Curious; are head gasket issues inevitable?
- Thread starter sakoluvr
- Start date
frodiesel
New member
Do not forget the halfmoon seals. Offered to do the job for a friend, he went to the dealer for the valve cover job instead. Leaked a couple months later, cost $1200 for a leaky mess.
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$1200? Yikes! :wow2:
I barely beat my rear heat lines to the punch. I got a set of 01-02 lines from a junkyard - I forget what they're made of, aluminum or stainless? But no paint, just shiny silver metal and they don't rust.
It's a minor PITA to get the new lines in place, but under the bubbled and crumbling paint on my old steel lines were several *REALLY* thin spots where I barely bent it on removal and caused a leak.
I doubt I'd have made it through this winter without them leaking on their own.
Friday88
New member
So 215 degrees is when we should worry? What are normal operating temps for your truck? I got an Ultra gauge recently so I could watch the temps and mine is extremely stable, staying between 170 and 179 all the time. But over the summer here in Arizona I'm wondering how hot is TOO HOT because I'm not sure what it will reach if I'm crawling around offroad in 110F
muellernautique
New member
exactly what i've been wondering...my 4runner is running 198/202 all the time (i swear it's because the jiggle valve is wrong, we'll see this weekend though) and i don't know what it's going to be like this summer with 105 degree days. driving my miata last summer was an absolute chore to keep the temps in an acceptable range.
thegipper
New member
Every truck is a little different. My 97 with a thorough coolant flush, newish radiator, new thermostat/gasket will generally run 190ish. I've seen it as high as 205 in the summer on trails while I'm crawling along.
A 215deg alarm is early enough to let you know something is wrong and should be well before any damage is caused. You can certainly set it lower.
phattyduck
Elite Member
~215*F is where the stock gauge finally starts to move above the 'normal' spot. The FSM states normal operating temps are 170-205*F, if I remember right. 215*F won't damage the engine, but it is a good time to stop and figure out what is going wrong *before* damage happens. Normal temps reported by most guys with correctly installed OEM thermostats is around 185-195*F range.
-Charlie
frodiesel
New member
Just be careful of large swings I noticed that my 4Runner was up to 222 and that's when I replaced the fan assembly with an asain oem part. Which solve the problem.
Now I rarely see it heat soak above 200 I live in Michigan so your results May Vary but my thermostat is it the right position and my truck can drive just about anywhere I've had it in the heat of Louisiana and the cold of Appleton within the same month afterwards.
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frodiesel
New member
Tell us more about the Miata I have heard people turbo those things and smash the shit out of them in Arizona with no issues so what is the problem that you're having with it does it just need a head gasket most Mazdas have head gasket issues take it for my experience I've owned over 30 turbocharged Mazdas, they are so fun, but a menace to keeo running in the redline.
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AndrewBoise
New member
My 95 head gasket just gave up the ghost. Radiator blew out a few months ago. Replaced it and all seemed well for a while and then blew head gasket. Need to talk to the mechanic. Ultimately will probably offload to someone interested in doing the replacement.
96RedRunner
Senior Member
96red had 380k mi when totaled 2-7-18 no HG problems, but then I did change
coolant avg every 3 yr.
coolant avg every 3 yr.
