oneflat83

Ok, so im not a brand new mechanic. been into volvo 240s for some time. I picked up an 87 4runner the other day because i had one once and loved it...long story short i should have never sold it.
Now, this one i got has a 3 month old motor in it with a bad head gasket. hmmmm. I think i know what you guys are thinking...why would that be? ya. i know. anyway, since ive never heard it run do you think i should drain the milkshake out of it fill it with cheep oil and try to start it up to make sure she fires off? at least on the backside after i get it together i will know if it fired off before the teardown. right?
This will be my first yota experience. cant wait!

jsn_stockard

How long was it run with the malt in it? If not long, cheap oil it and see. And welcome to yt!

oneflat83

I was told about 5 blocks. Ill have the head checked for warpage regardless though. Its super milky oil. I was kinda wondering why it would have blown a gasket so soon. I was told they filled the reseviour with coolant but didnt burp the system and add more coolant after the therm opened. wtf? what kind of mechanic wouldnt check that? Or at least check the fluids after a breakin? i guess thats what you get when you pay someone to do your wrenchin

glad to be here guys. hope all goes well on this site as i kinda like forums.

jsn_stockard

Could be a cracked head too. My bet would be that motor will be fine. These motors could survive a nuke blast! Also, they could have gouged the gasket or something.

oneflat83

you know thats a good point on the cracked head. perhaps they only put a short block in and reused a cracked head. that makes sense. Ill plan on sourcing one up front so im not surprised when i dig into it.

jsn_stockard

Pm me if you need help finding one. I bought one from a place in Colorado back in August, great price, great part. I cant remember the place, have that info in the shop

jsn_stockard

toyotacarpart.com, thats the place

oneflat83

i was checking fleebay. theres quite a few of them on there for around $100-150
resurfaced with a 3 angle valve job. i thought that was pretty fair.


thanks for all the help man. Ill post up a project thread on it once i get going

Pistonman

The street/rv head from engnbldr is excellent for $400. You might also want to look at the timing cover for cracks in the area grooved by the chain.

jsn_stockard

Oh snap, I forgot all about the t-chain cover! Good point. Flat, these motors break timing chain guides every now and then. When they do the chain eats into a coolant passage if they go too long. Great catch pistonman!

desconhecido

engnbldr.com heads for $400 or so get good comments. Also, check out attarco.com, or search this forum for attarco. Brand new heads with new valves, etc for $250. There are several threads on the forum discussing these heads, several folks, apparently have had luck with them, and I've seen no horror stories. Surely, if they were crap, somebody would say something.

About your situation: from what I've read here and other places on line, having a recently installed head gasket fail on a newly purchased truck doesn't seem to be a rare problem, unfortunately. I don't know if there is a common denominator in these stories or not. Perhaps it's reluctance to spend the money on getting the head checked and surfaced when the owner is planning to sell the truck. Perhaps it's just sloppy work by people who don't know any better.

oneflat83

so after having a couple beers with the brother in law whos a machinist by trade and a supra driver he talked me into taking the motor out. his reason is valid. whenever you have as much water and gunk inside the motor as i did you leave yourself open to bearing failure. I read though a few threads before posting mine and DID notice that after doing a head gasket it seemed that within a couple months these bottom ends developed knocks. He said the water eats the coating off the bearings and then they wear quickly after that.
Im going to get a long block and replace it. Ill take the motor thats in it and build a turbo motor out of it ( im a turbo guy by default from my other car).
what do you guys think? agreed? OR....change the head gasket and related parts that will come up and hope for the best and build another motor for the near future. which im leaning towards a attarco NEW motor for 1200 and call it a day (since i picked up my runner for pennies)

desconhecido

Yeah, sounds like a plan. For $1200 or so you should be able to turn it into a reliable truck and then do what you want with the current engine. You could take the current engine and tear it down and fix what needs fixing and then have it to install in the next 4Runner with a bad engine that you buy. Everybody needs a hobby and it seems like there is no shortage of Toyota trucks needing fixed engines.

Good luck with it.