Can someone please clarify what the "fire rings" are? I am in the middle of a HG replacement and have found the same damage, is this something that needs to be fixed?

on the head gasket the fire ring is a name for the metal rings that line the edges around each piston hole (does that make sense?). I didn't do anything to fix this and haven't had any problems so far.

i had to do another HG job about a year ago. the gasket failed at cylinder #1 and it was due to the eventual failure of my fan clutch. bummer but at least i know it wasn't due to any mistakes made during my original HG job! good to see that your work is standing strong too.

yes. that makes a lot of sense. i'll pull my gaskets out of the trash and see if there's signs of damage to the old gaskets. thank goodness, i would have ˟˟˟˟ a brick if i had to take the heads back off haha!

on a further note, since you seem to still be following this thread, how accurate were you on the two passes of 90* turns on the head bolt torquing sequence?

accurate enough, i think. were you able to clean out the bolt holes before torquing down the new bolts?

Awesome. How and you did it with the engine out of the 4runner?

My '91 4runner overheats, but with a 'gutted' thermostat it doesn't. I have it apart now for a new water-pump (it already has a new radiator) and I noticed the water-pump that was in there was fine so now I know I haven't found the problem.

The head-gasket recall was done by the dealer they told me and the motor doesn't smell like anti-freeze. Do you think I just need a really good colling-system flush ??

The heater-core WAS plugged when we bought the truck so we had it back-flushed by a shop. We live in a cold climate I need to have a thermostat in the truck all year...

Excellent write-up btw... I think I could handle this job, if I had like a month...

I have a 88 4runner with 3VZE engine... I don't know if I have blown head gaskets or not so I am seeking advice.... Ok, I got this truck from my dad a few months ago. The truck has been sitting in his backyard for about a year. I drove the truck home but as I was getting off the freeway I noticed I was losing power then the truck shut off... I pulled over let the truck cool. Once it did it started up again but now when I clutch pedal down it lost power and shut off again... Luckily I was next to a circle k so I pushed the truck in and parked it... I took the radiator cap off and added water.... Come to find out the lower radiator hose busted... I replaced it since there was an AutoZone across the street... Once change and with additional water added to the radiator I crank it over and tons of water rushed out the exhaust... I got a tow home... The next day I checked the spark plugs for wetness. The only spark plug of the 4th cylinder had wetness but it smelled like fuel. So I dried it off reinstalled it and it started up with the clutch cancel button enabled of course and with a lil effort and it started. Every time I pushed the clutch in it bogged down and shut off... Then I noticed smoke coming out of the valve cover so I decided to change the valve cover gaskets once I took off the valve covers I noticed milky residue under the drivers side valve cover but not the passengers side.... When I drained the oil from the pan the oil was black as hell but no milky or tan color showed in oil what so ever... Now, since I removed the air intake manifold I accidentally broke the fuel line that went to the fuel rail to the air intake manifold... I'm gonna be heading to the junk yard to find another but before I do I need to find out of I need to change the head gaskets... Did I mention there was oil inside the air intake manifold. But that could have been due to waaaaay to much oil in the motor... White Smoke was coming out of the tailpipe but I'm guessing that was also to due to much oil.... Please I need Help because I don't want to spend unnecessary money because I'm broker than broke... Please no suggestions of swapping motors because I do not have the money for that crap. Lol

Sounds to me that perhaps the bearing that engages the clutch plate may have gone bad. Drop the tranny and investigate.

I suppose you could have an HG failure that somehow communicates with the exhaust...or hell a hole some were in one of the heads themselves.

But, after starting it up as soon as I replaced the radiator no moisture was coming out of the exhaust what so ever. I also pulled the radiator cap off of the new radiator as the truck was started and fluids weren't spewing out, just a little splashing from fluids circulating I guess... When I pulled of the throttle body of the air intake manifold I found oil build up. Could've that just been from a mass over flow of oil in the pan that coming from the oil breather valve into the manifold???