I sent Toyota an email a couple days ago explaining the situation and they called me back today. The guy was really nice but said there's not been enough complaints about the head gasket in the 4th Gen 4Runners to justify a recall. He said to keep all the receipts and if they have a recall, they will reimburse us the money for the repair. I guess everyone needs to email Toyota that has or had a head gasket issue and start letting them hear the squeaky wheel.

BTW, his 4Runner manufactured day was 07.2004

The 11th digit is O. How do you know what plant is was manufactured at? The O just says Japan.

thanks for the additional info.

Maybe you should have gotten the toyota rep's email and sent him the link to this thread as a start to the squeak noise he'll be hearing more from... haha
just kidding... I'm sure they know the rumor but it's hard to justify action at any major corporation without formal complaints and case numbers (via phone or email).

plant of manufacturer was inferred from this attachement... it's for a different recall on the 1GR-FE.

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OIL_LEAK_FROM_FRONT_TIMING_COVER_T-EG049-07.pdf (216.6 KB, 273 views)

2005 Sport 2WD V6
Misfire on 6 cyl around 168,000
Head Gasket!

Sucks it happened because when we tore it down the internals looked brand new..

I don't have all of the requested particulars handy, but here is what I have:

2006 SR5 4WD.

Started with misfire on #4 almost a year ago at ~ 140,000 miles.

Mechanic couldn't confirm head gasket even though I suspected it based on symptoms and he did pressure test and bore scope.

Milked it for about a year until I got two misfires within weeks on #6 at 156,000 miles.

Owned since new.

I reported it by phone to Toyota Customer Care and received a confirmation or case #.

Our family has been bitten by the head gasket bug again. My other son has a 2004 4.0 T4R and found out today more than likely the head gasket is shot. It started about 4 days ago. He started it up and it started missing and shuttering and the check engine light came on. Took it to a friends and it says misfire on cyl #4. We swapped the ignition coil out and cleared it. Did the same thing this morning and same code and same cyl. Also loosing coolant in the coolant reservoir tank. We're going to take it to the dealership to confirm and then for the sake of principal, I'm going to start my campaign to have something done about this problem from Toyota. Will it do any good? Doubtful but I'm going to try everything I can. This is the 2nd head gasket on a 2004 4Runner in the last couple months for us. What's the chances?

You can add me to the list. I've got the parts from various places online and my son is going to start on it this week.

2004 v6 4x4 170k, misfire and leaking coolant into #6. Same symptoms as everyone else. Overflow tank draining and coolant verified in #6 with borescope. Never overheated so I'm hoping heads don't need milled, but I'm having them inspected and pressure tested and getting new valve seals at a minimum. I'm looking at $700-900 with zero labor.

Year - 2005
Production Date 12/04
4x4 or 4x2 - 4x4
Mileage of failure - 176k
Cylinder # that leaked - 6

My 2003 4runner SR5 has the head gasket leak on the left cylinder bank. We bought the car about 2 months ago with 127,500 miles on it. It drove great and was in good physical condition. It had no starting problems that day. The next day it showed its problems. It has been all over the place with PO300s and PO30x DTCs. I used BlueDevil Head Gasket Sealer based on this and other forums but it didn't work for me (or it caused the problem to move from the more vulnerable Cylinder 6 to 2 and 4 as confirmed by an auto repair shop). Taking it to the local dealer as the shop I took it to didn't want to do it. Hope to have a good vehicle for another 70,000 miles.

I had added myself to the thread Head Gasket -Survey- Specifically V6 previously. I don't know if everyone in that thread is accounted for here or not.

My vehicle and problem
2004 V6 SR5 4x4
approximately 171k miles
coolant in #6
11th digit on VIN is 8
Don't have the other information handy now.

Rough idle at startup, at first occasionally, then after a few times, it would happen every time the vehicle sat for a while. Noticed coolant disappearing from overflow tank. Radiator test did not indicate exhaust in coolant. Leak verified with borescope. Well maintained and never overheated. I also called and reported this to Toyota.

My 2005 Toyota 4Runner Sport Edition V6 4WD was leaking coolant at #4 cylinder. The check engine light came on and stayed on. On a cold start up, the engine would misfire for about 30 seconds to about a minute before smoothing out.

I never lost a lot of coolant and the engine never over heated. I think that I caught it just when it started to leak.

The dealer said that it was the head gasket causing the problem. So, at 125,000 miles, I replaced both sides.

I maybe a victim as well. 2005 V6 with 70,0000 miles. Problem just started last week with dash warning lights coming on and staying. Engine missing on cold start up and runs smooth when reaches operating temperature. Checked my codes and they say engine misfire cylinder #2.

Sounds familiar.

Replaced mine at 175k. I have the v6. Wish I had done it myself. My engine will never run the same after the machine shop did a valve job and "adjusted" the valves by grinding the valve stems because the shims were too expensive. He's a moron.

Updated:

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Amazing how it's all on the even numbered cylinders of the engine.