what the heck is going on with the 80 head gaskets?

[e9999]

OK, now what?
seems like it may be Semlin's turn. Hopefully not!

but anyway this is getting weird. With Doug's double whammy, I don't recall ever seeing such a wave of HG issues during the last 2 or 3 years. Why is this? Hopefully not cuz they're getting old...! Can't be that we are getting more adept at recognizing the symptoms since these are usually dramatic... And per the last poll we were already in the 20% failure rate range...

Worst part is that it seems to be happening to the old-timers here, not fair...! I mean, we can handle a few newbs blowing up their engines cuz it's good for them... but the rest of us? no way....

soooo, what the ?

 

[Skillet]

MIne had the symptoms, a funky start, steam in the exhaust, however, I am not losing any coolant at all, and I cannot define any "sweet" smells in exhaust and/or exhaust in the coolant reservoir.
Plus, I did the 3000 rmp test and there were no bubbles in the reservoir.
Not sure what to think. The biggest concern I have is doing damage to the head over time if I do not diagnose the problem correctly.
My rig now has 190K on it.
I tell you what though, I do not know of any other cars that run as good as mine with almost 200K on them. Unbelievable.

 

[turbocruiser]

Good questions...

I used to think that my overly-anal-ytical approach to preventive maintenance prevented any possible problems with the headgasket.

I'm still hoping I'm right but I'm not betting I'm right. When people like Doug, ( I still think I'm more overly-anal-ytical than even the mighty Doug ) start blowing gasket after gasket, and when people like Robbie say that these things are the ticking time bombs on an otherwise super stout vehicle, it gets my paranoia pulsing.

So I decided to take the preventative maintenance program to the max and simply replace the headgasket as preventative maintenance. I am asking Robbie, by far the top tech around, to replace my HG sometime soon. Only then will my wonder stop about how bad or how good my HG is. Funny thing is the more I learn about this thing the more I know that even if everything is fine with my old HG, I will feel wonderful about replacing it. Like I wrote, for those that pride themselves on preventative maintenance programs, this is the ultimate expression. JMHO.

 

[Romer]

Robbie is a great choice. He did mine and its running great. He let me know about other issues while he was in their and took care of them as well.

If you remember my thread, my headgasket was starting to show signs and my head had started to warp and was full of carbon. Couldn't tell by the way it was running, the Toyota computer is a wonderful thing.

I had him mill the head, do the Fuel Injectors at the same time along with the PHH and Fuel Filter, since he was in their already. His rates are very reasonable.

 

[turbocruiser]

Robbie is a great choice. He did mine and its running great. He let me know about other issues while he was in their and took care of them as well.

If you remember my thread, my headgasket was starting to show signs and my head had started to warp and was full of carbon. Couldn't tell by the way it was running, the Toyota computer is a wonderful thing.

I had him mill the head, do the Fuel Injectors at the same time along with the PHH and Fuel Filter, since he was in their already. His rates are very reasonable.

Yes, I agree 100%. The fact that Robbie is so close is like a message from God. I did not realize your head was warping already! Wowsers! What else was wrong with your rig? The peace of mind with making this problem go away will be wonderful! Thanks Ken.

 

[BOUNDER]

Yes, I agree 100%. The fact that Robbie is so close is like a message from God. I did not realize your head was warping already! Wowsers! What else was wrong with your rig? The peace of mind with making this problem go away will be wonderful! Thanks Ken.

Maybe it's time to investigate the possibility of a Toyota re-call - or at least make them feel REALLY guilty about this - on their FLAGSHIP vehicle -to offer a little support. I feel an email coming on to Toyota USA...who's in?

 

[Romer]

Actually at the time I didn't think anything was wrong. I knew the PHH did not look good from when I was changing the starter contacts. Everything was running fine. I was surprised when Robbie told me all the things that were wrong. Carbon in the Ring Packs and on top of the pistons, Head slightly warped, a couple of valves needing to be re-sealed, the Main hose (big sucker) from the air filter was cut in two pieces providing a leak. One of the wiring harnesses was routed wrong and starting to burn.

