Who has more than 250k miles on original head gasket? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

My 1996 is at 260k and on its 3rd HG. But Im over 2k miles into the 3rd one and going strong! :D
 
Head gasket failure, I've found from dealing with customers that if you want to make things last, you need to do preventive maintenance.

I can't tell you how many times I've had customers ask me why their head gasket failed, only to inform them that their cooling system was a complete wreck.

My advice to my customers, it would be a lot cheaper to spend a few dollars now having me maintain their cooling system before they encounter problems.

Now don't get me wrong, parts can still fail, but as a general rule most failures can be traced back to the owner performing little to no preventive maintenance.
 
^^^This^^^. The 80 with 375,000 miles has had good PM, always 50:50 Toyota Red and distilled water, but now getting a new radiator. It'll also get a new OEM Thermostat. The current OEM Tstat appears to be working fine but it's now 12 years old so good time to replace it while the system is empty.
 
I agree with PM. And depending on what failure odds (anecdotally) are, I also agree with preemptive action based on usage. If your LC is a daily around town vehicle, and will never see remote places or long trips, I see HG as a good idea, but maybe unnecessary as PM. But if it is about to embark on the transcontinental overland expedition? No brainer. Preemptively take care of the known weak(er) link.
 
271K on mine and still going strong. I do a fair amount of towing in the Colorado mountains so it gets run pretty hard.
When I got it at 130k miles it would overheat in the mountains. I traced the issue to a woefully undersized aftermarket fan clutch. Replaced with the blue hub clutch with the right fluid and it never gets hot anymore. I've also done thermostat and new Toyota red radiator fluid in the last couple of years.
 
225m/370kms on my original HG. Used a tester kit to confirm no leaks, at least in the water, for a solid 10 minutes at running temp even though the test specifies 2; no colour change. Will just keep an eye on it for the next 30,000kms....
 
I have no clue is my HG is original or not. I treat it as if it is. Knowing that I tend to really baby it until the coolant is at least up to operating temp and watch my coolant temp pretty close. I have a feeling overheating is a pretty hard factor in messing up a HG.
 
Mine made 265k. 1993
 
Signs? Like what?

Just what I said.... physical deterioration (material in areas very thin or missing). It was on its way out before I did the engine flush.

Fire ring on #6 was also deformed.
 
Just what I said.... physical deterioration (material in areas very thin or missing). It was on its way out before I did the engine flush.

Fire ring on #6 was also deformed.
All this visible from looking at the engine while the head was on?
 
My HG went at 292K... 292ish, really, because when you run larger tires you are actually recording less mileage than you drive.
 
230k on the OG head gasket here.
1997 with something like 265k on original head gasket. I have read that Toyota made some improvements in the head gasket during the last year or two of production. No idea if that is true or not as the part number didn't change.
I heard the OBD2s got wider coolant passages in the headgasket, this is what @LINUS said in another thread.

I'm not sure there were any changes made for the 1997 model year though. In fact I remember seeing a post by @Ozark cruiser where he said everyone he's opened up has needed it. Apparently the material itself will just degrade over time, especially near cyls 1 & 6, and there won't always be any symptoms.

Idk if we can say it's a design flaw if you hear about them lasting 300k+ miles, though. I suppose a lot of it has to do with how the truck was driven throughout its life i.e. how much heat cycling, long or short trips, etc.
 
All this visible from looking at the engine while the head was on?

Of course not....I don't have Xray freaking vision. It was noted when I removed the head and carefully inspected the head gasket.

I took a bunch of photos of it but all of those are being held hostage on Photobucket and I refuse to pay even more than I was paying before to get them back.
 
230k on the OG head gasket here.

I heard the OBD2s got wider coolant passages in the headgasket, this is what @LINUS said in another thread.

I'm not sure there were any changes made for the 1997 model year though. In fact I remember seeing a post by @Ozark cruiser where he said everyone he's opened up has needed it. Apparently the material itself will just degrade over time, especially near cyls 1 & 6, and there won't always be any symptoms.

Idk if we can say it's a design flaw if you hear about them lasting 300k+ miles, though. I suppose a lot of it has to do with how the truck was driven throughout its life i.e. how much heat cycling, long or short trips, etc.
^^^^^
Exactly what (and where) happened to mine.
 
Original HG on my 97 but just passed 225K, got my first Blackstone back today and it was great so hopefully that doesn’t jinx it
 
@flintknapper for being Toyota's best guess at the time to replace the older asbestos material, I'd say it still did pretty well to last 316k miles over the course of 20 some years!

The HG issue is puzzling to me on the 1fz since it seems like they almost all let go eventually in a similar fashion, but some failed under 100k miles and were replaced under warranty, while others make it all the way to 500k as seen in this thread.

Maybe the only way to know for sure in some cases is to pull the head off and inspect..
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom