Replacement heads

[Pyral]

Boy has the forum dropped off in a big way over the last couple years. Posts like this use to get lots of solid advice very quickly.

Maybe its a sign that the third gen is starting to edge closer to the classic T4Rs. Most of their forums are pretty dead and gone, I guess not a lot of people want to daily a car with no side crash protection, abs, airbags, or other modern features.

The newest 3rd gens will be turning 20 next year, 3rd gens have stuck around a lot better than any generation before it but no vehicle is impervious to time (except the DeLorean)

 

[Romeo1]

Maybe its a sign that the third gen is starting to edge closer to the classic T4Rs. Most of their forums are pretty dead and gone, I guess not a lot of people want to daily a car with no side crash protection, abs, airbags, or other modern features.

The newest 3rd gens will be turning 20 next year, 3rd gens have stuck around a lot better than any generation before it but no vehicle is impervious to time (except the DeLorean)

Well, I’ve noticed a few things that people tend to do. Forums unfortunately are on decline. Which really sucks. Facebook is is just lots of noise and distractions. The crappy videos of what’s wrong with my car grind my gears also.

It not so much the features I think. Although it’s used to justify the move to a newer ride for sure. For whatever reason the masses can’t handle or doesn’t want to fix things. Older cars need a little fixing now and then. So instead of just spending a little for 1-2k for repair and maintenance, they decide that a new $600+ monthly payment all together makes more sense. The modern power that the 3rd gen doesn’t have seals the deal on the test drive. The comments of “not roomy” is what I hear most. I mean, when all the cool kids rock 3rd gen tacos, 5th gen runnners, JLURs, and double pladinum superdutys, what’s a person to do?

All I know is I’m going to be maintaining this 3rd gen for a good while. Unless Toyota builds my dream 6th gen, nothing else out there really does it for me. New rubicons are 60k+ now. 10 year old used ones are still 25k…..

Modern power and floated/locked axles around sure would be nice.

Wished I could get a 105 here. That would really solve almost all of my problems…lol.

 

[mtbtim]

Maybe its a sign that the third gen is starting to edge closer to the classic T4Rs. Most of their forums are pretty dead and gone, I guess not a lot of people want to daily a car with no side crash protection, abs, airbags, or other modern features.

The newest 3rd gens will be turning 20 next year, 3rd gens have stuck around a lot better than any generation before it but no vehicle is impervious to time (except the DeLorean)

You make a valid point but I just see way too many 3rd Gens on the roads to believe they are coming anywhere close to the 1st Gen and 2nd Gen status yet. Maybe it's just where I live. The western states are full of 3rd Gens.

I have a feeling it's more that people are going on Facebook pages more than they are going on forums. Also, when it comes down to it, people just lose interest and concentrate on other things. There was a really solid core of guys that contributed on T4R for years but a lot of them have pulled way back or have disappeared completely. I myself have fallen off from contributing to forums because I have found I get way more recognition for what I do from social media like Facebook pages and Instagram. I'll give you an example. I posted a 3.4 Engine Swap Video Series on this forum and it got some recognition rom a handful of people but not exactly what I was hoping for. I posted the same series on Toyota Enthusiast Facebook pages and the response was amazing. The forum we have the most fans of our channel is 3rd Gen Mafia. When I posted that engine swap series, it got over 1000 likes and tons of positive commentary. Knowing people appreciate what we do helps us stay motivated to keep doing it. We're making money, but it's nothing to write home about. With the time we put in, we are severely underpaid. Our favorite form of payment is hearing back from people that let us know our videos have helped them out.

 

[mtbtim]

Thanks Tim! I decided if have to go deep I’m just going to pull the engine and repower it. She runs awesome at 375k but eventually it’ll need a refresh.

When it comes time for a replacement engine, I'd recommend you consider getting one from Yota1 Performance. They do solid work.

 

[Brian.]

I have a feeling it's more that people are going on Facebook pages more than they are going on forums. .... I'll give you an example. I posted a 3.4 Engine Swap Video Series on this forum and it got some recognition rom a handful of people but not exactly what I was hoping for. I posted the same series on Toyota Enthusiast Facebook pages and the response was amazing.

