With my motor just broken in with 250K miles, I had a head gasket fail. I'm attempting the job myself (except for inspection of the heads) but could someone tell me in general everything I'm going to be taking off the motor to get to the heads? Such as, do I need to remove the cam to get to the head bolts? I just don't want to take unnecessary parts off if I can help it.
Thanks so much

Do you have these?

Attached Images

	remo.pdf (319.8 KB, 1748 views)
	inst.pdf (400.9 KB, 4598 views)

That is just what I needed, thanks so much. I love this site.

Saved this for future reference, thank you.

Pull the head bolts and crank her over, the compression will pop it right apart.......seriously, dont do this. Although it works well on jetski motors.

@Draayer not a knock on you by any means. But if you're posting asking how to remove the heads, it's probably a bigger job than you should be taking on. It is a serious job, even for veteran mechanics. Not saying this to insult you, just don't want to see you get in over your head. Not many mechanics will take it on if you take it apart yourself and then get stuck.

Off the top of my head, you'll need to remove:

Air Box
MAF
Air Intake Tube
Throttle Body
Upper Manifold
Fuel Rail & Injectors
Lower Manifold
Spark Plugs & Wires
Valve Covers
Exhaust Manifolds
Front Engine Accessories
Timing Belt
Cams
(probably a few steps I'm missing here too)

Most of the time when you get to this point, it's easier & cheaper to just swap in a complete used engine.

I wish you luck though whatever route you take.

Believe me, I share the same concern, that I can get everything back together correctly.
I'm going very slow and am labeling everything the best that I can (what hose goes where, what bolts came from where) The two main concerns I have is with getting the timing belt back on correctly, and the cams correctly. I have a good friend that is a mechanic that if I need, I'm sure would come inspect my work and assist if needed. I really debated between the repair and a new motor but decided to give this a try.
Thanks for the reply

While I'm here, I do have a question.
When installing the head bolts, I understand to go through the tightening sequence. Once all the bolts are torqued as required, I read that I put a line on all the bolts pointing straight then tighten all bolts 180 degrees or so the line is now pointing back. Do I do this for all head gaskets? The reason I ask is because some gaskets call for them to be retightened. I had planned on getting Felt-pro which doesn't require re-tightening, so do I still do the 180 degree tightening?
Thanks again.

Yes.

Part of the head bolt torquing sequence, is the initial torquing of the head bolts to 25 ft-lbf, done in the proper sequence over several passes. Next is putting a paint mark on the bolt heads closest to the front of the engine, and then tightening them in two separate 90° steps, again following the proper sequence, so the paint marks end up facing the rear of the engine.

Yes, you also use that procedure for the Fel-Pro gaskets you have.

What they are referring to when they say their gaskets require no retorquing, is some gaskets types specify the initial torquing of the head bolts, running the engine for a short period of time, then going back and pulling valve covers, etc. and going back through and retorquing all the head bolts in the proper sequence again.

The OEM head bolts are TTY (Torque To Yield), so it would be advisable to use new bolts just for longevity sake. People sometimes reuse the old head bolts, but I think that's false economy.

If the TTY bolts are already stretched to near their service limit when reinstalled, and continue to stretch when subjected to the constant expansion and contraction of the head and block. It's only a matter of time until their clamping ability is insufficient, and the headgasket(s) start to leak again.

Perfect, that answers that.
I am using new bolts as I would much rather pay for new bolts now than do this all over again. If there are any other hints or suggestions that I won't find in a repair manual, I'll all ears.
Thanks again to all.

Checking the block and heads for flatness, would be a good idea. For the 5VZ-FE, anything less than .003" (.0762mm) should be ok, .002" (.0508mm) or less is better.

I don't know if it's in the FSM or not, but I would run a tap through all the head bolt holes in the block, just to make sure the threads are clean and in good shape. After running a tap down all the head bolt holes, I'd use high pressure air to blow any metal shavings out of the holes. Wear safety glasses when you do that.

Make sure you cover all the bolt holes except for the one you're blowing out, and the cylinder bores with a rag, so any metal shavings don't find their way into a place you don't want them.

Hey guys, I know I'm reawakening an old thread, but what was it @TheDurk posted? The image appears to be broken. I'm doing this procedure coming up for some burnt valves, and from the reactions it seems like a valuable piece of info. Thanks for any helpful hints
Sol

Head Removal and Installation Procedures from the FSM in PDF format

As far as I can tell it's still there. Are you on a firewall?

Haha I am at school, there shouldn't be a firewall for a PDF but I was able to see it on my phone. Thanks brother, that'll definitely help