2004 Limited Edition 4Runner 4X4 - Head Gasket

[mtn_rooster]

CEL, rough idle, and P0306 for the last couple months on my 2006 4Runner - Limited (180k miles). I bought it used from a Toyota dealership at about 165k miles about 2.5 years ago.

1) Replaced spark plugs. They clearly needed replacing. Got better.
2) Swapped ignition coils with cylinder 4. Still P0306.
3) Compression test - All cylinders within 3.5% of each other : 137-142 psi. 90 psi on the first stroke and a quick build-up on successive strokes.
3) Replaced fuel injector on cylinder 6 (it was visibly blackened). Got a little worse actually. CEL started blinking when cold and clears after about 30s. That's new.
4) Positive block test. Test fluid turned green.

The positive block test points towards a leaky head gasket, right? If not and there are other tests I can do, I'd appreciate any feedback before I call my mechanic and shell out a few grand.

Thanks.

I should also point out that it's not overheating. I'd also like to mention that the number of misfires (from Mode $06 tests) went from the teens to 10k misfires after replacing the fuel injector. Any idea what would cause that?

One last sign/symptom is that the spark plug on cylinder 6 is visibly dirtier than the other five (even on the brand new plugs). I wouldn't say it's bad, but you can definitely pull it out of a line-up. The last time I pulled that plug there even seemed to be a bead of, what smelled like, gas bridging the gap.

 

[Jeff S.]

Looks like I'm part of the club.

2004 4Runner SR5 4X4...

Blown head gasket (problems with #4 cylinder) at about 204,000

 

[mtn_rooster]

Just got the call from my mechanic and he confirmed it was the head gasket. He's going to put some numbers together and possibly look for rebuilt engines. We'll probably end up going with the head gasket replacement and I'll send the invoice (or even the estimate) when I get it.

 

[Oldcrustybritches]

Great, looks I'll be on this thread soon.:frusty:

 

[mtn_rooster]

Just got the call from my mechanic and he confirmed it was the head gasket. He's going to put some numbers together and possibly look for rebuilt engines. We'll probably end up going with the head gasket replacement and I'll send the invoice (or even the estimate) when I get it.

Just got the 4Runner back from the shop yesterday. A whopping $4.5k. Ugh. Attached is the invoice. Runs great now though.

 

[nossliw]

Just got the call from my mechanic and he confirmed it was the head gasket. He's going to put some numbers together and possibly look for rebuilt engines. We'll probably end up going with the head gasket replacement and I'll send the invoice (or even the estimate) when I get it.

Good to see another CO guy on here.

I am new to the site but started a thread over here: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/174451-new-member-need-help-p304-misfire.html#post1765982

I am repairing my sisters with 167k on it. I will be pulling the motor on it next week and doing it myself since she dumped everything she had to buy the car, and no way in hell can afford the fix at a shop... SO tack up another 4.0 V6.

 

[Fins_3]

I'll add my experiences

2004 V6
At around 125000 miles it started... Misfire on cylinder 6 and rough idle. No signs of over heating, milky oil, etc. Test did find hydrocarbons in the coolant as well as air bubbles.

Local shop did the work for around $1900, this included the HG, checking the heads and replacing an O2 sensor that the coolant had fouled.

A bit later I had to replace a leaking crank shaft seal that was damaged by an improperly machined harmonic dampener. While making this repair I also found that the radiator had a small leak.

It's been about 8 months since I've had to sink any money into the thing. I hope I'm in the clear for a bit.

Admittedly this has soured me somewhat to the Toyota Brand after they declined any assistance with the head gasket repair.

 

[nossliw]

I am unable to open the service manual files....on a PC or Mac! Any help?

 

[Proctor750]

*sigh*

04' with incredible preventative maintenance schedule (all oem parts and pink coolant). Occasional rough starts for the past few months getting much more occasional. Finally P0306 (misfire) code. I swapped coils with cyl 5 and checked plug (looked ok I replaced a few k ago). More rough idle on start up and p0306 returns.

Looks like I need a gasket on driver bank.

Should I go ahead and replace both banks? (dumb question I know)

Can hg job be done easily with motor still in truck?

Any updates on if Toyota is going to help with this bs? Or have they at least made a TSB or what??

 

[Proctor750]

Could torquing the headbolt nearest cyl 6 down a bit more seal the leak? It's such a small slow leak it seems like a little extra torque might do it?

