Blown head gasket. What to do.

Well my previous "coolant" thread has morphed into a head gasket problem. The 87 4Runner looks like its spraying for bugs.

Soooo... do I have a shop I trust instal a new gasket and hope the head and deck aren't berked?

Or do I go with a craigslist engine? I don't have time for a proper re-build.

There is nothing locally. Nothing. Does anyone know a used engine dealer in Chicago or Milwaukee?

I have a few CL choices.

Grand Meadow, MN

LaCrosse, WI

Greenwood, WI

Bloomington, IL

That 4runner has an I4 engine doesn't it? Do the HG yourself, it shouldn't be all that hard. If it makes you feel better send the head to a machine shop for an an inspection and quickie valve job. It's also probably one of those Toyota truck 4 cylinders that always needs chain guides, so do that too. If you skipped sending the head out, you could probably do the job, including chain and guides over a weekend.

I personally think that swapping in a JY engine for just a head gasket doesn't make sense, and could be Russian roulette .

Did you ever overheat it? Has the oil milkshaked yet? If not I'd just have the headgasket done. Aren't those engines also known for timing chain problems? I'd go through that too, seeing as you're practically there with the head and water pump off.

See also this thread: Whos been drinking my anti-freeze? Its the 22RE. No milkshake. Its a leak into #4 cylinder. I did get it hot, which worries me. Problem is I don't have much time between working 2 jobs. Weekends are a distant memory. But, I'm thinking, now, with a buddy helping, I think I could do this in a long day.

Engine Builder (http://www.engnbldr.com/) is a Toyota specific shop with a good reputation. I can get a fully re-built stock head for $348.00. I'd also get their head gasket set with bolts for $66.00 and the front end kit with a timing chain and steel guides, oil pump, water pump, and timing case for $155.00.

What say GRM?

In reply to Appleseed: sounds like a plan!

i know nothing about Toyotas- i hear the older ones are pretty basic- but i did the head gasket in the OHV 2.2 in my 97 Cavalier in about 2 hours without ever having worked on that engine family before and only a set of torque specs i found online.. no manual, no helper- just dove in and got er dun... i didn't bother with checking the head out- that would have costed money, and it was a $400 car- but i did put 35,000 miles on it before selling it to my cousin that put another 20,000 on it before she sold it to a guy that made a hornet racer out of it and ran it for a whole season without touching the engine..

i guess what i'm saying is to just dive in and fix the thing..

Thanks for the boost, guys. This shouldn't be too bad.

Anyway, with the smoke screen,I get to pretend I'm Spy Hunter for the next week.

In reply to Appleseed: Replacing head gasket is the right fix but it might be worth on last ditch attempt. SWMBOs Mazda MPV with 2.6l 4 was steaming like the Queen Mary and had serious coolant drinking problem. Used a can of CRC block seal to patch it up while she shopped for a replacement. Two years and 40,000 km later it was still holding up. Never believed in snake oils, but this stuff worked for me. http://www.crcindustries.com/auto/?s=401016 I would be bit hesitant to keep driving the truck.. As it runs low on coolant, the head suffers first and can severely overheat.

Funny, my Samurai died from the same problem yesterday (but I'm pretty sure it's a severe block problem). I'm going with the equivalent of "craigslist engine," falling back on "proper rebuild."

....2JZ swap or even a 7M swap

I wouldn't fret, and would just replace the head gasket. Head warpage is a bit of an overblown concern, imo. Yes, it can happen. Can being the operative word. It doesn't always happen, and in fact generally doesn't happen.

^Unless the engine has both an aluminum head & block. Then it seems to happen if you look at it wrong.

Yeah, just put a new gasket in. It's a 1 day busy wrenchin', 2 day easy wrenchin' job. And order the metal timing chain rails before you do it.

If I do decide to use the CRC snake oil to hold me over until I can get to it (2 weeks max) do I just flush out the old coolant and replace it with new stuff once I install the head gasket?

It does burn a little oil as well. This was happening before the head problems. Is it more likely the rings rather than the umbrella seals? That would be a reason to lean toward the new head from Engine Builder. Or do I just fix it now and worry about the blow by once it gets warmer out and I can do this at my leisure?

You will be refreshing the fluids anyway .I would try the snake oil. If you can't trust a fastoldfart what is the world coming to?

22REs seem to love headgaskets. My 87 went through two in 150k miles. The first time someone else was driving and KEPT driving which cooked the engine, so in went a crate engine. Around 50k miles later that one popped, so the truck found a new home. The job didn't look to bad, but I wasn't real fond of the 22re anyway, so that made the decision to sell easier.

Whats weird is the 22re seem to be hit or miss. My truck has over 250k miles on the original head gasket and has had the time chain changed once. Unfortunately the head is rotten out between cyl 1 and 2, I think it might be a bad casting/porosity issue. It is plugged with jb weld steel stick now, seems to hold alright for 6-9months then breaks again. I have a spare head ready to go but just keep plugging the hole in the head.

Good luck and keep us posted.

I put a new crate head on when I did the rebuild at 290K. Bought the head from engnbldr and it was cheaper than having the original head rebuilt.