driving when....bla bla bla. That one, I replaced the engine with a mudders roll over motor with the same mileage. Then 20k later with 190k on the clock I started making bubbles in the overflow with a loaded truck at the begining of a one week fishing safari, I babied it for a week and drove it into the shop when I got home, I was adding a fair amount of coolant and collecting the coolant that was being pushed out of the over-flow in a juice-jug. My temp never got into the red.

If it fails typically (no6 fire-ring) you will tend to have some warning. I put over 2000 kilometers on mine... the only reason I carried on was because I had read so much about others failures I new exactly what was happening, and if I was going home on a deck truck it was a 2 day ride with or without fishing....so fish-on.

This time I replaced the Head gasket (along with every other cooling system component) The machine shop did an awsome job on the head, As Rick said, the whole engine is due for some serious maintanence, the head gasket just gives you an excuse to get it done.

 

[CycloSteve]

Two HG's here too.

First at 96k miles, and 2nd at 157k miles. First was truly blown by the PO, just after the S/C installation. The second was due to a cracked head, which likely had been around since the original HG change, and was not caught by the dealership which did a quick-fix instead of a true HG replacement and diagnostics. They simply lifted the head with intake and exhaust still on, scraped off the gasket, dropped in a new gasket and bolted back together...NOT how to do things properly.

As others noted, while you are in there, you will likely fix many other items. I consider my motor now ready for easily another 150k to 200k miles, as I now know exactly what is in there, and will be taking care of things instead of ignoring them.



Steve

 

[illcruiser]

This may be a lil bit of the topic but having changed the HG recently im curious how many people have had to do it twice? when the job was done right the first time? i did mine at 135k and would like to have an idea of what to expect from it.