Nice work, wish I would have been as thrifty as yourself on finding better prices on the parts! I'm just east of Parker, so a bit away from you.

I need to go through and clean it up a bit, riddled with grammar errors and repetition of reference the manual. Hard to see it all on a little phone screen, but I looked at it for the first time on the computer and it sure needs clean up.

A few notes as I am going through this, will clean/edit them up once complete.

- remove the hood and bumper for better access
- disconnect the Y on the exhaust for better movement to get the header off
- AC bottom rear bolt was a PITA to get to
- OPs order for removal is spot on: do the front accessories, coolant bypasses, headers, and every bolt and nut removed before the valve covers. I ended up in/on the motor more than once getting everything else off.
- Purchase a 23 mm crescent for the cam hex, see post #35
- Remove rear coolant bypass after fuel rail and valve covers are moved/removed, makes access much easier. Install before these items as well.

And the most important thing I learned to day was . . . get the the fu@king crank bolt loose before you do anything! This would be the first thing I did as soon as I could get access to it, if you cannot get it loose you cannot get the front cover off. The OP made it sound easy with an impact, which I did not have, so I tried everything under the sun, I spent probably 5 hours trying all sorts of things; running to the auto store, Ace, scouring the internet and fabricating a cool looking, but worthless device, to hold the god damn pulley still while trying to break the bolt loose. Eventually, what tuned out to be the absolute easiest and least complicated method worked awesome.

I threaded two bolts through the pulley's threaded holes, and bottomed them out into to the engine cover (probably not the recommended procedure, but by god it worked) and then 4 feet of cheater bar and she popped right off.

Glad to hear its going well! Good point, if you don't have an impact, just break it loose while the belt is on there. If you forget, I have used belt/chain wrenches to hold pulleys fixed while cracking a bolt loose. I do forget not all have impacts, however I'd never do a job without them... makes it too easy.

I did access quite a few bolts through the fender well on the drivers side with a long extension during disassembly. I may have not mentioned it but, I put the front on stands and pulled both front wheels for easier access.

Haha, now you tell me!

I tried EVERYTHING prior to the bolts through the pullry, I was just pulling arms out of their sockets with everything else I tried.

I did see you mention pulling the wheels, but I need them on to roll it in/out of the garage for enough room to work on it.

My newest hang up is the exhaust cam timing sprocket bolt, that mofo is on there TIGHT! I got the intake ones on both sides loose pretty easy, but both exhausts bolts are crazy tight. I currently only have an adjustable wrench that fits the cam shaft and it is slipping when I am cranking on it, going to the store to pickup some larger crescents, I think it is a 22 mm, and my set only goes to 19 mm.

edit - I see you had the same issue, any pics of your "modified" wrench? Was it a crescent or an adjustable?

So close, I can see the gasket!

So, I actually got it off pretty easily. I took a trip to the hardware store and picked up a 22, 23 and 24 mm crescent wrenches, as I wasn't sure exactly what size I would need. The 22 was too small, 24 was probably the correct size, but there was still too much play for my liking, I felt that I would rish rounding it out if I went with the 24. The 23 did not slide on easily, but I decided it was going to be my best bet, so I used a piece of 2x4 and gently tapped the 23 over the hex portion of the cam. Then, a 3' section of pipe on the crescent and 4' of bar on the bolt, and BAM! I definitely thought I had broke something as well, I feared the bolt had snapped in the shaft, but all was well and both came out in one piece. I suspect that the bolt was bottomed out on the mating end and is why it is so damn tight, but IDK.

Today the heads will come off!!

Wrapped this up last night, fired right up! Lots of smoke from the engine bay, but other than that everything seems to be OK, took it out for a lap around the block as well. I have some drips this morning hoping that they are just residuals from the overhaul, going to clean them up this afternoon and keep an eye on them. Also will make some additional notes for the process in the previous post as well as some pics.

Here is the final parts list and prices:

- Gasket Kit #04112-31720 - $180 - http://toyotaparts.bochtoyotasouth.c...ota/0411231720

- SnapOn 10 mm Bi-Hex tool - $30 - http://store.snapon.com/Double-Hex-S...x-P646038.aspx

- 23mm Open Ended Box Wrench - $18

- Water Pump #16100-09471- $87 - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Engine-Water...4c7805&vxp=mtr

- Head Bolts #90910-02162 (x16) - $110 - http://toyotaparts.bochtoyotasouth.c...tr=90910-02162

- Mobil 1 Syn Oil 5 Qts (x3) - $75 - Wally World

- Toyota OEM Filters (x2) - $13

- Toyota Super Long Life Coolnt (x3) - $66

- Toyota OEM Spark Plugs (x6) - $24

- Toyota FPIG (RTV) #00295-00103 - $18

- Machine heads and install valve seals - $180

Total: $801

Yeah I was pretty blown away how tight it was... I have busted loose Detroit Diesel headstuds with much less effort. My modified wrench was just a standard wrench that I shaved to fit snugly by tapping on. I snapped mine breaking the passenger side loose, I was happy it snapped before it broke,.

