I was just informed I need a new head gasket. I've used the same mechanic for years and he seems to do right by me. I thought it was the gas cap scenario. The check engine light ant the traction lights coming on. It ran rough when cold but, fine after it warmed up. He found out that the antifreeze is leaking into one of the cylinders. I just don't know if it's worth the cost to fix it or just trade it in. I have been thinking about getting a newer one.

Sounds like mine, it went at 185. Out of curiosity, when was yours built? Mine was built in November of '05. I had only owned mine for a few months and still owed on it so I elected to have the head gaskets replaced. Now I'm at almost 210k miles and love it.

2004, 150k on the OD, starting to missfire and P0304 CEL on cold startup now .... :-(

Ive had the waterfall sounds for the last 50k....

My 2005 had the waterfall sound at around 105/110K but no other issues, so I let it be. But then at 120k I had some over heating issues during a road trip. That's when I took it in and had it checked. I really wanted to wait till I got some codes or something, but after the overheating I didn't want to risk it.

Side note thought.... if you read through the bulk of this thread it is apparent that
1- 4th gen pre late 05 have the problematic gasket
2- average mileage at failure 150k+

So they changed the gasket design well before the years & mileage begin to indicate a possible problem.

Why??

"Lifetime" fluid changes unfortunately fooled many...myself included...
It is starting to bite the 5th gen guys in the tail feathers now too.

If you don't have to change your antifreeze, SLL till 100k miles...I am at just under 80k now...on a 09/2003 build. So 15 years with the same antifreeze...NOT.

You need to do this every other year to be safe, 30k at least...that 'lifetime' crap was a really bad idea in my books.

Good question. They may have had some early high-mileage vehicles start having head gasket issues. For example, I have a friend with a 2016 4Runner and he already has 175k miles on it since he drives it for work and for play. Maybe some of those high mileage vehicles had issues? Only thing I can think of. I just know they switched the head gasket design after November of 2005.

Can anyone recomend a place in nyc/new england areas to get the headgasket replaced ?

I dont think theres enough detailed walkthrus/youtube vids for me to do this myself lol...

Hello everybody (sorry for my English)
I had a problem when the engine rattled.
something fell in the fifth cylinder

shows damage

I see a damper failure


one missing detail


Broken shutter axis

at the bottom of the collector a piece of iron is visible, exactly the same were in the fifth cylinder

There is a different wear of the axle, it can be seen that it did not break yesterday, but a little earlier


We make a new axis


Axle bolt and nut


We seal the collector


Who had a similar problem?
we have found a lot of similar stories, but on this site could not find such stories

My 97s headgasket blew at the beginning of the month. This forced me to buy a vehicle quickly. Found an 06 sport with 140k. Ran great, a little rough start which i attributed to it sitting for so long. After a couple of days i got the dreaded waterfall noise. Coolant was low, so I topped it off. No change in the noise behind the dash. Luckily i bought it from a good guy. It was a car lot and auto shop. He agreed to look at it last friday. After a couple hours of tests, they found coolant leaking into cylinder 6. Guy took full responsibility and is correcting it now. Replacing both headgaskets, took heads to the machine shop etc. Cant believe it happened twice to me. If i wanted these issues I would have bought a subaru.

Hard to believe an 06 blew. Didn’t they redesign the gasket before 06? What was your manufacture date please.

That freaking sucks you had two different ones blow. Sorry.

Not really that hard to believe, the head gasket re-design was 11-05 and after and many 06 models had a build date prior to that. I would guess his build date was prior to 11-05.

The really good thing here is the seller/dealer stepped up and is fixing it, as should be done since he just purchased it!!

He will love that 06 for a long time to come now that it being made right!!

Thanks man. I thought the same thing, but i guess it has more to do with build date than model year. He put the updated gaskets in it too and is basically rebuilding the whole top end for free. Drove it less than a week. He gave me an 04 4runner for a loaner too. Definitely like the 5speed trans better.

The dealer/mechanic has been nothing but great the past couple weeks. I know once this is done i wont have worries for a long time to come. My 97 has 234k on it and i plan on rebuilding the top end on that one as well and rocking it to at least 350k.

Makes sense it was made at the end of 05.