Losing coolant

[gomiami]

I feel like it would take ME 22 hours to do all that work. I feel like a dealer should be able to do it in a bit less time...

I hope that ends up being the case. The shops around here would force you to take out a 2nd mortgage.

 

[Cezar]

We shall see. I think I still have another year or two before this becomes a problem.

Checked coolant after running through a tank of gas. Full. Weird.

 

[gomiami]

We shall see. I think I still have another year or two before this becomes a problem.

Checked coolant after running through a tank of gas. Full. Weird.

At least you can stay on top of things. Most people wouldn't have a clue until their engine overheats.

 

[Ali0227]

I had a lot of work done. In addition to the head gaskets, the radiator was leaking, I had both cv axles replaced, and new tires all on one repair order. I'm a parts counterman at a Toyota dealer, so employee rate for labor is $100 per hour. It was 22 hours for everything, plus parts and machine shop. While torn apart, we put in a new timing chain, water pump, spark plugs, thermostat, idlers, and various other parts. With the intake off, the knock sensor sub-harness was also replaced, since it was 22 years old and the intake was already out of the way. When all was said and done, right around $4k. She runs like a champ now, and has had no issues since the repair was completed in December of 2024. With the updated head gaskets now in place, I don't anticipate any issues of that nature in the future, at least not for another 200k miles. She was at 248k when the blown head gasket was discovered, and now she's at 264k and running beautifully.

Wow, that's fantastic!! Well worth the 4K for everything done. Are you the original owner? I always wondered if the HG problems might have started when there was a coolant leak for another reason and if some weren't aware it was leaking or didn't have coolant with them when the tank was very low, might have run the vehicles too hot/overheated that caused the inital HG leaks. Any thoughts on this? I know it was said that it had to do with the aluminum block and supposedly didn't happen after they changed things but I swear I've seen threads with HG leaks after Toyota made the change.

 

[Voltan73]

Wow, that's fantastic!! Well worth the 4K for everything done. Are you the original owner? I always wondered if the HG problems might have started when there was a coolant leak for another reason and if some weren't aware it was leaking or didn't have coolant with them when the tank was very low, might have run the vehicles too hot/overheated that caused the inital HG leaks. Any thoughts on this? I know it was said that it had to do with the aluminum block and supposedly didn't happen after they changed things but I swear I've seen threads with HG leaks after Toyota made the change.

I'm the third owner. From the service history I could access from work, it appears the first owner was good about maintenance. The second owner was a kid just starting college, and not so good about servicing. I discovered the head gasket (suspected at least) on the 45-minute drive home from buying it; the seller duped me unfortunately.
The head gasket issue is due to a bad design, in particular on the bank 2 gasket between cylinders 4 & 6. Old coolant can eat away at this spot and accelerate the failure. In November of 2005, Toyota released the updated gaskets.

 

[gomiami]

I'm the third owner. From the service history I could access from work, it appears the first owner was good about maintenance. The second owner was a kid just starting college, and not so good about servicing. I discovered the head gasket (suspected at least) on the 45-minute drive home from buying it; the seller duped me unfortunately.
The head gasket issue is due to a bad design, in particular on the bank 2 gasket between cylinders 4 & 6. Old coolant can eat away at this spot and accelerate the failure. In November of 2005, Toyota released the updated gaskets.

That is unfortunate that the head gasket issue was not discovered prior to purchase. I suppose the saving grace is that all of those 4runners are somewhat vulnerable to gasket failure if the original gasket is present, no matter how well it was maintained. The full-coated gasket should be much more robust.