Preventing head gasket failure in 04 V6

[evan1242]

Hey all. I recently purchased another 4runner for my wife. Mine is an 07 so no worries there. But hers is a 2004 V6 with 194k on the clock. (It’s clean and was a good price)

I’m aware of the head gasket troubles in these year models and was wondering if there is any preventative measure I can take other than regular maintenance to help prevent the gasket from failing? Or is it essentially a ticking time bomb no matter what I do?

 

[montijo505]

If I remember correctly the HG problem is heard of but not super common. I think it’s a luck of the draw type of thing where nothing can avoid it. I think they fail sooner than your mileage when they do though. Good luck!


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[08TxRunner]

Don't worry about it. It is not a ticking time bomb and is a rare occurrence. I suspect usually caused by overheating. Just enjoy it and take care not to let it overheat.

 

[phatcheeks]

Change the coolant at regular intervals. Dont let it get acidic.
Check coolant levels and make sure you dont overheat.
Otherwise its all luck. Im sitting at 124000 miles in my 04, no issues as of yet. I do all the things mentioned above.
I bought a scanguage to keep and eye out for abnormal coolant temps. I also send my oil in for analysis and make sure everything is all good. But I would do this in any of my cars cuz thats just how I am

 

[firebirdguy]

while its not super common... its also not super rare. do a search here or other forums & you will see a lot of threads on it, add to that the number of people that dont post about it or dont even use these forums & id say it is a not a rare issue, but the ratio of failures to number of 4runners produced is probably pretty low. still something to consider & its what steered me away from pre dec 06 v6 4runners.

& FYI: the consensus is that it wasnt until late 06 (dec) build dates that the issues was fixed, so early 2007 4runners can definitely have problems too.

 

[hinmo24t]

those are just outliers concentrated to an enthusiast website. dont worry about it unless you see low coolant white smoke or other symptoms. its a numbers game and one highly in your favor

 

[djpope09]

I had the head gaskets fail in my 04 at about 187,000 miles. I would also recommend changing the coolant regularly.

It's not like you're coolant will all suddenly vanish at once so don't expect to overheat unless you don't check the level for a long time. You're more likely to notice about 10-15 seconds of misfire at startup after the truck has been off for 8+ hours. That means coolant is getting into one of your cylinders while the engine is cooling off.

Just check the oil/coolant every other time you stop for gas or something like that and you'll catch any problems before they become critical. You might get lucky and never have to worry about it.

 

[AuSeeker]

while its not super common... its also not super rare. do a search here or other forums & you will see a lot of threads on it, add to that the number of people that dont post about it or dont even use these forums & id say it is a not a rare issue, but the ratio of failures to number of 4runners produced is probably pretty low. still something to consider & its what steered me away from pre dec 06 v6 4runners.

& FYI: the consensus is that it wasnt until late 06 (dec) build dates that the issues was fixed, so early 2007 4runners can definitely have problems too.

Just an FYI, the build date where one shouldn't worry about head gasket failure is 12/05 or later, that build date and after that will have the redesigned head gaskets, so that means early to mid 2006s could have the older designed gasket, late 2006s should have the new designed gaskets, so all 2007s should be good to go.

 

[firebirdguy]

Just an FYI, the build date where one shouldn't worry about head gasket failure is 12/05 or later, that build date and after that will have the redesigned head gaskets, so that means early to mid 2006s could have the older designed gasket, late 2006s should have the new designed gaskets, so all 2007s should be good to go.

thanks for the correction... i was off a year.