 

[Proctor750]

I called and sure enough no recall or anything, they just took my name down.

Here is my case# 1408152385,

Anyone who has had this issue even if it was years ago please call and mention my case number so we can get the wheels moving on a possible recall.
The rep did say if enough people called in that people who did the repairs previously could possibly be reimbursed.

 

[nossliw]

*sigh*

04' with incredible preventative maintenance schedule (all oem parts and pink coolant). Occasional rough starts for the past few months getting much more occasional. Finally P0306 (misfire) code. I swapped coils with cyl 5 and checked plug (looked ok I replaced a few k ago). More rough idle on start up and p0306 returns.

Looks like I need a gasket on driver bank.

Should I go ahead and replace both banks? (dumb question I know)

Can hg job be done easily with motor still in truck?

Any updates on if Toyota is going to help with this bs? Or have they at least made a TSB or what??

Toyota won't do shit. Master mechanic here in Denver has seen 3 04's in the last month with the same damn issue. Two on cylinder 6 and 1 on cylinder 4. my sisters is on 4. Its is becoming more common, and the naysayers can go pound sand. 12-160 on ahead gasket is NOT ok.

To answer your question. Yes it can easily be done in the truck. took me 5.5 hours to have the motor torn down in the truck all the way with the cams out. However I found out some f-tard engineer decided to use a bihexagona inset head bolt... The proper tool is special order from OPC. Mac and Snap on in town don't even carry the tool. DO NOT use a tri-box 12 point. They are on a 90 degree basis and not 120 like a bihexagonal. Oreillys has a trisquare tool set for 4.99 if you feel lucky and maybe want to drill head studs out of a head.

I think I'm acutually going to do a full writeup on pulling the HG out of this thing. Its a fairly easy job to be honest, but there is no support from the net on anyone who has done it. Save yourself the money and take a weekend and do it yourself. Totally worth 3200 dollars to me, and its not even my car. I found 1 thread that was minimally informative with no pics. I found a few others in the 7200 class of trophy trucks with guys who think this 4.0 motor is a high hp motor...not! Anyways I will quit my rant, but I hope to do the full write up within my previously linked thread. I will have the heads off once the tool arrives early next week. No reason to pull the pan or half of the front end like the service manual notes. Pulling the motor may have been easier but always turns into more of a project once its out... at least it does for me, might as well just do the bottom end at that point.

Could torquing the headbolt nearest cyl 6 down a bit more seal the leak? It's such a small slow leak it seems like a little extra torque might do it?

I wouldn't suggest it at all. Doing so will crack a head very quick, or sometimes your block. If you are going to take all the time to rip it down to the head bolts, why not just pull the head? 98% of the work is getting to those bolts, and in 10 minutes you would have them off. I also suggest NEVER reusing head studs. Is it required, absolutely not, but is it worth overstretching your stud when reusing and retorquing, and popping a gasket in 10,000 miles, not to me. Here is a link to ARP studs to get rid of the garbage bihexagonal studs and a solid 3 layer viton sealed stainless cometic head gasket... bottom end will go long before these blow, if you torque them corectly.

Pro Head Stud Set - Pro Head Stud Set - 1GR(4.0L V6)

Dezod Motorsports. Cometic Mult-Layer Steel Head Gasket-1GR Engine - Dezod Motorsports. Cometic Mult-Layer Steel Head Gasket-1GR Engine

Bi hexagona Head Stud tool - OTC / Toyota / 09043-50100 10MM BI-HEXAGON SOCKET

 

[jmh139]

I ended up buying the 2004 in Raleigh last week. Definitely has a blown head gasket. I got it cheap enough to fix or replace the engine if necessary. I have the FSM now and just started the process of pulling the engine out. Will go well with my 99 Limited with 279k miles!

No Troll Here!! Been around since 2005.

