Engine compatibility

[michaelreed]

I've got a 2005 t4r sr5. It's looking more and more like I have a blown head gasket. Do you guys know which 1gr-fe engines are compatible with a 2005? Reason I ask is, I was reading josh's engine swap and he said he got an 06 1gr-fe and it didn't work with his 04. I found a few 2007 fj motors. Would these work an 05? If its a few grand to replace the head gasket I may as well get a new motor. Or get a head gasket and replace it myself. I'm gonna run a leak down test when in the next few weeks to know for sure. I've got oil on the spark plug threads in cylinder 6. My coolant was full 2 days ago and now there's a little bit missing but not much. I haven't had any misfires though. Hopefully it's just a valve cover gasket but with my luck it's much bigger than that...

 

[michaelreed]

Here is what the coolant level looks like. It was about to the max line when I checked a few days ago. The only thing I've done is change my oil. From the photo, is that amount something to be worried about? I haven't topped off the coolant since I've owned it (6 months). Is it normal for a little bit to go missing?

 

[MikeInNH]

Why don't you just have the head gasket replaced???

 

[aha2988]

If you've just found oil on the spark plug then the Valve cover gasket is most likely the issue. these engines burn off coolant regularly especially durring the warmer months as well the water pumps are comon to develop a seal leak where the water pump connects to the front of the engine. a quick test to see if coolant is leaking into your cylinder is run the engine at idle with the hood up radiator cap off and look in the hole where the radiator cap would go and look for air bubbles (this would be exhaust leaking back into your coolant) if your not having missfires or rough idle its not likely you have a head gasket issue. There is a comon issue of head gasket failures on the V6 some have leaked fluid to outside of the heads down the engine block which could be seen from looking through the wheel well into the engine compartment. so have leaked into the cylinder. The main reason they have leaked into the cylinder is the engine was aloud to overhead causing the head's and block to both warp. because the valve tollerances are so tight on these engines you can't deck the heads or blocks like you could in the old days when this problem happend. so A.) if you haven't over heated your probably fine B.) if you arn't having miss firing issues your probably fine C.) if your just leaking a little coolant out of the pump seal or hg seal to the outsidde of the motor your still ok D.) your valve cover gasket is probably leaking oil into the spark plug area get that fixed before assuming you have heag gasket issues. hope this helps as for engine compadability I've seen 3.9 cummins deisel engines put in these trucks, any engine that comes from a body style like yours will work. theres alot of options for you if the worst case senario comes along

 

[michaelreed]

Why don't you just have the head gasket replaced???

It would be cheaper to replace the engine. And typically with these aluminum motors, if the head gasket is toast, so is the head/block.

 

[michaelreed]

If you've just found oil on the spark plug then the Valve cover gasket is most likely the issue. these engines burn off coolant regularly especially durring the warmer months as well the water pumps are comon to develop a seal leak where the water pump connects to the front of the engine. a quick test to see if coolant is leaking into your cylinder is run the engine at idle with the hood up radiator cap off and look in the hole where the radiator cap would go and look for air bubbles (this would be exhaust leaking back into your coolant) if your not having missfires or rough idle its not likely you have a head gasket issue. There is a comon issue of head gasket failures on the V6 some have leaked fluid to outside of the heads down the engine block which could be seen from looking through the wheel well into the engine compartment. so have leaked into the cylinder. The main reason they have leaked into the cylinder is the engine was aloud to overhead causing the head's and block to both warp. because the valve tollerances are so tight on these engines you can't deck the heads or blocks like you could in the old days when this problem happend. so A.) if you haven't over heated your probably fine B.) if you arn't having miss firing issues your probably fine C.) if your just leaking a little coolant out of the pump seal or hg seal to the outsidde of the motor your still ok D.) your valve cover gasket is probably leaking oil into the spark plug area get that fixed before assuming you have heag gasket issues. hope this helps as for engine compadability I've seen 3.9 cummins deisel engines put in these trucks, any engine that comes from a body style like yours will work. theres alot of options for you if the worst case senario comes along

Ok, good to know. I just saw the oil and stuff, and with all these head gasket issues I've seen, I'm super worried. Here I go thinking I'm buying a toyota and it'll last forever and come to find out the engine could be shot at 107k miles. I had a 96 camry that I owned for 4 years when I was 16 and I never even changed oil in it hah and it lasted forever.

 

[aha2988]

well if you dont change your oil regularly your gonna have bigger problems than a warped head A completly seized up engine is usually the issue with not changing oil regularly. plus as oil breaks down it looses properties in it, properties which allow the oil to withstand high temperatures. without those properties the oil is allowed to cook (bake) onto the sides of your crank case and inside your valve covers as well as your heads. this baked on oil and sluge deposits can clog up oil jernals in your heads and engin block causing over heating, not necessarly the whole engine but say one area like cylinder #6's area changing the oil does more than just changes the oil it actually extends the life of your engine lol. good luck with the valve cover gasket replace hope it works out for you. (BTW: another sign coolant is in your cylinder is if your spark plug has a steem cleaned looking tip (from the boiling water burnt out of the coolant))

 

[michaelreed]

well if you dont change your oil regularly your gonna have bigger problems than a warped head A completly seized up engine is usually the issue with not changing oil regularly. plus as oil breaks down it looses properties in it, properties which allow the oil to withstand high temperatures. without those properties the oil is allowed to cook (bake) onto the sides of your crank case and inside your valve covers as well as your heads. this baked on oil and sluge deposits can clog up oil jernals in your heads and engin block causing over heating, not necessarly the whole engine but say one area like cylinder #6's area changing the oil does more than just changes the oil it actually extends the life of your engine lol. good luck with the valve cover gasket replace hope it works out for you. (BTW: another sign coolant is in your cylinder is if your spark plug has a steem cleaned looking tip (from the boiling water burnt out of the coolant))

Ha, that was when I was 16. I change the oil in my 4runner every 3000 miles or so. I was just referring to the reliability of Toyota. Just surprised by the head gasket issues.

 

[aha2988]

haha right on you never know these days whos posting what sometimes your talking to someone intelegent sometimes your not lol. I just try to through out as much relevant info as i can when i try to post up some help. you may know to change your oil and why but someone might search for this thread and wonder why there heads warped and they haven't overheated and then go oohhhh i never changed the oil thats right lol ya know.

 

[galactic_04]

You should be able to use an FJ or tacoma 1gr-fe. Typically the only things I've seen change were electrical connectors. You can take the ones off your truck if it's something moveable. On the 2GR's, some of the stuff like AC and those changed between cars, but typically this was on accessories that you aren't going to get with the new engine and you'll reuse your stuff off your 4runner. I'm not sure what the difference he saw in his swap thread was.

I disagree with the blown head gasket on aluminum engines killing the engine by the way. I've had a Porsche 944 (all aluminum) that blew the gasket and got decently hot, and it worked great after we changed the gasket out. The only one that I saw actually get warped was one my friend got that got hot enough to MELT THE KNOCK SENSOR!!! That's freaking hot, and that one did warp for obvious reasons. Since your engine was not hot when all this happened, I doubt it's warped.

Saying that I've seen the inside of the 2GR-Fe and with the sleeved blocks you see now, the gasket is VERY SMALL between the cylinder and the coolant passages and I'd be kind of skeptical of getting that to seal well if doing it by myself, but it can be done. This one is slightly modified, but gives you the idea of how little sealing surface they use now. This is a re-sleeved block for high boost, but the walls are actually THICKER than stock in this picture.
Stock 1GR: http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/Gadget2317/1GR005.jpg