Hours to change 3.4L head gasket

[kobayashimaru]

I am about to start doing some overdue repairs on my 4Runner. What I need to do are the timing belt/water pump and the valve cover gaskets. Now, both of my head gaskets are leaking oil, but there's no mixing of coolant and oil. The car has nearly 190,000 miles. How much extra disassembly is involved in changing the head gaskets and possibly grinding the valves? For people who've done this, about how long did it take you?

Thanks!

 

[the great him]

your heads are leaking oil...? are you sure? if you had a head gasket failure you would be down on power, overheating and or mixing coolant and oil, posslibly burning coolant, and or just have bad miss.... do you have any of those symptoms?

im not saying 3.4 HGs dont go bad, but its not common by any means. and typically its not manifested in a oil leak.id suspect that its just your valve covers that are making the mess.

as far as time involved, it would be about double to triple the time, as you would want to get the heads resurfaced at a machine shop and have them check every think and possibly put in new valve guides and seals ect... really you should have the top of the block "scuffed" too and so yeah for someone who knows what they are doing, and could work at it all day, id say a good 2-3 day job. honestly i think it would be faster and easier to just pull the motor and put a good used motor in but thats just me

 

[kobayashimaru]

I hadn't thought that it was just the mess from the valve covers. The timing belt hasn't broken and I know that the 5vz is a non-interference engine, but it was last changed at 60k miles. It now has 188k and I often drive my truck way outside my AAA towing service, so I don't want to risk getting stuck somewhere. Perhaps then the head gasket can wait.

Thanks!

 

[PitbullRescuer]

I have to agree with The Kid. Very rare (if ever) would you see oil but no other symptoms.

But I can tell you that pulling the heads is a b*tch. You have to basically get it ripped down for the tbelt/Waterpump job but also pull the intake, fuel rail, valve covers, cams, exhaust manifolds and then the heads. The machine shop work will set you back a few hundred too. It's not a 1 day job for a home mechanic by any stretch.

I'm all about making my truck "as good as new" but I'd be 100% certain of an issue before tackling this job. Do a leak down test, should indicate an issue and it's not a bad way to assess the overall health of your engine anyway.

 

[KidVermicious]

If you have to ask "how long to change the head gaskets", the answer is "a damned lot".

But I'm with [MENTION=60147]the kid[/MENTION], don't do that unless you know you need to. Run a compression test, if your numbers come back good and you have no other symptoms of a bad head (oil-coolant mixing, overheating, etc) then I think it's safe to assume that your heads and gaskets are good.

 

[EatonKyleH]

Agreed with those above about it probably being something else.

Time needed to do this job varies dramatically depending on skill level and the tools at your disposal.

Here are the shop labor times on doing this job (what I or another shop would charge approx labor hours)

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Replace Both Banks
10.8
Includes: Remove Carbon And Make Necessary Adjustments.

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[TRDFerguson]

Agreed with those above about it probably being something else.

Time needed to do this job varies dramatically depending on skill level and the tools at your disposal.

Here are the shop labor times on doing this job (what I or another shop would charge approx labor hours)

-----
Replace Both Banks
10.8
Includes: Remove Carbon And Make Necessary Adjustments.

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hmm this is concerning to me... i was charged for 10 hours of labor when i had ONE head replaced. They didnt touch the other one. I better dig out that receipt.

 

[amalik]

me and a friend from this forum did my valve cover gaskets this past weekend. that was a pain in the ass enough, I couldn't imagine head gaskets.

 

[EatonKyleH]

hmm this is concerning to me... i was charged for 10 hours of labor when i had ONE head replaced. They didnt touch the other one. I better dig out that receipt.

I show approx 8 labor hours to do one side. Also this varies from market to market and shop to shop.

remember there is only very little more work involved to do both than to do one so it is by no means twice the price. Most of the work needed to remove the left head for example has already been done when removing the right.

 

[02SE]

Agreed with those above about it probably being something else.

Time needed to do this job varies dramatically depending on skill level and the tools at your disposal.


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I was going to reply with basically the same answer, until I scrolled down and saw this reply.