04 150,XXX miles. Rough starts for the last week, 20-30 seconds then smooths out. Threw P0306 & P0300 code this AM. I have an inexpensive code reader with live data. Coolant was low enough over the winter for the heater not to work unless moving, but never over heated, that I know of, could have caused hot spots I would think thou. The coolant went somewhere!! Nothing on the ground ever. No smell under hood prior to flush, but of course after that there was for a couple weeks. R&Red all coolant using radiator & block drains ect a couple months ago. So I know coolant was full. Checked it daily for a week after replacing it. Checked coolant this am, reservoir was empty, and pulled radiator cap and I could not see coolant. Also when started this am I heard bubbling from under the dash, heard this over the winter too when coolant was low. Added approx. 2-3 Quarts of 50/50 mix, peak global Lifetime, Yellow coolant, which I used when it was flushed. I've never seen white smoke at start up but I also have not really been looking for it, I will now. No water in the oil that I can tell, It does not appear to be "Making oil" Level was normal this am, needs a change, less than a half a quart down from full mark after 6500 miles. It has never used oil!! Drives fine after first 20-30 secs.

When coolant was low over the winter I as only looking at the reservoir and not opening the cap at first. It was in the normal range even thou you could not see any in the radiator once I finally opened the cap.

Overall I think my HG has been going for about a year now. Looking back very subtle hints along the way. I'm on the fence about fixing it. Likely only get $4-5K trade-in if I can hide the problem and dump it on a dealer, body is straight but paint is just average.

I'm a bit pissed I just flushed 16 quarts of tranny fluid through it, put 5100s on the front w/ new springs 2.5-2.75" lift, FJ Springs in the rear, all new sway bar bushings and end links front and rear, new splash guards in the front wheel wheels (old ones dry rotted away) and spidertrax in the last 4 months.

I've replaced all 4 wheel bearings since 108k miles. Only one was bad (left rear) but took me 4 tries to get it right, I know pretty sad!! Frozen front caliper about a year ago, 2 new front calipers and new pads and rotors all around at that point.

Its not 100% confirmed blown Head Gasket but very likely at this point.

even saw this listing today, see pic. Craigslist Raleigh, NC.

 

[CookieRoe]

I think I'm acutually going to do a full writeup on pulling the HG out of this thing. Its a fairly easy job to be honest, but there is no support from the net on anyone who has done it. Save yourself the money and take a weekend and do it yourself. Totally worth 3200 dollars to me,

Cool! Keep us updated. A detailed DIY with pictures would be great for the rest of us.

 

[thewizard]

Im in the process of doing the headgasket swap on my 04 V6. My #6 cylinder was giving me a misfire code and started having issues with fluid backing up to the overflow tank. I had replaced the waterpump, pulleys etc a couple of months ago and did not have cooling issues for a while but it started appearing again so i gave it a go. Already took the heads off, sent them to the machine shop and everything checked to be up to spec so no milling or valve adjustment etc... was necessary. The heads were cleaned and valve seals were replaced. This weekend the heads will go back on.
To be honest if you are mechanically inclined and have some experience with motors etc the job is definitely do-able. My biggest problem was taking the manifolds off. The bolts/nuts were rusted to death and would strip or snap. However, there is enough room to take the heads off with the manifolds/cats...
I have some pics, just not every step. Its pretty obvious what needs to come off and in what order. I honestly did not follow the FSM. I did look up certain things for reference but like i said if you are mechanically inclined there is no real need for it. It will be useful when putting things together as you will need the torque specs on things...
I had no problem using a triple square 10mm removing the head bolts. The headgaskets did not have any visible damage/leakage either. All in all it took about 6hours to take things off taking my sweet ass time. It will cost me roughly 800 bucks all in. (i did break the plastic piece on one of the chain guides and replaced all 12 studs and nuts for the manifolds which cost me 120 bucks) If anyone has questions i will do my best to adress their concerns...
Oscar

 

[jmh139]

I would love to see a quick writeup or some pictures. I am in the middle of this right now. I planned to take the engine out of mine (04 V6 4WD) but could not get the engine separated from the transmission so I will go ahead and tear it down in the car. Looks like from the FSM I will have to remove some 4WD parts in order to get the oil pan off.

Thanks for any advice.

