1995 4Runner-Bad Head Gasket Question

M

mikedks

New member
Morning all,
Recently bought a 95' w/a 3.0 VZE as a project, body in good condition but has a dead miss and low compression in 2 cylinders. At the moment, I am trying to diagnose whether it has head and/or gasket issues, vs worn rings. Compression in cylinder #1=60lbs, and in #5=30lbs, no signs of smoke in the exhaust, have not tested the anti-freeze yet, nor have I done a leakdown test or added oil to the cylinders. I know that this engine has issues with bad head gaskets,is there something specific I should be looking for to identify a 4runner head gasket issue? I could be off base, but I am leaning toward worn rings because the low compression cylinders are non-adjacent. Any opinions?

Also, how accurate is the oil in the cylinder test? anyone have decent results?

Thanks
 
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As this is a new project to me, its only seen limited running time while parked in the driveway. But, from what I see, oil and water look good.
 
my headgasket recently blew in my 95 V6 so here are my symptoms that I'll share. Note that it didn't all go at once, it seemed like it got worse over a 100mi period.

Low Coolant
Would boil over into expansion tank
You can hear a boiling noise from the expansion tank after engine was shut down (was bubbling up)
Colder Lower Coolant Pipe
Finally Water in Oil
White and sweet Smoke out of Exhaust

On my engine the previous previous owner claimed to have chained the head gasket. Either that wasn't true, or they did a bad job (reused head bolts or didn't deck the head or used improper head gasket)
 
OK, not much interest in my post. How about this, any Toyota tech's out there who can give me some info on the head gasket issue's that the 3.0 has? Maybe a little history and what causes the failures, anyone?

and yes, I have searched the forum.

Thanks
 
Any wonderful suggestions about which way to go once you've at the diagnoses ? I've owned a '95 for about 9 months and thought I'd made a great pick. It's a very clean vehicle with a remarkable interior and only a very few exterior blems. Nice ride ! But no, this morning -- I recognize the symptoms b/c I'd been through it with a '91 Explorer. It is suddenly missing, and putting out vapor at the exhaust. Ummmph, I'm sick !
 
Blown head gasket PREVENTION

I too, wish there was a specific area (maybe there is, but I can't find it, and neither does the Search) regarding the whole blown head gasket/exhaust crossover issue. What I've been able to "piece together" is:

a) the 4 Runner blows head gaskets with scary frequency
b) it seems to be related to two issues -- 1) a badly designed gasket, and 2) an exhaust crossover which puts undue heat below cylinders (there seems to be a lot of discrepancy re WHICH cylinder(s) is/are most affected

c) there seems to be a general consensus that modifying the exhaust greatly reduces the blown head gasket issue -- however, there doesn't seem to be any consensus on the best/least expensive way of doing that, and nearly zero info on how those mods might impact passing smog (esp here in CA)

So hoping some superuser can either point us to threads that address these issues, or a moderator who could create a Blown Head Gasket area?

Just my thought
 
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