Toyota 3.4l V6 head gasket, timing belt, water pump Comprehensive Parts List

[DustyRoads]

Crud! Wish I'd thought of that.

I was using this technique. Just went out to check the belt and timing marks. I def slipped a tooth when using that brace method. If the belt is too loose it won't do much good to hold the crank pulley. The cam pulley can still slip inside the belt with enough force which is what happened on mine. I'll have to wait for a pulley holder tool i guess.

Would it be a good idea to try to break loose the cam pulley bolts before removing the timing belt tensioner?

 

[DustyRoads]

I've been mentally noting what tools i needed for this job and i'll add them to the list eventually.

One note. The 4 nuts on the fan bracket that are only accessible with a box wrench; be sure to use a 6 point or side grip box wrench. These nuts seemed a little iffy upon inspection and this engine has had it's guts opened up before so they had seem some wear. You do not want to be rounding these things off. You're pretty limited as far as tool space should one round and then it's probably a chisel or maybe file it flat and try again with a smaller wrench or adjustable. Idk, but that's one thing that I had to go out and grab. "6 point 12mm box end wrench" Pretty sure i got the last one in town.

Advanced Auto might be the place to look for this item. I found one for 3.99. The guy told me about switching the brand of hand tools that they stock. I thiiink the new brand will have 6 point metric box wrenches if we're lucky. These things are pretty valuable for tight spaces and critical bolts.

Another tool that has been really handy has been a scrap of 1" pvc or metal pipe about 12-15" long. I've used it in a lot of spaces for reach and leverage when wrenching little turns one or two teeth on the socket wrench. Helps a lot. Pvc is cheap if a person wanted to adjust or cut new useful lengths. It's stood up to some reasonable abuse so far. I have metal now as well just in case.

 

[2wdT4r]

Would it be a good idea to try to break loose the cam pulley bolts before removing the timing belt tensioner?

Ahh, I forgot to mention that. I tightened the tensioner back up before trying this method. I bought a pulley holder from napa but it bent on me.

 

[DustyRoads]

Ahh, I forgot to mention that. I tightened the tensioner back up before trying this method. I bought a pulley holder from napa but it bent on me.

Did you have someone break it loose? How did it get resolved?

 

[2wdT4r]

Did you have someone break it loose? How did it get resolved?

Yeah I tightened back up the tensioner and broke it loose. I heard a loud crack like you previously mentioned but I kept on going and it came out. I had to tighten it back up somewhat to remove the other cambolt as well but don't tighten it up so that ur not able to remove it again

 

[diverscale]

I'll be honest, I don't know if it's the most conscientious way to get the bolt undone, but myself, I would definitely try an impact gun with a U-joint and the proper impact extension...

And about slipping a belt tooth, you will probably have to re-adjust all the timing at the end anyway (you always check your timing when removing a belt), and timing back your engine is really not that complicated. Probably already a video or a ''4runner timing belt'' post already covering this.

 

[DustyRoads]

Yeah I tightened back up the tensioner and broke it loose. I heard a loud crack like you previously mentioned but I kept on going and it came out. I had to tighten it back up somewhat to remove the other cambolt as well but don't tighten it up so that ur not able to remove it again

My tensioner is out already. Might have to toss that back in, grab a pulley wrench, or STAND on the belt and then try to break it. ha! Maybe all three at once.

 

[DustyRoads]

Update

Got the heads off today.

To start, the cam bolts were Covered in locktight and had way too much torque on them. The knock sensor was routed strangely. It was hooked up but was residing in a strange location around the intake and fuel rails. The head gaskets that the repair shop used when it was done by the previous owner 12k miles ago looked like cheap cardboard when they came out. Fel-pro junk.

At first look it appeared that the gasket had leaked around cyl 3. I was looking a little closer and found the common hairline crack between the valve walls where most people see these heads crack.

Got the second side off and saw the SAME crack. Two cracked heads! Cyl 3 and cyl 4. It seemed to me that cyl 3 won the race but they were both on the way towards failure. I'm glad to know about the issue and will do what i can to rebuild with explicit attention to detail as i really don't trust most shops after seeing this so called "fix" done by the previous shop/crooks.

And another pleasant detail we found was that the head bolts weren't torqued more than about 35 ft/lbs. My friend, who was a toyota mechanic for 15 years, said his bet was that they never did the 90 degree and then another 90 degree final torquing turns on the head bolts. This basically left them at roughly 35ft/lbs and possibly contributed to some of the problems we encountered with the heads and gaskets.

One lesson here is to find a GOOD shop that you can TRUST to do the work correctly and will stand by it. The opposite of fel-pro gaskets and improperly torqued critical bolts.

My friend said he had ordered heads from this site with good results:
TOYOTA TACOMA 5VZFE 3.4 REBUILT CYLINDER HEAD

I might go that route as the first hand experience is nice to hear and the price is ok for what a person gets. Anyone have experience with this supplier for remanned heads?

All in all, i would have spent money machining, cleaning, testing, rebuilding the old heads. I'll be getting what i hope is a better result and overall repair job that will last for awhile. Not to mention saving some significant money compared to the outrageous quote i got from my local toyota shop.

The 5vzfe heads can and will crack. I saw it with my own eyes right in the same spots everyone has mentioned. I looked there specifically because of others saying the same and found it to be true in my case.

Hopefully with new multi layer metal gaskets and some fresh heads this truck will be good to go for another 225k.

Now....let me find that axle seal repair thread. It never ends....but i'm ok with that. I love my toyota....when it works.

 

[solsnowbarger]

[MENTION=108695]DustyRoads[/MENTION] Good luck brother. I'm looking into getting my heads rebuilt coming up as soon as I can figure out how to get them off. I'm struggling mightily figuring out what all I should do to fix my burnt valves, but I think I'm gonna spend $50 bucks more than ordering those replacements you linked to have both heads rebuilt instead. My thinking is that with my very limited knowledge, having some gentlemen in town to give me some pointers is worth the extra money.

 

[DustyRoads]

[MENTION=108695]DustyRoads[/MENTION] Good luck brother. I'm looking into getting my heads rebuilt coming up as soon as I can figure out how to get them off. I'm struggling mightily figuring out what all I should do to fix my burnt valves, but I think I'm gonna spend $50 bucks more than ordering those replacements you linked to have both heads rebuilt instead. My thinking is that with my very limited knowledge, having some gentlemen in town to give me some pointers is worth the extra money.

Thanks for the well wishes. :thanks:

I'll need all the luck I can get after this. I hope your issue is resolved easily as well. If you learn anything important or that you have not seen around the forum be sure to share.

 

[solsnowbarger]

For sure will do. School/family is eating pretty much all my time, but I've slowly been gathering my resources for a build thread sometime soon.