Im in the process of doing the headgasket swap on my 04 V6. My #6 cylinder was giving me a misfire code and started having issues with fluid backing up to the overflow tank. I had replaced the waterpump, pulleys etc a couple of months ago and did not have cooling issues for a while but it started appearing again so i gave it a go. Already took the heads off, sent them to the machine shop and everything checked to be up to spec so no milling or valve adjustment etc... was necessary. The heads were cleaned and valve seals were replaced. This weekend the heads will go back on.
To be honest if you are mechanically inclined and have some experience with motors etc the job is definitely do-able. My biggest problem was taking the manifolds off. The bolts/nuts were rusted to death and would strip or snap. However, there is enough room to take the heads off with the manifolds/cats...
I have some pics, just not every step. Its pretty obvious what needs to come off and in what order. I honestly did not follow the FSM. I did look up certain things for reference but like i said if you are mechanically inclined there is no real need for it. It will be useful when putting things together as you will need the torque specs on things...
I had no problem using a triple square 10mm removing the head bolts. The headgaskets did not have any visible damage/leakage either. All in all it took about 6hours to take things off taking my sweet ass time. It will cost me roughly 800 bucks all in. (i did break the plastic piece on one of the chain guides and replaced all 12 studs and nuts for the manifolds which cost me 120 bucks) If anyone has questions i will do my best to adress their concerns...
Oscar

 

[thewizard]

I actually did not remove the motor, just the heads.
As i mentioned its straight forward. Will try to post a write up tomorrow...
Only thing i did wrong is not order all the headbolts but only for one side so finishing it up will happen after tuesday. Parts people at two dealers were so incompetent i had to argue that there was no 4 cylinder models for this generation, got pissed off when i told him he is looking up the wrong engine code and the second one claimed there were 7 bolts and not 8. Arrggghhh!!!

 

[nossliw]

I actually did not remove the motor, just the heads.
As i mentioned its straight forward. Will try to post a write up tomorrow...
Only thing i did wrong is not order all the headbolts but only for one side so finishing it up will happen after tuesday. Parts people at two dealers were so incompetent i had to argue that there was no 4 cylinder models for this generation, got pissed off when i told him he is looking up the wrong engine code and the second one claimed there were 7 bolts and not 8. Arrggghhh!!!

I have started one here...I will add as time allows. Job has been completed for some time. Drove me nuts no one had the time to do a writeup, and now I don't . I did not remove the motor and did the heads at right around 10 hours to fire and running solid.

link:http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/174451-new-member-need-help-p304-misfire.html#post1806657

 

[nossliw]

Im in the process of doing the headgasket swap on my 04 V6. My #6 cylinder was giving me a misfire code and started having issues with fluid backing up to the overflow tank. I had replaced the waterpump, pulleys etc a couple of months ago and did not have cooling issues for a while but it started appearing again so i gave it a go. Already took the heads off, sent them to the machine shop and everything checked to be up to spec so no milling or valve adjustment etc... was necessary. The heads were cleaned and valve seals were replaced. This weekend the heads will go back on.
To be honest if you are mechanically inclined and have some experience with motors etc the job is definitely do-able. My biggest problem was taking the manifolds off. The bolts/nuts were rusted to death and would strip or snap. However, there is enough room to take the heads off with the manifolds/cats...
I have some pics, just not every step. Its pretty obvious what needs to come off and in what order. I honestly did not follow the FSM. I did look up certain things for reference but like i said if you are mechanically inclined there is no real need for it. It will be useful when putting things together as you will need the torque specs on things...
I had no problem using a triple square 10mm removing the head bolts. The headgaskets did not have any visible damage/leakage either. All in all it took about 6hours to take things off taking my sweet ass time. It will cost me roughly 800 bucks all in. (i did break the plastic piece on one of the chain guides and replaced all 12 studs and nuts for the manifolds which cost me 120 bucks) If anyone has questions i will do my best to adress their concerns...
Oscar

You are probably done with this right now, but there is no reason to be removing the front diff and x member, or the oil pan for that matter. No reason at all! I know the service manual states so, but that is for replacing your pan gasket and sump. Not needed to do the head gasket, but more power to you if you did!

 

[chmura]

I actually did not remove the motor, just the heads.
As i mentioned its straight forward. Will try to post a write up tomorrow...
Only thing i did wrong is not order all the headbolts but only for one side so finishing it up will happen after tuesday. Parts people at two dealers were so incompetent i had to argue that there was no 4 cylinder models for this generation, got pissed off when i told him he is looking up the wrong engine code and the second one claimed there were 7 bolts and not 8. Arrggghhh!!!

Post a write up for sure!

This would be very helpful for the community. Please post all the parts you replaced as well.

I know sealing up the front of the timing cover is a special RTV sealant you are suppose to use. I would try to buy the Toyota sealant because you definitely do not want leaks at the cover since it will be PITA to do twice!