What would you do?

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dsmud4u

dsmud4u

10 Year
Joined
Jan 14, 2012
Threads
105
Messages
1,008
Location
Vacaville, CA
On the road and the truck kind of felt a little different and ran slightly warmer. On average I don’t see above 190 degrees while I’m on the move on the scan gauge but then it was 193 to 198. After I pulled over to take a look I seen I had some coolant spatter from the overflow. Maybe it was over filled…so no biggie but then I noticed the truck was missing. P0301 came up so in the mean time I’m going to start pulling spark plugs and check that the wires were good.

Any help is appreciated!
 
Maybe a new set of plugs are in order.

#1

image.webp
 
White Sheep said:
Has the head gasket been replaced?
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Not since I’ve owned it that I know of. I’ve had it since 260k miles.

Clearly something is wrong with the first cylinder but not sure that’s my problem. I swapped out plugs one and two.

Didn’t seem to do much but now I smell a bit of gas…
 
For what it's worth, I had a P30X and it was a bad plug. I believe that P301 indicates missing on cylinder 1. Check plug, wire, dist cap?
 
dsmud4u said:
I didn’t know I had much of an exhaust leak but it appears maybe the head gasket went.
Feels like coolant

View attachment 3052989
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Is that coolant or oil or condensation mixed with soot from a poor burn?


Change ALL your plugs, wires, cap and rotor to OEM. Then see how it behaves.
 
BILT4ME said:
Is that coolant or oil or condensation mixed with soot from a poor burn?


Change ALL your plugs, wires, cap and rotor to OEM. Then see how it behaves.
Click to expand...

It appeared to be coolant based on the consistency and feel. It’s at a shop in San Mateo so they’ll diagnose it today.

Many things went through my mind, all while thinking of how I was going to get my trailer I was towing at the time to San Jose for Annual Training while still getting the truck towed somewhere. For reference I was towing a black series HQ17, 5,200 lb dry weight.

I found a U-Haul that had a pick-up for rent so I ran three miles at a 10 minute a mile pace to get there right he fire they close…got the truck and came back for the trailer.

My wife came up from work to get AAA because I used all my calls previously so it was towed to C&T automotive, a Toyota Specialist and was dropped off overnight.

I immediately began thinking about the rebuild…briefly pondered if a V8 swap is in the cards. I’d rather buy a new head but since the truck has 332k and burns a good amount of oil I’m thinking about a short block as well.

I seen a thread somewhere of someone doing this and itemizing all the parts for the head…..
 
Last edited:
LongDuck said:
So, if it's a broken Cap, Rotor, bad plug wire (on #1), or an unseated plug connector,... you'd rather put on a new head or get a short block or do a V8 swap?

Just me, but I'd be focusing on the cheap and easy things first, but I'm frugal that way.
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No, I’m just mentally preparing myself for a worst case scenario. It very well could be but I’m just not sure what else would produce what appeared to be coolant through the exhaust.
 
Gotcha, I just saw Post #10. Let us know what you hear back. As a data point, I had my head gasket changed as PM at a local Toyota dealer about 7-8 years back and it ran $1800 to include labor, parts, and various small hoses and such to put it all back together. At the time, I felt I got a pretty good deal. These days, pricing may be a lot higher for labor, so I hope it's not that. Take care,
 
Just got word the cruiser does indeed have a bad head gasket issue..cylinder 1.

Under the circumstances, what would you do. The truck has 332k and burns oil like my RX-7 (1qt per 1,500 miles). Would you also rebuild the bottom end. Is there a need to purchase a new head and or so forth.

The shop located a new OEM short block and it’s $4,500 alone. Should I add that to the taking care of the top-end and to what degree.
 
You won't know if you "need" to replace the head until you hear from the machine shop as to whether, or not, it's suitable for reconditioning.

Are you sure it "burns" oil and doesn't just lose it from the oil pan seal, like everyone else's (mine loses a quart sitting in the driveway when it's full - I run it a quart low so it doesn't and it stil loses a quart every 2-3k miles, but my problem is definitely an oil pan seal leak)? I mean, does it smoke when running? If so, you already know you need rings. It's just impossible to tell after the headgasket goes, without tearing the block down. And if you're tearing into the block to replace the rings, you might as well replace the bearings and polish the crank, so now you're at the decision point between rebuild and short block.

However, if you do decide to replace the block, with that many miles and if you haven't already done so, I'd look at the alternator, power steering pump and pressure hose and engine harness repair or replacement. Good news is that you'll be rid of the leaking oil pan, either way.

You'll probably lose either some/all of the injectors, connectors (engine harness), or both, and or the knock sensors and coolant temperature sensors/connectors (engine harness, again) during disassembly, whether you replace the block or not. And, of course, now's the time to replace all the coolant and vacuum hoses.
 
dsmud4u said:
Just got word the cruiser does indeed have a bad head gasket issue..cylinder 1.

Under the circumstances, what would you do. The truck has 332k and burns oil like my RX-7 (1qt per 1,500 miles). Would you also rebuild the bottom end. Is there a need to purchase a new head and or so forth.

The shop located a new OEM short block and it’s $4,500 alone. Should I add that to the taking care of the top-end and to what degree.
Click to expand...


V8 swap it.
 
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