Need opinions on purchase and possible head gasket issue

[Yoter]

I went with a friend of mine to go look at a 1999 Limited 4runner today. This would his second 3rd gen and an upgrade from his 1998 SR5.
The car has 150,000 miles and had body work on the rear quarter panels and the clear coat in those areas is faded. It also has dents on the bumpers and needs tires.
The engine was steam cleaned so it looks great (but who knows), the rest of the drive train has no leaks.
My main concern is that the coolant was a clear but dark brownish color almost as if green and red coolant had been mixed?
Also the over flow tank had solid pasty pinkish residue on the sides of the bottle and slightly on the tube going into it. Could this be a head gasket issue?
It wasn't the "milk shake" color or the milky brown that I have previously seen in engines that have a failed head gasket. Is it just from having the improper coolant in the system?
Also when I opened the oil filler cap the engine appeared to have a fair amount of black build up.
The seller is asking 6000, What do you think is a fair price for this car?
(dont worry he wont pay 6k for it)
Thanks for the help.

 

[BrianSD_42]

The seller is asking 6000, What do you think is a fair price for this car?
(dont worry he wont pay 6k for it)

Dude I almost fell off my couch reading this post. It's almost as if you made of post "symptoms where you should never buy"

The value is $1200 which is about what a salvage would be.

If the head is bad, coolant in the CYL, possibly coolant in the oil, possibly had overheating already due to failing heads ... LOL the truck is fracking JUNK.

Luckily you don't own it which is why I am this harsh.

No one who is the least bit knowledgable would buy a truck in that condition. Even someone capable of actually doing the repair work themselves still wouldn't buy the truck in that condition unless they were practically giving it away for salvage cost.

I have had a cracked head.. A LOT of "head gasket" issues are actually cracked and failing heads. This usually requires: 1) rebuild of the head or 2) new aftermarket head or 3) and engine swap.

* A rebuild is usually $3.5K
* I managed to get two new aftermarket heads installed for $2700 + tax. I hope to get at least 100K out of them.
* This was about $800 per head + Toyota gasket kits (expensive FYI) + labor
* An engine swap can be done for about $2000 and the car is undrivable for weeks AND there is still a lot of risk.

These trucks don't run forever. 175k miles is pretty damn decent lifespan before doing a head job.

TELL YOUR BUDDY TO WALK AWAY.

:yo:

 

[mikebontoft]

damn... I'd get some aftermarket heads, clean em up, do a valve job and surfacing then install them. But that doesn't help you one bit. Just commenting on the insane prices it seems to cost to have these done.

 

[BrianSD_42]

I'd get some aftermarket heads, clean em up, do a valve job and surfacing then install them.

Mike what do you mean aftermarket head?

A true aftermarket head would be a brand new aftermarket part like a JE head ($800 a piece) which is not easy to find and you should still use the Toyota gasket kit which is not cheap (at all).

A USED head (sold on aftermarket) is probably what you meant. Which means that someone had it on their truck, it failed and they turned it over to a shop. The head was probably resurfaced, possibly a valve job then sold cheap for a few hundred. It will have no warranty and is basically a once broken, now repaired used head - probably with over 150k original miles.

Thirdly is a rebuilt head where they swap out some of the original parts like cams ect for non-Toyota parts. Still a used head btw but it has new non-Toyota cams ect.

None of these are actually cheap. In fact an engine swap can be much cheaper.

 

[Yoter]

[MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION] Thanks for you advice. After seeing what you went though and what [MENTION=75445]4Running Daily[/MENTION] is going though I wouldn't want to put my friend in the same situation.

My question with this car though is that I have no idea if it has a leaking head gasket? As the symptoms seem very different from what I have read from threads on this site describing leaky head gaskets.
Let me try to explain my concerns more clearly.
1) The overflow bottle had what appeared to me to be dried pink coolant built up on the sides of it.
2) The coolant in the overflow bottle looked to be dark brown in color but was clear Not milky/oily.
3) When I opened the radiator cap the coolant in the radiator appeared green and was clean.
Are these symptoms of a head gasket issue? Could these be something less serious?
The oil was very clean and according to the sticker on the windshield it has 2k on the oil change. Also the engine ran very smoothly.

 

[BrianSD_42]

That doesn't sound like a cracked head or gasket issue.

Issues with head will often involve misfires, burning coolant, white smoke out tailpipe ect.

 

[Yoter]

That doesn't sound like a cracked head or gasket issue.

Issues with head will often involve misfires, burning coolant, white smoke out tailpipe ect.

Thanks Brian that is comforting to hear from someone who has been to the dark side of a head gasket problem.
Anyone have any ideas as to what could have caused the dried up putty like coolant accumulation on the overflow tank?

 

[mikebontoft]

[No message]

 

[mikebontoft]

fail... no text. now what?

 

[jreask]

[No message]

 

[masphx]

[No message]