first of all i want to thank yotatech for being here i have been a lurker for over a year now and found lot of great post that have helped me get to the point i am at, but time has come to register and ask questions ....

anywho i have a '93 4runner(120,000 miles on it recall had already been done) i picked up last year with blown head gaskets and after finding the info here to do the work myself i finally got then darn heads off and found that #3 cylinder on the drivers side was real bad with rusted open valves , i was trying to save as much money as possible on this job by doing it myself , but the valves are scaring the hell out of me now .... so wondering what the avg cost is on having the heads rebuild compared to just buying a set already rebuilt ,found rebuilt heads for 295 each from http://www.perfectengine.com/Toyota_3_0L_3VZE_Rebuilt_Cylinder_Head_Assembly_p/pck-to3vzert-cha.htm in Socal so i am sure there will also be shipping to Norcal on top of price and that's a quite bit over the budget i had set @ 250-300 on machine shop work ....

so what do you guys think ? am i screwed on my budget ? i am heading to the local machine shops next week after payday to see but hoping to get a rough estimate on what to expect before i go

thanks for any info/advice you all can give me on this

 

I'd be surprised if you can buy just the parts you need to fully rebuild both heads for much less than $250, MINIMUM(as in just the parts that are likely to be too worn out to be re-used). Double that if you want OEM. That much I know. What it'll cost to have somebody install them all, and do any machining necessary? I can't see you saving a whole lot, if anything, by having yours rebuilt. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Maybe it's the shipping that's the deal breaker there? Who knows? You tell me...

Just one more thought. That's easily $50 in scrap aluminum in those heads. Since it looks like they don't want the cores, so you can recover that much to put towards the shipping atleast...or whatever. You'd just need to remove the valves, shims, guides, lifters, seats, seals, cams, bolts and those cam bearing cap sleaves(?) first.

 

I had my heads serviced at a local machine shop which included resurfacing (for flatness), a valve job, new valve stem seals installed (I provided them) and the valves adjusted. This cost $200 for both heads.

It turned out my old heads had cracks forming between the valves on a couple of cylinders, so I picked up two used heads from a junkyard and had all the above work done on them. They were $100 each. If my heads had been good, the total bill would have only been $200, but since I had to get used heads the total bill was $400. Not sure if these prices work in your area, but given the substantial difference in cost, perhaps you should let a machine shop check out your heads before you spend $600 plus shipping.

Good luck.

 

thanks guys i just got the total cost with shipping at just under 700 for both heads.. and was quoted 100-150 per head just for surfacing from a local machine shop, so will bring them into the shop next payday and see what they say about a full rebuild on them , but still thinking hard about the remaned ones as they come with all parts done and ready even the cams just wasnt planing of spending that much

 

There's gonna be more to it than just some resurfacing. Again, we'll see if there's really any money to be saved. But that price for resurfacing the heads doesn't surprise me in the least. I mean there you go, $200-$300 right there. And you haven't even gotten to square one with fixing the valves. So go figure...

 

Check with another machine shop too. I had one quote me high for simple resurfacing, and that guy told me he did not need the cams for the job.

I found a much better price at another shop that was referred by a mechanic friend. After talking with the guy from the 2nd machine shop, not only was his price WAY better, he also told me he had to have the cams with the heads in order to adjust the valves. When he was done they were resurfaced, fully adjusted and ready to bolt on, and his bill was only $200 total.

If you have a mechanic or know anyone who is a mechanic, ask around a bit to see what machine shop is good. $100-150 per head for resurfacing only sounds steep to me.

 

was that 200 for each head i would assume ? .. but yes i will look/call around i only know of 2 shops in my local town but know theres a few engine builders in the town just 30 miles from me i can check with

 

No, $200 TOTAL (for both heads) for the machine shop work... I provided the valve stem seals because they came in my gasket set, but Claxton Automotive Machine resurfaced the aluminum castings, did a valve job, installed the valve stem seals, AND adjusted the valves on BOTH heads so that when I picked them up they were like new, ready to bolt on... $200 total.

 

wow i can hope ,my gasket kit (Fel-Pro Head Gasket Set )also included the valve seals will shop around as soon as i can ... thanks for the help guys... i really want to get this 4runner on the road as i am really a Jeep guy(dont hold it against me ...lol) and want to become a convert ...lol

 

<cringe> Did you just say Fel-Pro Head Gasket Set?

Oh, don't mind me. It's nothing really. Those things just scare me a bit now that I recently found out they are also made upside-down(compared to OEM). You must have missed my latest posts in the 3VZE upside-down head gasket thread(also my creation).

 

i had seen that some time back(not sure if it was your thread i was reading it was a long time ago) i havnt checked mine yet , but will before i install them

 

I agree with MudHippy. Everything I have read suggests OEM is the way to go with head gaskets. The Toyota top end gasket set for my 3vze was approx. $290, but I didn't want to skimp on the HG's.

If you want to save some money, check out http://engnbldr.com/, he sells a complete gasket kit for $119, I think the HG's are Rock gaskets (I think), but lots of people on the forum speak highly of them and their products.

It's not too late to return the felpro set... you only want to do this once

 

In 2007 I paid 472.73 to have both heads completely serviced, AND the head-gasket set (all gaskets needed for a head gasket replacement). The heads were surfaced, all the exhaust valves were replaced, the valves were ground, all the gaskets (valve stem) were replaced (which is part of the reason I bought the gasket set from him), the valves were adjusted (all necessary spacers at no extra charge). The heads were cleaned and painted (who woulda thunk?).

This is in Oakland, CA. Even in one town, I got a very wide range of prices (and included services), so shopping is definitely important.

If you have a valve (or two) 'rusted open,' you might have some damage in the valve guide. The guides can be replaced (usually), but that will add to the price.

The disadvantage of buying a "completely remanufactured" head is that you have no way of knowing how badly the head had been abused before it was worked on. In your case, you KNOW your head was badly abused (the rusted valves). This weighs in favor of taking your chance on a reman.

Good luck!