RedYota91, Kudos to you for having the guts to take this on by yourself.I'm a recreational mechanic and I did the HG on a 93' 3.0 last summer......two and a half times

The first time thought the heads look good and flat, put a light coat of RTV under the gasket and bolted it back together. Much to my dismay the exhaust puked out white clouds of frustration within minutes.

Tore it down again, sent the heads off to be machined, got them back in great shape. Got everything back together except for the intake and found a handful of big washers under a parts box...turned out to be the passenger side head bolt washers

Wash,rinse, repeat....you get the idea.

So, thats the 1/2 time part. After that headache it all came together well at the end.

This forum was a HUGE help! Great write up so far, take your time and ask LOTS of questions.

I might be doing another HG on my "new" 89' 4runner this winter, wish me luck.

 

I tell ya, this is the most in depth Ive ever been into an engine and I swear, I keep having nightmares of this thing starting up, and everything leaking!

Im really hoping (cross your fingers...knock on wood) we will be attempting to start it up tomorrow evening. All thats really left is the upper intake manifold and all those connections, then all the belts, fan and radiator. As I had posted on the first few pages, I f-ed the intake VAFM but pulled it apart and I THINK its connected correctly... We shall see!

 

good luck man.

supposed to be working 11a-11p tomorrow, so i will check in after that.

 

Those are about the same hours I'll be setting aside to work on the truck! I'll try to keep up on some pictures.

 

Just for reference to those going along this same journey.. Here are where the foam gaskets go that are included in the head gasket kit. This is a picture of the back side (engine side up) of the 'No. 3 Timing Belt Cover'

 

As of 345, pacific time, this is where we are at! Things are looking up!


However, I need a little help. Can someone post a pic of how the accelerator cables attach to the throttle body? My memory is failing me and I feel like this is wrong..

 

We are putting the timing belt on now and we're actually waiting for an impact gun to show up. Should make the 181 ft/lbs on the crank nut go easy

 

ummm, i'm a little late but very impressed.

 

Putting oil and coolant in!!

 

dude....what time is it? 10 for you.....it's 1am here bud.

good deal.....give it hell

 

So Its backfiring.. Would an F-ed VAFM or whatever the F, MAF thingy cause it not to start? Its just not catching yet...

 

ahhhh man.....i got no clue on that stuff.

 

I was REALLY hoping to not have to diagnose this thing.. I check and its got spark.. Smells like fuel is in there..

 

coil wire on?

 

That the single wire that goes to the center of the distributor, right? If so, then yes. The only thing would be the F-ed intake thing, and MAYBE a single ground that I relocated... :/

 

Damn. We are calling it a night. Any input on where to start diagnostics?

 

Certainly could. Since yours got fubared I would start there. I saw one at Pull-A-Part just last week, it was only $25 according to their price list.

 

have you double checked that you have the plug wires on the correct cyls? Timing is dead on? Those would be my first instincts if the vehicle is backfiring.

 

Anyone know off hand the firing order/where each plug goes? I had it drawn out on a sheet and i lost it! Haha!

I think im going to start with the intake and see if i can replace it. REALLY hoping thats all it is.

Now that i think about it.. The fuel is almost 2 months old.. I know it has a shelf life, but ive gotten vehicles to start with older fuel..

And unless its jumped a tooth, it was dead on with 2 full rotations of the crank. The instructions said that you need to line the marks up on the belt with the pullies, but the belt didnt have any. Whatev, i just made sure the cam sprockets and crank were all lined up..

 

Look at the distributor cap. The cylinder # (firing order) is stamped beside each plug wire socket.

Engine / Cylinders from front to back:
passenger side is 1, 3 & 5
driver's side is 2, 4 & 6

You should be able to match up the wire coming from the respective # on the distributor cap to those engine locations.