Yup. Thought the same when it cracked loose. I was worried about shearing the cam to be honest. Stress cracking...


Glad it worked out for you. I hope it runs a long time without issue. Maybe in anothe 160k :-)

I do want to add a bit of comedy to this thread. I forgot to mention that after this work was complete, she took it back into the dealership for a free inspection since she was headed to the insane state of California for an internship with apple. Low and behold those fuks came up with a laundry list of stuff that "needed" to be done to the car before she left. Totalling over 2 grand. The was a long list of chi,t with the reasoning of "based upon mileage" you need to do this.

Well one of them was a coolant flush
another was a new water pump
and the power steering system to be flushed

Power steering was flushed less than 2k, same with the coolant, and same with the water pump. All done with the HGs. They didn't remember her for some reason, until I called... reminded them it was the car that needed a new engine, and all of this had just been done.

The rest was flush the diffs/tranny/and typical preventative maintenance. I guess I get pissed considering they are to effing lazy to even look at the fluid anymore, let alone if the service is even needed. I did most of this 2 weeks prior to her leaving, and before she took it to them.

I have a sickening despise for all dealerships, I'm not saying Toyota is any worse than the rest of them.

Heck at least they got smart and started designing cars that require you to bring it to the dealership because the advance in technology is surpassing the knowledge base of the repair industry.... Kudos to the engineers on that one!

Hey nossliw, thanks for your detailed write up it gave me the confidence to tackle my head gasket on my 04 4Runner with 172k miles on it. I'm also in Colorado Springs and I was wondering where you took your heads to get machined?

Possibly a stupid question but I'll ask it:
Since the cam sprockets are torqued so tight and hard to break loose, is it really necessary to remove them from the cams? Why not just remove the main chain, unbolt the cam bearings and lift the cams (with sprockets attached) up and out?
Just curious, what am I missing?

I do not get notifications to this site, and check back time to time... I'm sure you are already done with the job, but for future work. Stan at Rocky Mountain Machine does top notch work. He is worth every penny and does not sluff on any detail.

Hmm.. I'm not sure to be honest. You may be correct in your assumption. I think it may be a bit difficult to hit that exact tooth on the main chain when setting the motor to TDC and orienting the cams properly on the head.

I bet it can be done, and maybe the only reason it hasn't been written yet, is the fact that it would take forever to write the exact directions within the manual, when they simply can say remove the VVts and chain by removing these two bolts....

Yes, they were on incredibly tight. I really thought we were going to shear the cam

Greetings from Australia,

Just joined this forum so I could thank you for the this excellent writeup, it has helped me so much in doing this repair.

I am a mechanic by trade but havent worked as one for over 25 years, but have always worked on my own cars to stay in touch.

Recently bought a 2005 Toyota Hilux 4.0L 1GRFE with 240,000kms, all the services had been done from new, and to cut a long story short I got ripped! A day after I bought it I noticed the the coolant level in the radiator going down, and I could hear a bubbling sound coming from under the dash area(heater hoses)..alarm bells! More investigation found the coolant wouldn't flow back from the overflow tank when it cooled down, and I could see bubbles at radiator fill(yes I know I should have checked that before I bought it, but the seller seemed so nice so I didn't do the checks). To confirm I did a compression test, and yes number 2 cylinder(front cylinder, right hand bank) was down at 140 psi, all the others were about 170 psi. Then ran compressed air down the compression tester hose on this suspect cylinder and watched the bubbles come up through the radiator fill, so leaking/blown HG confirmed!

So did some internet research and found your writeup, excellent! Australian 1GRFE engines are a little different in the sump. They are a 2 piece sump. the main alloy sump and a smaller steel sump below the front half of the main sump. To get to those 4 bolts attaching the sump to the timing cover requires the lower sump to be removed. You only have about an inch or so clearance from the bottom sump to the cross member/sway bar/power steer rack and front differential. The Toyota manual says you have to remove the sway bar, power steer rack and front diff! Are they kidding! So I cheated and undid the engine mount bolts and jacked the engine up 3 inches. That way I was able to drop the sump 4 inchs, but I couldn't remove it from under the front of the engine until I got my hand and a 10mm spanner in to remove the 3 bolts holding the oil pickup on. Once I removed the pickup all good I was able to get the sump out and get to the 4 timing cover bolts! Saved myself a days work I reakon!