The wife was out of town, I had the list of things I was thinking about doing and it was the timing the caused me to take it to Robbie and have the head gasket replaced

 

[cruiserdan]

Maybe it's time to investigate the possibility of a Toyota re-call - or at least make them feel REALLY guilty about this - on their FLAGSHIP vehicle -to offer a little support. I feel an email coming on to Toyota USA...who's in?

It aint gonna happen. The vast majority of failed head gaskets are past 100,000 miles, longer than some other engines last.

 

[turbocruiser]

Yikes! Thanks Ken. Hey can you post the link to that thread I've either forgotten all of that or managed to miss it the first time. Thanks again man.

 

[BOUNDER]

It aint gonna happen. The vast majority of failed head gaskets are past 100,000 miles, longer than some other engines last.

All true but I'm of the uninformed opinion that the globally marketed Land Cruiser is held to a higher standard. Besides, isn't 100k the "old" threshold for normal vehicle engines? Modern cars today are far more capable of 100k than they were in the past 30 years.

 

[rgsiii]

The answer is obvious--CDan voodoo. I bought all the parts for PM of the HG from him and have not had to do anything. I consider it cheap insurance for keeping the CDan voodoo quilting needle from doing its work on my cruiser.

 

[Romer]

Yikes! Thanks Ken. Hey can you post the link to that thread I've either forgotten all of that or managed to miss it the first time. Thanks again man.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=70669

 

[Gumby]

GM is having intake gasket problems as early as 30,000 miles. Ford is blowing plugs out of the heads at less than 50,000. Neither is doing anything about it. How many have auto trans problems?

Toyota should be ashamed of a problem that happens on some engines at over 100K?

 

[landtank]

you all are kind of late on the uptake here, I figured this crap out 3 years and 80k miles ago.

 

[alaskacruiser]

About half of the head gasket problems reported in e99999999's HG Poll blew before 100K. So yes, GM has intake gasket problems, Ford has the plug problem, and Toyota has HG problems. Difference is, Toyota has the problem on a vehicle for which people originally paid $40-50k+. I don't accept the whole "but this vehicle will outlast others in so many other ways" justification- it is not difficult to find a vehicle that will make it to 100K, even 200K+ nowadays (and without the HG problem). Fact is: the HG is a major weak point.

 

[landtank]

it is not difficult to find a vehicle that will make it to 100K, even 200K+ nowadays (and without the HG problem).

Excellent point, now show me a 13 year old vehicle that can do 200k competently.

 

[medtro]

Excellent point, now show me a 13 year old vehicle that can do 200k competently.

4Runner or pickup truck with 22RE.

 

[alaskacruiser]

Excellent point, now show me a 13 year old vehicle that can do 200k competently.

Comparable vehicles that will easily make it to this mileage and well beyond: 3FE-based Landcruisers (60-series, FJ80), and, as medtro stated, anything with a 22R / 22RE (4Runner, Pickup).

If we open this up to include non-offroad vehicles, the list will be full of various years of older Camrys, Corollas, Accords, Civics, Mercedes 190s, Volvo 240s, etc, etc.

That's just off the top of my head...

 

[landtank]

4Runner or pickup truck with 22RE.

Timing chains at a buck and a quarter and more prolific than the HG on the LC

 

[Montana Cruiser]

Thanks to regular threads like this one, I am now paranoid as hell

Here's the thing, I have decided that although there is some problems with the HG, for my $$ I was able to;

1. Buy a WAY nicer truck then anything I could have bought new for the same$$
2. Have a truck that was made to be worked on by "me" out in the field
3. Have this site for information on how to do things myself
4. HG aside, have VERY trouble free day to day usage
5. Get a truck that engineers were thoughtful enough to have cut a nice premium quality carpet for my center console

Seriously though, even IF I consider this as a mandatory PM item, I think my overall cost of ownership is far less then other POS made by Chevy, Ford or Dodge.