Tim Davenport

Hello all!

***long preamble, skip to bottom for actual question***
Recently I was fortunate enough to pick up a 1990, all original 22re 4runner with less than 80k miles in magnificent condition for my wife, and+without fail, as every perfect woman should, knowing that I absolutely must customize and build everything we buy; she had requested that I lift it, put larger tires on it ,paint it, and give it more power. As very dutiful husband should, I simply must comply with her demands.

As it turned out, all was not as well as it should have been. The previous owner somehow ended up with a hole in the timing cover that was allowing oil and water to mix. Whoever fixed the truck left the valves in a terrible condition[very....very....loose] , and has never done much upkeep internally. Literally the wee I took it home, we had a -20+freeze [I live in Alaska] and as luck would have it; the waterpump failed that next morning before I could get an extension cord for the block heater. It also appears that the truck is still allowing psi from the crank into the cooling system and since I have to do the front of the motor anyway, I am simply going to get a new head entirely, and a rebuild kit from engnbldr [water pump, oil pump, head gasket, timing cover and chain, new head and rings. The whole shabang] The lower end portion of the it I will use if the compression checks turn out bad, or If I find a crank bearing letting a cylinder above the head line.

The Question:

I have done quite a few rebuilds in my life. Unfortunately, I live in Dillingham, Alaska and have neither the time, or space to allow this project to take the typical 6 hours or less it should take, nor are the the services available to have the head magnafluxed or checked. Basically, I have to take this thing apart, make sure I have everything I need with me and replace the head in one go. My question is to the feasibility of using products like 'BlueDevil' or other block sealers shortly before taking the head apart to fix any possible cracks that may be in the block head surface. Am I crazy to try one of these products? Typicall, I would remove the entire engine, especially one this small, and just do it right, but circumstances do not allow it this time, and if I am going to put a new, performance head from engnbldr on this motor; I want the best start I can get, again, circumstances permitting. This is likely all an over assumption, as the block should be fine with only 80K miles; however, after learning of the previous engine troubles, I am hesitant to simply avoid the block and hope for the best. Also, are there pre-treatments that can be applied and sanded into the block surface after head removal?

I am going to go out and loosen up the fan bolts and other things that could make for a long weekend prior to the actual replacement job. Any other advice would be wonderful, as this is my first 22re [well, second, but the first was with my father 27 years ago...] I want to add some power while doing this, and I was hoping a engnblder head would do it, but if not, let me know. I can get a regular head , completely rebuilt with valves etc, from some decent places online for $250. If the $450 head is not worth the money, let me know.

Sorry about the long thread. I just want to be thorough, and thanks in advance for any advice!

p.s oil psi is at 1/4, goes up to 1/2 at best. Water pump or jacket leaking down front of truck but truck does not overheat all; even when i ran it out of coolant for a few hours [ helps that it was -10, but if the engine internals were bad, it would have been hot despite.] =] I am pretty sure it just started leaking out the weep hole.

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

I would be hesitant about block. With the abuse it's seen you might wind up throw good money after bad in the long run.

A performance head head will add a little power but still needs an exhaust system to capitalize on it. Really with a new timing chain cover it may or may not need to be machined to match block. Might be better to go the cheaper head route as I don't think the bottom end will last full life potential of a 22re. But I've been wrong before.

Tim Davenport

You could be right. I did the valves the other day and got the thing to quiet down, but once it was quiet, I noticed a small knocking. It is faint enough that it could either be a rocker that just didn't get adjusted right, or one of the bearings bad. I do have some noticeable power loss [it doesn't like to climb or maintain speed going up moderate sized hill at 45 in 4th.], something I attributed to the head. But combines with the slightly low oil PSI, I'm leaning towards a bad rod or even crank bearing. It is only one cylinder making any noise though and these trucks are notorious for bad bearings abuse or not. They just run forever with the bad bearings... This one has spent its entire life in Dillingham, Alaska, were no one drives over 45 mph [literally], and the timing cove issue was found really quick. I am holding out hope for the block, but not the bearings. Sounds like My plan remains the same, but I am going to keep the head I have and pray it ends up straight on the straight edge... If not, maybe ill just fix it all then and there and just redo the head again later. I wish I had a garage or another vehicle laying around. [$4300 to ship one here]

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

I've want to live in Alaska but married a California girl who is against idea. I've seen the northern lights here but only while aided with NVGs, night vision googles. I live in a part of the country that I have to order most parts and ship; so I try to do the same as you. Order everything ahead of time that I'll need. Unfortunately somethings there's no way to tell without pulling and inspecting.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

If your water pump is leaking even the best block seal is not going to help .

Then to have the block seal work one needs to flush all the antifreeze out of the system .

Pretty hard to do in below zero temps Drain fill with water run 5 minutes keep doing that till every thing comes out clear

Then your also sort of beating a dead horse trying to build any horse power in these engines it can be done but so very expensive for ever horsepower gained

Like any other Engine rebuild your not going to know till things are apart and can be inspected.

Bearing knocking can`t be a good thing