Hi,
Two years ago my head gasket went on my 1988 4 Runner. It has been in the garage and now I am ready start the task of fixing it myself. I am using the month of April to research this project. Any tips, documents, or procedures would be helpful. I know this isn't as easy as changing a thermostate, but I figure with the amount of people on this site will have a ton of ideas. FYI, I am using a Chilton's manual for the job and intend on only using OEM parts. I live in Denver so if there is a member that can provide local Intel that I can hook up with, that would be great. I do have a mechanic, but the job would cost more for him to do it than what the truck is worth so I am doing this myself.

Thank you in advance for any tips.

Steve

 

when you are taking the intake manifold off....dont forget the allen head bolt by thermostat housing.

 

DITCH THE CHILTONS!

Get an OEM FSM - its worth the $100.... trust us.
[oh - am I old or what - get a FSM in any format of choice...]

It has pics of EVERYTHING in more detail than you want.

get a box of ziplocs and a sharpie

Put each bolt in a back and NUMBER it (so you know it it was an early part or a later part) and DRAW diagrams on the baggie as necessary (like "water pum bolts - long bolts go where the O is and short bolts go where the X is on the pic")

line hte ziplocs up in numerical order so you can put it backt he same way

Use a cheap digi cam and take lots of pics - esp if you have to finagle things out.

Get a set of taps and dies.
Chase all bolts and holes.

CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN

OEM HG set jas "extra stuff" in it - dont worry.

Depending on mileage - do the timing chain too.

IMHO do not use a "belt sander" to clean the head - use a machine shop that uses a mill... and have em do a valve job and check the guides.

 

don't spend money on the shop manual https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...umbers-102344/

 

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...e-pics-139787/

 

Use the FSM online posted above.

Label, label, label. Can't say that enough. Lable, lable, lable.

When it comes to taking the timing cover, oil pan, water pump off, make sure you know what bolts went where. If your going to be replacing all those, easist thing to do is pull bolt out of old, place it in the proper position on new. If you don't want to do that, get some cardboard and make a template.

Theres a hidden bolt that goes from the head to the top of the timing cover, located under the distributer shaft. It will 99.9% be covered in a puddle of oil.

Most importantly, take your time. In now way, shape or form is this a quick deal. Work on it for a few hours then take a break.

 

To all,
Thanks so far for all those tips. An update on the truck, I have set up some shelf space and I as i am taking off parts I am starting on the left of the shelves and working right so when i put the engine back together, i will work right to left.

 

Just another suggestion....

On the timing cover bolts, put them back in the timing cover where they go and then wrap some tape around the shank backside of the cover so that if for some unfortunate reason you drop the cover.....like I did.....the evil things don't scatter themselves forcing you to take up the bottle and seek trauma counseling for the rest of your life.

Or, do the cardboard mock-up thing. Either way.

 

put a dot on the head bolts so you know when you have turned them to the correct tension according to the torque specs.

Also, it helps if you have a digital camera to take pictures of the assembly. If you use zip lock bags, or whatever method of storing the bots, you can put the digital pictures with the corresponding nut/bolts.