Going to go pickup the truck now... They found -

Leaking fluid and air at intake

Blown oil pump seal

STRIPPED HEAD BOLTS??? I'm gonna ask bout this one, that's the one part I thought I did ok. I was told they used a longer head bolt and everything was fine though.

Whatever. That's the last headgasket I'll ever do.

Total - $453

Will ask about what else they found when I get there...

 

And I'm back. Wow definitely feels like a brand new motor which needs breaking in! Didn't have a chance to talk to anyone, but first on the line of charges was a 48$ temperature switch? Wonder if that was the root of my starting problem...

Other than that I am very happy to drive my truck again, and I'm now more than willing to work on it again lol. If that does happen however, I'll be sure to take the whole motor out as 4Hummer is doing.

 

glade to hear you're back up and shiftin

 

Congrats!

The things that were wrong are so minor they could happen to even an experienced mechanic first try on a new engine. Don't let that bum you out.

As for the headbolts, sometimes that just happens too.

I wouldn't necesarrily let this experience bum you out from ever trying again . Look at it this way, next time you'll know what to look out for when you reassemble it. 99% of being a good mechanic is just having experience. "Having been there and done that" I'm sure next time you would ace this job.

 

lol ok ok.

Anyways, what do you peeps suggest for breaking in the motor again? I've driven abouts 20 miles or so in it and the motor was pretty tight, and I know to take it really easy for the first few hundred miles before I see what it can do. I planned on dumping in a can of seafoam for the crank case and then change oil after abouts 200 miles. Also need to give the radiator a good flushing.

Went out and got a new battery btw. Won't reveal my brand out of fear of criticism.

Tell what you'd do though to break in the motor.

 

Same pistons, rings, cam and bearings...

No breakin needed.

I would take it easy on it for a week or so to make sure nothing falls off then run it as hard as you dare.

 

If you wanna do a break in, just keep it below 55, and dont run it at the same rpm for very long. How long you make the break in is up to you since you have the old bottom end, and a new head.

 

It's not a new head... It's the old one with a welded up crack, a valve job and a resurface.

 

Alright, will take it easy for a week then. At what mileage should I be changing mah oil?

Took another look at the manifold and found a new fitting on the temperature sensor with the green connector, so they've definiyely changed one out. Seem to have my old tick back so I guess I need to tighten up the valves...I thought I remembered someone saying it would be alright to adjust a little tighter than factory spec. Was that you ovrrdrive?

Thanks again.

 

Ok so it isnt even a new head, just partially rebuilt.

They just tick, I put in something like marvel mystery oilor Bars leaks and my valve pingning went away. You might try that for 100 miles or so, then change the oil. If its your injectors ticking? nothing to do but listen.

 

Well, I probably posted it here, but it was engnbldr that said it...


Seems maybe this valve stuff has tolerances a little more broad than most people have suspected.

I just thought that was noteworthy information. My valves are amazingly quiet at .008/.010, but I do have an aftermarket Crane Cam Stage 2.

 

no break in required ,but don't be scared to get on it ,better it fail now than later after you have gone to the middle of nowhere ,but i don't think you will have a problem.

 

>>>*This still is an interesting read and some of it sounds like what I get in emails asking questions, plus I even picked up one potential problem to advise people to avoid. It just never hit me that the bottom gear can be installed reversed. Things that seem obvious to me sometimes aren't so obvious to someone who has never done the job before.

But now here comes a story, sorry, *can't help myself...*LOL**..

When I was a kid, I bought this old 1956 Pontiac Chieftain for $20 and towed it home with my Dad's Farmall tractor, 35 miles at 4 mph.

I tore the big 316" V-8 engine down, it had a hole in the side of it. Found a block, some rods, and other parts used for $10, spent $9 for a gasket set (dang parts store thieves). I lapped the valves in my dad's shop at home, he kept everything there to fix the farm equipment.

My plan was to race it, and after about 4 months I actually had it running.

It was fast!!

So off to the drag races I went. I had to stop at a Western Auto store to buy 2 gallons of recycled oil because it leaked, and I had a bucket in the truck I used to dump water in the radiator.

Everything leaked, everywhere.

Well, I won the race, beating a blue 1953 Lincoln Capri in the last round and I got this neat trophy.

I made it to Elk City on the way home and the engine stopped, I called our neighbor who went over and told my dad (we didn't have a phone since it was 3 miles to the nearest pole).

Dad came and got me with the Farmall, we towed it home, about 30 miles again, yup, 4 mph.

I took it apart, bad bearings, some of the gaskets were wrong, couple of rings broken, there was almost no end to the mistakes I made.

I was pretty frustrated, but I am also stubborn so I went right back in there and redid it. Back then I could take the TD-14 bulldozer apart blindfolded but car engines?

The point is we all get to go through the learning curve, I will hazard a guess you learned a lot!....Glad you are running....*EB

 

I always thought you wanted the valves adjusted a little loose. If they are too tight, they end up hanging open and burning.

vmax84

 

something i have learned is that silicone gasket goo is only for a very few specific places. i used to think that it went on both sides of every gasket and have learned differently. it usually makes leakes instead of preventing them. i finally finished my yearlong rebuild on my 22re for my 89 4runner and getting it started was a real fun experience. first my starter was bad, then when i got it to turn over it didn't fire up. i probably turned it over 6 or 7 times then realized that my afm wasn't hooked up. the next time i tried to crank it still no luck so i decided my timing was off. i tried ten different times with no luck. an experienced mechanic friend of mine told me to pull my spark plugs and shoot all of the fuel out of the cylinders and squirt some oil in. i had flooded the cylinders. i left the plugs out for a few days untill i could get back to it and the next time i turned the key VROOOM!!!!!! then kaput. it would die within a few seconds after looking at everything very closely and double checking everything was good, like fuel pressure, spark, vacum, etc, we decided to start trouble shooting from the back side of the computer. with the help of my fsm while checking for voltage we found the problem. somehow little gremlins got inside of my afm and bent one of the contacts leaving the air gate contact stuck on the wrong side of another contact and keeping it from making contact with the idle contact. we bent it back, put everything back together and buyah. i am gold now. only one other small problem. i left a spacer out that goes in between the crankshaft and the flywheel so now i have to drop the transmission and put it in. luckily my truck is at my mechanic buddies house and he has a lift in his garage so it shouldn't be to big of a deal. so yeah, it can be a tricky deal, but threads like this deffinately make things much easier. it's nice to have other people with experience with what you are doing to talk to. a few of you guys have really helped me out. it feels really good to hear her purr again.

 

Hey guys, I just got through changeing the head gasket/timeing chain on my yota... (5 min ago) well see in the morning how it all works out

thx for all the advice in this forum!!

 

Hey! I have basically gone through ALL of these pages watching the conversation and man good job!

I am 19 years old and my dad gets home at 4Pm sometimes later and by then its dark! So I work on this stuff by myself. I have never done this sort of work before! I am a mechanical child but never worked on a motor of this magnitude before.

One tip I thought of was to get zip lock bags to put nuts/bolts/screws into and write on them to where they go.

Anyways, I am replacing the timing chain. I am not looking forward to replacing head gasket even tho I probably need it! I is way too much for me to take off the EFI etc... I don't want to take the head off either.

 

I replaced my timing chain a few weeks ago, maybe a month, blew the head gasket yesterday

 

Ill be adding to this thread, in the process of ordering my goodies from engnbldr.

i for sure am going to Pull my motor out and make it nice and purty. i need a new clutch anyway.

Im looking into a performance cam.

 

I spent last weekend redoing the timing cover gaskets and such. Just bought my 86 4runner and it leaked like a sun of a gun and there was silicone oozing out the bottom corner of the timing cover so I figured that was the main problem. Left the head and pan on. Went fairly smoothly for my first time. Then I discovered a big problem! Whoever did the timing before I bought it crumpled the head gasket!! It seems to be a good seal between the block and the head but the extension between the head and the timing cover was buggered up bad. I knew I wouldn't be able to save that so I cut it off as close to the block as I could and used lots of Permatex Ultra Blue. After I got it put together enough to fire up I noticed it leaking from one of the corners where I cut the head gasket. I'm going now to putts with it and see if it is still leaking (it most likely is) and if so I thought of taking the timing cover off again and cutting a cork gasket to mate up to the head gasket and again using a liberal amount of Permatex.
I really don't want to take the head off because it seems to be a good seal between the head and the block and I dont have very much money, I'm just finishing school and I'm broke for probably another month until I can get back to work and I know that if I start something like that there is going to be a million things go wrong and I just can't deal with that right now.

Do you guys have any suggestions or ideas?