I've suspected that but had no way to know as I 100% refuse to do social media. Having come from BBSes to Usenet to email listservs and finally Forums, things have gotten more and more dumbed down through the progression. Forums are my theshold for tolerating "dumb" and even that is a "just barely, sometimes" kind of thing. Just don't have it in me to wade through the cesspool to find the occasional bit of good info.

Our favorite form of payment is hearing back from people that let us know our videos have helped them out.

Plenty of us here who have used your vids and appreciated them, hard to get Constant recognition though as once you've gone through the videos and serviced the vehicle, it doesn't need much. I know no one clicks my maintenance thread link, but my thanks to you and Sean have been in there from the beginning.

 

[mtbtim]

I've suspected that but had no way to know as I 100% refuse to do social media. Having come from BBSes to Usenet to email listservs and finally Forums, things have gotten more and more dumbed down through the progression. Forums are my theshold for tolerating "dumb" and even that is a "just barely, sometimes" kind of thing. Just don't have it in me to wade through the cesspool to find the occasional bit of good info.




Plenty of us here who have used your vids and appreciated them, hard to get Constant recognition though as once you've gone through the videos and serviced the vehicle, it doesn't need much. I know no one clicks my maintenance thread link, but my thanks to you and Sean have been in there from the beginning.

I know what you mean about Social Media, but for me, it's pretty much a necessary evil to help get the word out about our videos. I also find I can help out quite a few people by contributing on those pages. There is a fair amount of stupid shit on those pages where someone asks a question and half of the answers are just people trying to be funny, but there are guys like me and others that give people straight answers in the attempt to help people out. So, I guess I take the good with the bad. I do mainly Facebook and Sean promotes our videos on Instagram.

I'm still going to contribute to this forum, I just know I've fallen off from how much I was contributing. I use to be on this forum several times a day but now I glance at it a few times a week. It just doesn't have the same feel for me anymore because of all the guys that have dropped off over time.

 

[Brian.]

I'm still going to contribute to this forum, I just know I've fallen off from how much I was contributing. I use to be on this forum several times a day but now I glance at it a few times a week. It just doesn't have the same feel for me anymore because of all the guys that have dropped off over time.

I absolutely understand. I used to be the admin on a forum for Kawasaki Ninja 250's, put a ton of effort over about a decade into a text-based FAQ that covered dang new Everything anyone new to motorcycles could ever want to know. Bike changed projection in 2008 and we kept it up for awhile, but social media and our reputation as being "old and curmudgeonly" (was really a no coddling, that info you're asking about is in the FAQ and here's the search link, type place). Old users left as they moved to different bikes and the model changed again in 2013 which pretty much killed it off. I check in once a month or so to clean out the trash, but the people that made the community I fell in love with, are just gone. But the beauty of forums is that the information lives on. Get someone who wants to curate every now and then and you get a compilation type post of all the Good posts that have gone before.

Things change, and it sucks to see something that you have fond memories of turn into a ghost town, but it happens. At least you know that the people here will be pointing new owners to your videos for as long as there are new people. It's timeless good content that'll be relevant even decades from now.

On a side note, you inspired me to try my hand at creating some maintenance videos for my current motorcycle, since there's nothing out there. Made me respect GOOD content like yours even more, it's not easy to do.


AAAnnnnddddd... that's enough OT for this thread for me. Sorry OP. Tim's spot on though, you've nothing to lose but the cost of the thread repair kit and some time. I've only ever done the repair at the trade school I attended in the '90s, but the engine ran fine afterwards, no loss in compression or other issues.

 

[Dalandser]

I'm watching the video now.
So what's the maximum size the buggered out hole can be? I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. This being not that uncommon of an occurrence I'd expect they would be able to fix if possible.
That being said the replacement head has already arrived with all the gaskets etc

Another good how-to for repairing a stripped spark plug hole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3irFj2XeCM

 

[Bad Luck]

Boy has the forum dropped off in a big way over the last couple years. Posts like this use to get lots of solid advice very quickly. I can't believe not one person before me suggested trying to fix the head with a helicoil or time sert. I personally haven't been that active on this forum either lately so I guess I can also blame myself for not giving the OP advise in a timely manner that would have saved him time and money. Hopefully my suggestion didn't come too late.

