Blew head gasket... I think I need headers

2ndGen4runner4x4

2ndGen4runner4x4

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My 95 4runner with the 3VZE blew a head gasket for Thanksgiving... yay!
I got the heads off and it looks like the gasket is leaking at the #6 cylinder. The 1.5 year old radiator also popped a seam so I will be replacing that too. The heads are re-man units that were installed sometime in the past by a previous owner... it had "Rock Gasket" head gaskets.
I am looking to order Fel-Pro gaskets through Rockauto.com as well as a new radiator. The vehicle has just over 200K miles and is in really nice condition so I plan on keeping it for a long time.
I am seriously considering doing away with the crossover pipe and installing headers. Anyone have any advice on brands, etc if I do?
 
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What type of rad did you buy? Factory rads would not "pop a seam". Our original lasted almost twenty years, and never over heated the truck. Our 1990 does not have headers and runs very cool, all the time(traffic or idle). Headers will help though.
regards
 
Mine blew the HG day before Thanksgiving.
I am putting in the fel-pro gaskets from Rockauto. Only read good things about their gaskets from other sites..should have mine back together by the weekend..hoping.
 
77'911 said:
What type of rad did you buy?
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The previous owner had installed an "el cheapo" Chinese radiator from one of the box stores.
But that's not what caused it to overheat...
It had a stuck closed thermostat (probably installed along with radiator) a few months back. I installed a good quality thermostat and thought my problems were over with. Fast forward to thanksgiving weekend and an 85mph road trip to west Texas and the head gasket said "I'm outta here!"
 
loko ino said:
Mine blew the HG day before Thanksgiving.
I am putting in the fel-pro gaskets from Rockauto. Only read good things about their gaskets from other sites..should have mine back together by the weekend..hoping.
Click to expand...

I feel your pain!
I am also going to order the Fel-Pro gaskets from Rockauto... and a new radiator too. I plan to replace the knock sensor pigtail, timing belt and idler pully while in there as well.
Everything else looks good.
 
92-SR5 said:
Personally I would get an actual toyota HG, they are the best quality. I have heard of fel-pro being called fail-pro but I can't say anything bad about them from my experience.
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I have read "get the Toyota gaskets" quite often but it's been my experience that they seem to fail just as often. I think it's more of an exhaust design issue than a gasket issue. Plus, I would really love to put a set of headers to try and get a little more power outta this thing!
 
2ndGen4runner4x4 said:
I feel your pain!
I am also going to order the Fel-Pro gaskets from Rockauto... and a new radiator too. I plan to replace the knock sensor pigtail, timing belt and idler pully while in there as well.
Everything else looks good.
Click to expand...

I went and bought the engine gasket kit cause it was cheaper and the timing belt kit with water pump and all pulleys. Might as well do the timing belt since you'll be in there, right =). I also got the pig tail for knock sensor. I didn't think about replacing thermo but mine looks really new, think they did it when I got my Chinese rad put in from the PO. Looks like we are in the same mindframe...good luck with it all...it's a pain. My bud is a Master ASE mech and it took him about 8 hrs to pull everything off, but my heads came back from the machine shop yesterday clean and crack free so I am just waiting for the parts from Rockauto, they are out for delivery now.
Oh, and get the SSTs that the service manual calls for the crankshaft pulley..that will save tons of time. We ended up fabbing a tool like they had in the pic and it still bend all to hell before we could get that bolt loose.
 
High flow cat they hold a lot of heat in. I mean heck two hours after parking those things are too hot to hold.
 
mikebontoft said:
The cat is supposed to be very hot. Not burning-to-a-crisp hot, but that's how they work.
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Yeah I know they are supposed to be hot just saying that when you cut the truck off the cat holds a lot of heat so the H G cooks . If you can remove the cat the head will cool better and faster.
 
hint - make sure you have exhaust pipe gaskets..the front and the crossover..saves a trip to the parts store at 9:30..thankfully they are open till midnight.
 
UPDATE:
Well, I installed a really nice 3 core radiator, timing belt component kit, new head bolts, and all the top end gaskets. Everything looked good, I followed the service manual, triple checked everything and I used the correct torques and sequences.
It fired right up and ran perfect for about 10 minutes... and now I have a knock in the engine. Sounds like it could be a cam bearing but won't know until I tear back into it.
If I can find it and fix it in the vehicle then I will. But if I gotta pull the engine then I am going to do a Ford or Chevy V8 drive train swap.
Stay tuned!
 
2ndGen4runner4x4 said:
UPDATE:
Well, I installed a really nice 3 core radiator, timing belt component kit, new head bolts, and all the top end gaskets. Everything looked good, I followed the service manual, triple checked everything and I used the correct torques and sequences.
It fired right up and ran perfect for about 10 minutes... and now I have a knock in the engine. Sounds like it could be a cam bearing but won't know until I tear back into it.
If I can find it and fix it in the vehicle then I will. But if I gotta pull the engine then I am going to do a Ford or Chevy V8 drive train swap.
Stay tuned!
Click to expand...

The same thing happened to me. Lucky my buddy doing this is a master mechanic, I woulda panicked. Turns out the engine was getting hot because I had an air bubble in the system. We jacked up front end and "burped" her and kept her running on and off and adding more coolent...finally got rid of it and running great ever since. Maybe same for you??....
 
Hmmm... It definately sounds like a bearing knock to me. I actually drove it about 5 or 6 miles after it warmed up and it sounds worse than before so I may have hurt the engine. Dammit.
I will be getting back into it this week... I bought another truck in the meantime so I can take my time with it. My wife and I really like the 4Runner so we are gonna keep it no matter what we end up doing.
 
The cross-over design on the 2nd gen sucks really bad. Can the crossover be relocated? I know there will be fabricating involved but wouldn't you think it will be a cheaper route than getting set of headers? Just wondering....
 
easiest way is to use two passenger manifolds and chop the flanges off each side of the crossover. build the exhaust from there.

ever figure out the knock?
 
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