Once the heads were off I could see where the HG gasket was leaking. Put a straight edge on the heads, they were perfect, no warpage at all! So I cleaned them up with wet and dry sandpaper. No need to get them shaved.

A complete genuine Engine gasket set from Toyota was going set me back about $700!!! And that was without new Head bolts! WE really get ripped off by the Stealerships down here in OZ. So I bought a set off Cnsautoparts in the states. The brand is Eristic from Taiwan, hope they are ok? Price was about $160 USD, and shipping about another $40 USD. With our dollar about 73cents on the US dollar it worked out about $250 AUD. Not too bad. The Head Gaskets are MLS where the original Toyota ones on the car look like composite, so hopefully they are better.

In regards to the special Bihex tool to get the Head bolts off. I just used a normal single hex(allen head) 10mm socket (but a good brand, they are made from S2 steel). It worked fine!

Heads are back on, but am now waiting for the timing chain to arrive (decided to change it while I'm there, it does have 240,000 kms on the engine). I will do another writeup with pics when I'm done, and hopefully all goes well.

cheers for now

Great info! Shoot I think you could get a good deal on a set of Cometic gaskets down there for that motor cheaper than the other, but I could be wrong...

700... wow...what does a motor run down there? 70,000?

Interested in seeing that 2 piece sump. I agree when I first read the manual I thought they were hi off their rocker to pull all of that. Pulling the motor would be much easier and efficient. About as bad as AUDI or FORD 6.0 cab removals.

Best of luck on it bud. I agree a single hex tool can be used, I was a bit paranoid if it "didn't" work and I had to drill out head studs... I have had to do this on fractured studs before and its almost worthwhile to start over with anew short block IMO.

Gday!

Well the Hilux is all up and running beautifully! I am one very happy person. She started first go as soon as I cranked the motor! Have been flat out since so hence my delay to get back on here and post my results.

The rebuild went pretty much as expected, actually it was faster than pulling it apart as I was now quite familiar with the motor. One thing that saved time was leaving the cam sprockets on and just undoing the bearing caps and tensioner and pulling boths cams and tensioner with the chain in one lot. Easy! Putting them back on I fitted the inlet cam first, but leaving the front larger bearing cap off(you won't be able to do it with this cap on it gets in the way), then fitting the chain and exhaust cam and tensioner together(and getting the timing marks lined up), then lastly fitting the large bearing cap. Bit fiddly but I made it work. Then just repeat the doseage on the other bank. Glad I got around all that drama with those super tight sprocket bolt/nut other people have had troubles with.

Other thing to watch is putting the timing cover on, be very careful you don't pinch that bottom oil pump O ring as you slide the cover back onto the motor over the crank and sump. If you stuff it you won't have any oil pressure on startup and stuff your motor. I siliconed the O ring onto the timing cover first and let it dry for a day so it held fast. Probably why Toyota tell you to remove the sump completely first. Nip up the 4 bottom timing cover/sump bolts first before you do all the other timing cover bolts so it seals that O ring nice and tight.

I am very glad I installed a new timing chain set, the tensioners were worn quite a bit on the plastic parts, and I measured the original Toyota chain up against the new chain and the Toyota chain was about 10mm longer! So there has been some stretch! Everything was nice and tight when the chain was installed no slack at all.

Little thing, install the oil filter housing before you fit the thermostat housing, otherwise you cant get it on.

Ok here goes with my conclusions on the job in general. If I ever had to do it again I would definately pull the motor and work on it outside the car. In the long run it would be easier and possibly take less time. I wouldn't have replaced the head bolts as the originals were in great condition and it would have saved me some $. I took a bit of a risk not machining the heads even thought they checked out fine with a straight edge , and in hindsight I probably should have got them shaved just to be on the safe side. Luckily everything worked out fine. Yes definately remove the bumper makes the job much easier. And I did notice when the heads were off my cylinder bores still had the crosshatch pattern, so those 10,000km oil changes the previous owner had raved about had really paid off. And the cheapie HG set and timing chain set both seemed quite good quality, so I'm happy...time will tell if they last I guess..and that ziplock bag idea for the various parts/bolts/etc to go in, BEST IDEA EVER!!! oh and 1 last thing, remember to tighten the sump plug...lol...I did all the job then forgot to nip up the sump plug drove it this way for 2 days until I noticed a bit of oil leaking at the sump plug..I shudder to think of the disaster that would have happened had it fallen out

Again thanks for all your help, it would have been very difficult without your help...cheers for now