That's because several of us already told him to fix the head. Starts on post #35: Blew a spark plug out of the block! You're a little late to that party

 

[mtbtim]

That's because several of us already told him to fix the head. Starts on post #35: Blew a spark plug out of the block! You're a little late to that party

Actually not late to the party Ol' Patrick. My response was Post #37 giving the OP the same advice. https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3687623-post37.html I didn't remember this previous post from the OP.

You can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink. If a shop won't do it for him and he's not confident to try it himself, I guess he's going to replace a head. But, here's the thing. If the OP isn't confident to do a job like this, how is he going to pull off a head replacement. A head replacement is way more involved than installing a helicoil or time sert. A shop is going to charge big money to replace a head. Oh well, i wish the guy luck.

By the way, I stand by my statement that the level of contribution to this forum has dropped off quite a bit. It's not nearly what it was when I got into it 6 years ago, but the big decline I noticed started around 2 years ago. It's not what it was.

 

[Bad Luck]

Actually not late to the party Ol' Patrick. My response was Post #37 giving the OP the same advice. https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3687623-post37.html I didn't remember this previous post from the OP.

You can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink. If a shop won't do it for him and he's not confident to try it himself, I guess he's going to replace a head. But, here's the thing. If the OP isn't confident to do a job like this, how is he going to pull off a head replacement. A head replacement is way more involved than installing a helicoil or time sert. A shop is going to charge big money to replace a head. Oh well, i wish the guy luck.

By the way, I stand by my statement that the level of contribution to this forum has dropped off quite a bit. It's not nearly what it was when I got into it 6 years ago, but the big decline I noticed started around 2 years ago. It's not what it was.

I don't doubt that the forum has dropped off, but it rubs me the wrong way when you claim that no one has given him the advice to fix the heads rather than replace. If you aren't active enough to see it or remember the other thread then perhaps you aren't active enough to claim that no one offered that advice.

 

[mtbtim]

I don't doubt that the forum has dropped off, but it rubs me the wrong way when you claim that no one has given him the advice to fix the heads rather than replace. If you aren't active enough to see it or remember the other thread then perhaps you aren't active enough to claim that no one offered that advice.

Not everyone is a daily forum contributor. I contribute to several forums and many Toyota Enthusiast Facebook pages and I don't remember every post or thread I contribute to. Regardless of the fact the guy asked for advice on his problem over 2 weeks ago, his thread this time should have had people strongly steering him to trying the helicoil or time sert first before spending the time and money on a head replacement. The fact that didn't happen and I was the first to try to shake some sense into the OP, proves my point. There use to be lots more solid contributors to this forum but not so much anymore. It's a sign of the times. Take a deep breath Patrick. I'm not the enemy, quite the opposite. I've contributed heavily to this forum but my observations are spot on.

 

[Bad Luck]

Not everyone is a daily forum contributor. I contribute to several forums and many Toyota Enthusiast Facebook pages and I don't remember every post or thread I contribute to. Regardless of the fact the guy asked for advice on his problem over 2 weeks ago, his thread this time should have had people strongly steering him to trying the helicoil or time sert first before spending the time and money on a head replacement. The fact that didn't happen and I was the first to try to shake some sense into the OP, proves my point. There use to be lots more solid contributors to this forum but not so much anymore. It's a sign of the times. Take a deep breath Patrick. I'm not the enemy, quite the opposite. I've contributed heavily to this forum but my observations are spot on.

As we established you weren't the first, but the first one in this particular thread. Your accusation that no one here gave him the advice to repair his current head is false. His previous thread already had multiple people recommending repair over replace so there was no need to beat a dead horse again. OP wanted recommendations for where to get a replacement head which your post in this thread did not cover. Deep breathing exercises were not required to list the following facts.

 

[mtbtim]

As we established you weren't the first, but the first one in this particular thread. Your accusation that no one here gave him the advice to repair his current head is false. His previous thread already had multiple people recommending repair over replace so there was no need to beat a dead horse again. OP wanted recommendations for where to get a replacement head which your post in this thread did not cover. Deep breathing exercises were not required to list the following facts.

