abj27

okay, thinking my HG is blown. Thursday morning driving to work I noticed my truck wouldn't heat up, then the needle jumped to red. Shut it off and let it cool down. It took about a gallon of coolant to fill back up. Friday morning headed to work was fine, but coming home I guess it finally gave out and I had clouds of thick white smoke out the tailpipe.

So now I am considering replacing it myself. I am a bit intimidated but think I may be able to pull it off, a few questions first:

1. How much could be broken? What is the chance I open it up and find a cracked head or a cracked block? Would that be giving me different symptoms?

2. What all needs to be replaced when I get in there. Obviously the HG, but also timing belt, water pump... what else am I going to need?

3. Tools. I've got a decent socket set and a bunch of hand tools. What other tools am I gonna need? I am considering air tools, although from reading other threads it looked like it would be possible without it. I would just need a good sized cheater bar. I guess some specialty tools I can just borrow from autozone?

That's where I'm at right now. Just trying to weigh my options. I have gotten a couple quotes. Dealer wants $1800. A local guy wants $1400, which includes timing belt, water pump, drive belts and resurfacing the head if needed. I would like to do it myself, but I do need it functioning again before too long. My wife and I get tired of sharing one car all the time. After reading redyota's thread found here:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...advice-221022/

I am feeling somewhat optimistic about my ability to do this (perhaps foolishly so...)

So anyway, sound off with any advice or tips you may have. Or just some encouragement. If I decide to go for it this will be my thread for pics and stucks throughout the process.

Wrenchinjoe

Read through the procedure in the FSM if you haven't already. If you are mechanically inclined, patient anf have some experience with wrenching, you should be able to work through the steps. Specialty tools can be borrowed through AutoZone, and you can make a cheater bar to break the crank and cam bolts loose. The crossover pipe is a serious PITA, but you can save some headache by removing both heads with the crossover still attached (a second set of hands helps), then remove it on the work bench.

It is a big job, but if you have some decent mechanical experience then go for it. It is not a quick job for certain, make sure you and your wife can live without the vehicle for a couple of weeks to a month.

Good luck.

abj27

Okay, gonna start tomorrow. I'm not sure how this is gonna go, but I really don't want to take it into a shop and have them tear it down and tell me it's all screwed up and then need another bundle of money before it will run. I'd rather find that out on my own before I put too much money into it.

Wish me luck! Questions and pics to come soon

abj27

Okay, so I got started on it and I am making some progress. Ran into a couple of issues. I'm working out of the Chilton manual and it says to pull my exhaust from the cat up to the exhaust manifold. Well I go to unbolt it from the cat and find this:

Are those supposed to come off? It doesn't even look like seperate pieces of metal. I can't even get a breaker bar onto it well enough to put any torque on it without rounding it off. Gonna hit it with PB blaster and see if that helps. Any better ideas would be appreciated.

Next question. I guess I need to take off the fluid coupler. I assume I need to take off the 4 bolts shown in the pic?

Best way to turn those without the whole coupler turning? I guess just use two wrenches, but then how do I get the last one off?

camo31_10.50

pretty sure i just held onto the fan clutch and gave those a piece of my right arm guns.....lol...might have had to "jar" them loose, as in hit the wrench with a hammer REAL fast.


the exhaust comes apart right there, it's bolted together with two bolts/nuts.

loosen them and it should come right apart, if it doesn't give it a few bumps with a hammer and it should break loose as it would only be rust holding it together.


the headgasket job isn't as hard as people make it out to be, the crossover is one of the hardest parts in my opinion.


check out my 3.0 rebuild thread if you want. and feel free to ask me any questions!

abj27

Thanks Camo. I may be too hesitant to just hit stuff sometimes. 90% of the time that fixes stuff. It's just that 10% of the time it costs me a couple hundred bucks that keeps me from doing it more. I'll check out your rebuild for some help.

camo31_10.50

now don't go all hulk on the hammer...

when i say hit, just give it some nice firm taps lol

Wrenchinjoe

The Chilton manual is not so great, the genuine Toyota service manual can be found here:

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-buchanan/93fsm/

Read the 'Cylinder Head' section for the 3vze, that should be your primary guide.

As for the fluid coupler, don't worry with breaking those 4 bolts loose, you can leave that in place and remove it still attached to the bracket once you get more timing related parts out of your way. (I am guessing you aleady removed the fan from the coupler, as that can be unbolted from the coupler easily once the radiator is out.)

