Hello, all, I'm asking this on behalf of an internet-unfriendly friend who's at his wits end with a 1991 4Runner in otherwise showroom shape, about 200k miles, with the 22RE 4-cylinder.

This started with a visible coolant leak around the timing cover, and some evidence of coolant in the oil. He installed a Toyota Parts headgasket and had the head checked, was pronounced fine so was cleaned and reinstalled with new bolts.

Six months later, boom coolant in oil again. Pulled head, this time the machine shop said it was mildly distorted and they mildly 'decked' it, I believe to half the permissible shaving. This time he installed a Fel-Pro gasket.

Now three months later the problem has reversed itself: oil in the coolant, enough to float on top of the coolant in the radiator.

He is pulling his hair out. I have read about the V6 headgasket/block issues, but no mention of problems with the 4 cylinder (not that I have come across yet, anyway).

Any advice, tips, or pointers to Web pages or FAQs would be appreciated.

Thanks

Steve