Well, let's agree to disagree. Nobody on this thread responded with the advice this guy needs until I did. I don't care about his previous thread post asking for suggestions. Just because the guy is now asking about a head replacement doesn't mean we don't still try to steer the poor guy to the better solution. You call it beating a dead horse but this guy is about to make the wrong decision. He has nothing to lose by trying to fix his head. He's pretty much already made the decision to replace it which is unfortunate.

At a minimum, somebody, like you Bro, should have asked him, "Hey, did you ever try the helicoil or time sert fix for you head?'' Then the guy would have responded, "No, I gave up on that because no shop would help me." Then you or someone else like me would have tried to talk some sense into him and gotten him to try the repair before spending the time and money on the head replacement. AGAIN, the fact that didn't happen supports my statement. The past is the past and it took quite some time for somebody like me to try to help the guy out.

So yeah Bro, you do need to take a deep breath. My observations are spot on. And, I'm done with this conversation unless the OP chimes in asking for clarification on how to perform the helicoil repair on his head. Any more butt hurt commentary will go unanswered.

 

[Bad Luck]

Well, let's agree to disagree. Nobody on this thread responded with the advice this guy needs until I did. I don't care about his previous thread post asking for suggestions. Just because the guy is now asking about a head replacement doesn't mean we don't still try to steer the poor guy to the better solution. You call it beating a dead horse but this guy is about to make the wrong decision. He has nothing to lose by trying to fix his head. He's pretty much already made the decision to replace it which is unfortunate.

At a minimum, somebody, like you Bro, should have asked him, "Hey, did you ever try the helicoil or time sert fix for you head?'' Then the guy would have responded, "No, I gave up on that because no shop would help me." Then you or someone else like me would have tried to talk some sense into him and gotten him to try the repair before spending the time and money on the head replacement. AGAIN, the fact that didn't happen supports my statement. The past is the past and it took quite some time for somebody like me to try to help the guy out.

So yeah Bro, you do need to take a deep breath. My observations are spot on. And, I'm done with this conversation unless the OP chimes in asking for clarification on how to perform the helicoil repair on his head. Any more butt hurt commentary will go unanswered.

I didn't ask because I remembered the other thread that the OP was asking about helicoils and repairing the head. I used my powers of deduction to determine that, like the title stated, he was looking for a replacement head. You didn't even ask him if he attempted to repair the head in any way. You call it butthurt, but I call it statement of facts. We will indeed have to agree to disagree. :closed_2:

 

[brillo_76]

I have seen helicoils blow back out of the Ford Triton engines. However, I would definitely try that route over replacing a head if at all possible. As we have all threads in the aluminum.

 

[brillo_76]

That’s excellent news, I know for a fact that mustache has turned quite a few forum members gay

Only you..LOL

 

[brillo_76]

I've suspected that but had no way to know as I 100% refuse to do social media. Having come from BBSes to Usenet to email listservs and finally Forums, things have gotten more and more dumbed down through the progression. Forums are my theshold for tolerating "dumb" and even that is a "just barely, sometimes" kind of thing. Just don't have it in me to wade through the cesspool to find the occasional bit of good info.




Plenty of us here who have used your vids and appreciated them, hard to get Constant recognition though as once you've gone through the videos and serviced the vehicle, it doesn't need much. I know no one clicks my maintenance thread link, but my thanks to you and Sean have been in there from the beginning.

Yes Lifelog (Facebook) has a few 3rd gen groups. I suggested the users join this forum as 98% of all issues have solutions on here. But I am betting they wont. I left Social media for many reasons and I wont go back.

Tim and Sean videos are extremely useful.

 

[jlaho]

I have seen helicoils blow back out of the Ford Triton engines. However, I would definitely try that route over replacing a head if at all possible. As we have all threads in the aluminum.

Another great alternative to Helicoils and Timeserts are Full-Torque inserts (by Lock-n-Stitch). I have never had to insert a cylinder head myself, but they make special kits for that here: Spark Plug Thread Repair Kits On Lock-N-Stitch

They also make a wide variety of other inserts for many applications. They are our preferred insert in my line of work.

 

[brillo_76]

Looks like a very good alternative to fix threads in all aluminum applications. I will share this information with my machanic buddies as this may save them from replacing heads and blocks that strip out.. ;-) thanks for sharing.