PB Blaster will help on the exhaust parts, soak all manifold and crossover nuts and bolts for a couple of days in advance if you can. You may still have to cut some of them to get the crossover and downpipe off.

abj27

So, I haven't been on for awhile. After a long Christmas break out of town I finally got back to my truck and have made some progress:

A couple questions though. I saw some oil here on this mating surface:

Should I be worried about that? Or is that normal for a blown HG?

Also when I unscrewed my oil filler cap I saw this:

not pretty! I am assuming this gunk is all through my engine. Is there some sort of an engine flush to clean it all out? Or do I just change the oil 50 miles after I get it running again?

Also, I read I am supposed to remove the exhaust pipe from the engine to the front of the cat. I unbolted it from the exhaust manifold but can't seem to get it off the cat. Can I just leave the pipe there but unbolted? I would think I should be able to lift the heads off still as long as it's not bolted to the exhaust pipe. Any ideas?

abj27

Thanks Joe. I've been reading that too. I'm using the Chilton manual simply because it is in book form and therefore easy to read in the garage with dirty hands. What I really need is a computer in the garage...

justin_4runner

the cap is usually just clean it and u might want to do that with all the other parts. it is normal for the black oil sut on the intake manifold and getting some build up, where ever u take the heads to take the intake manifold and other items u want cleaned and see how much they will charge to run it threw the parts cleaner. u will be happy u do this, and it will be nicer when u put it back together.


edit.... hope u also took pics of the vacuum lines and locations usually the hardest part to get back right, i just got done redoing my motor so if u have any questions feel free to ask. i might be able to help.

camo31_10.50

In all honesty, your bearings are toast or will be toast soon after you run this thing again (atleast it looks like it...) you got alot of water in the oil, which is BAD for bearings....


i think you'll be a lot better off taking the entire block out and getting it cleaned, getting the crank checked out and fixed up if it has any problems, and all new bearings, piston rings and the such.


this is my observant opinion, i mean you don't have much farther to go after you pull the heads to pull the entire motor...and then you have a BRAND NEW motor.

blake.nemitz

why not unbolt the exhaust from the crossover instead of the cat

abj27

Not what I want to hear. I guess I'll decide once I get the heads off and get a better picture of how things look. Yes, lots of water in there, but I didn't run it like that for long. Just a few miles. I would like to get this thing running again sometime.

abj27

Help! Anyone have a good idea where to get the camshaft pulley holder and crankshaft pulley holder tool? I tried Autozone and O'Reilly's and they were just scratching their heads. I found this for the camshaft:

http://www.amazon.com/Schley-Nissan-...f=pd_rhf_p_t_4

but it would be nice to get it a little quicker and not pay for shipping.
I'm having trouble finding a tool similar to the one I see in the FSM for the crankshaft pulley. Any good ideas would be appreciated

Wrenchinjoe

This tool worked like a charm for me. You can make it yourself for under $15.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...l-tool-186081/

The cam pulley bolts were SERIOUSLY tight and bent the tool a little, but it worked. I used it again just today reinstalling the the crank bolt and cam pulley bolts. Worth every penny.

abj27

got the camshaft and crankshaft bolts off today. woot! I'm not setting any speed records on this repair though...

92 TOY

I was going to tell you to check out my son's build thread (in my sig) but it looks like you got the cam bolts off. carry-on.

good luck on the build...will be watching.

abj27

thanks 92 toy. I haven't had a chance to get through that whole thread as it is LONG. Got most of the disassembly done on Saturday but I didn't have a 12 point 12mm socket for the head bolts. I'm going to try to get both heads with crossover pipe attached off this week sometime. Wish me luck!

abj27

Okay, I know I've uploaded photos to my Yotatech gallery before, but it's been a couple of years and I can't figure out how to do it now... I just don't see an 'upload' button anywhere. A little help.

But I got the heads off this weekend! I took both heads off with crossover pipe attached and it went pretty smooth. As soon as I can figure out how to upload pics instead of just these inline pics I'll put a couple up. In the meantime some questions:

So I'm trying to figure out how much money to drop into this thing. My potential shopping list:

to get:
Head gasket kit
Water pump
new timing and accessory belts
resurface head

Here's where I need some help, how much do I need this stuff?

Idler pulleys
new head bolts
service injectors?

and do I even want to think about doing anything with the valves? Any helpful input would be appreciated.