BigCat

Hey everyone. I'm new to the forum so I'd like to introduce myself first, my name is Tom and I'm in Austin, TX. I have owned a 98 Tacoma since 05 when I bought it from my dad who was the original owner. It's got 249,000 on it now and still runs like a dream. That being said, I'm a stickler for scheduled maintenance on my truck...

When I started dating my girlfriend and her dad told me "the timing belt is just something they want you to replace to make more money off of you," about her 2000 4Runner with 170,000, so I knew I was going to be doing it in the near future. It had been acting funny with a very rough idle on a cold start and a misfire code that would read its head every now and again, so I replaced the coils, plugs, wires and injectors in hopes that everything on the cylinder being new would fix that, which it did temporarily. Then it started losing coolant but never leaked or smoked, so I did a leak down test and when I put shop air in cylinder 4 the radiator bubbled, so I ordered all the parts to do a head gasket/timing belt..

When I got the drivers side head off I noticed that there was a crack between the intake and exhaust valves on #4... Crap. So now I need a new head. Does anyone in the Austin area know where I can one locally?? Anyone have one laying around? A friend told me that He thought Toyota Put out a recall about the heads, but I can't find anything.. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks!!

AustinTaco

Check out the LKQ on South Congress. It's a pick n pull, and it's pretty well organized. There's also a pick n pull out on 71.

Craigslist might be your friend. I seem to recall someone posting a lower mileage 3.4 on a wrecked 4runner not too long ago.