Guys, got a call today about a gen2 4runner, 3.0, auto, 4x4, a little rust but clean otherwise. Head gasket went bad last week, guy doesn't want to fix it. 156k on it, sr5, clean interior, automatic, all stock. Rust on both rear wheel arches.
Couple questions:
How much of a b*tch are they to do on these things?
What else should be done at the same time?
What do you think it's worth as is?

Last time my head gasket's went i just bought another rebuilt motor, wasn't worth my time to redo the head gasket's.

Well for an amateur mechanic (such as myself and my brother), it was a HUGE PAIN! Made some small mistakes along the way. Between our mistakes and some problems resulting from the head gasket it has cost me $1000 so far after we "fixed it". Like you are talking about, I bought mine with a blown gasket and wish I hadn't even messed with it.

But if you have some mechanical experience, it might not be too bad.

I agree... might be worth it to get a reman.

If you do get the HG replaced, do the timing belt at the same time.

The reason i do that is cause most the time the head's go with the gasket's. So it's easier to install a new motor then take apart the one with blown head gasket's to find out that the head's are bad to.

I'm a fairly decent wrencher and my best friend is a mechanic by trade. We've built race cars together and done some other projects so I don't think skill will be too much of an issue. But you guys all brought up the better point, is it worth it to fix or just do a swap. If I do go get a remanufactured motor for it, what do you guys recommend? And how much should I look to spend on one?

Also, what do you guys think the truck is worth as is? How about after the motor is fixed/replaced and the rust is fixed?

Thanks,

Tom

There is a recall on the HG. Check the Vin# with Toyota to see if this guy ever did the recall if not buy take it to toyota and you will get it taken care of. Where do you live? I bought onr in CA with a head gasket problem and a radiator leak, picked up a block for $450. and $400 for install and bought a new radiator. She is now my daily driver. Oh I paid 1k for mine.

be careful with the head gas recall cuz i took my truck in over a month ago and they just called me last week and said they wouldnt do anything with it. because of the milage and the age of the truck. prolly needs some internal work and they dont wanna pay for it

where did you get you get your block from?

I would do a 3.4 swap if you can do it yourself. I use to own a 3.0 and I would never own another. First head gasket on mine was covered under recall and 50K or so miles later it went again.
Did it myself and got another 70K out of it. Fixed it the 2nd time and got rid of it. Doing a head gasket on those 3.0's suck too.

Am doing the head gaskets on a 95 3.0 as we speak. Just got the heads back from the machinist yesterday. Didn't have any Toyota experience but a moderate amount of other mechanical experience. That being said,breaking it down is not that bad, but it is time consuming. The worst part, for me anyway, was taking the time to mark the vacuum lines, didn't want to have any issues putting it back together. Will let you know how it is when I put it back together.

Cost wise, I will probably put in more than the average guy, currently have $300 into the heads(had three burned exhaust valves on drivers side-fairly standard), am going for a more expensive Felpro full engine gasket kit, probably another $200-250, new lead for knock sensor, $25, full timing belt kit/water pump, $150, belts & hoses, $100, starter-$100(only because I never want to change a starter in this vehicle-ever), plus tune-up parts, cap,wires, plugs, pcv, oil, filter, o-rings for injectors, parts cleaner. You get the picture. All in, i'm looking at a grand, I can squeeze that quite a bit, but i'm not. Oh yeah, I'm doing exhaust work as well.

As for the re manufactured engine, if you drop at an engine shop, will cost you up to $2000 to rebuild your motor. Saw a bunch of shops on ebay selling the 3.0 for an average of about $1600-$1700 with core +shipping. Some were higher, some were lower, and the engines were long block, no intakes, up to a complete motor less throttle body. Many options, none cheap, priced then all out.

If I were you, I'd pull the engine and tear it down, see what the block, rings and bearings look like. If good, have the heads redone, reuse whatever parts are good, and do a cheap rebuild. Then drive into the ground. I could have reused a bunch of parts, but decided to go new with all. Good luck to you, as an FYI, I'll be posting about my 3.0 head gasket job in the next week or so, figured someone would be interested.

I have an 88 that blew a head gasket, it was a huge pain in the ass to even get the damn thing apart. I decided i'm just going to part it out, I don't want to spend more money on something that will blow again.
My suggestion is to buy new heads, the 3vze heads are notorious for cracking.

I live in L.A. so I picked it up in Sun Valley.