Koso1985

Why I'm asking, is because with my other thread, I have been chasing a overheating problem and the LAST thing is did I installed the head gaskets backwards or something, I took allot of pictures, but none of the head gaskets installed before the heads, but I do have some of them installed with the heads with out the intake manifold so I can kinda see the out line of the head gaskets and I want to compare them, to someone else that has done head gaskets to see if they match.

I used Fel-Pro headgaskets.

Thank you ahead of time.

wcasey5

You can check out my thread at

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...askets-260456/

here is a pic as good as I got.



From looking at my left over gaskets, if you have overhang at the front of the engine on both sides, chances are your head gaskets are on correctly. The right gasket does not have the round hole for the water passage. But if you put it on the left side, you will not get the overhang (gasket sticks out from under the head 1/2 inch or so) under the head.

Koso1985

Thanks for that. What brand of gaskets are you using? I would think all brands would have the same shape.

Koso1985

Here is the one picture I have

wcasey5

Looks like your left gasket is on wrong (right side gasket used on the left side), there are no bits hanging out. If you look at the left head in my pic, you see the tang of the gasket is hanging out quite a ways from under the head. which means your gaskets are on the wrong side. If I am looking at it correctly.

wcasey5

is the portion of the gasket sticking out from under the head on the right (drivers side) of the picture (left head). If there is no head gasket sticking out, then they are on wrong.




look at mine, the gasket is sticking out

Koso1985

Yep, its looking like they are on wrong.

wcasey5

bummer! That would explain the clogged block, it was clogged with the head gasket.

Koso1985

Yep, I'm going to tear it down today and see. I remember looking at the Left and Right imprints on the head gaskets.

I guess if you don't mess up, you don't learn, right?

wcasey5

I used the oem gaskets from toyotaparts.com ($48 each). All the gaskets are shapped the same from my experience, but the OEM ones have the metal part against the head, the other aftermarket ones have the metal part against the block (made upsidedown). I used the cheap evergreen ebay ones my first go around, and I wouldn't recommend that at all. Also new head bolts.

wcasey5

exactly! :-) , and I'm still learning! The left one is for the drivers side, right one for the passengers side.

rworegon

OP, please pick up a set of HG from Toyota. There are cases where non-Toyota HS are made backwards or upside down and, thus, cause all sorts of problems. MudHippy has a couple of threads showing the differences.

Also, Toyota references right and left as if you are sitting in the driver seat. So what seems to be the right when working at the front of the engine is actually left.

MudHippy

Well...it turns out there's currently 2 OEM brands of HGs for this engine(Ishino and Sanwa). Both brands are made to face differently(like many aftermarket brands are as well). And they're upside down, or right side up, in respect to each other depending on who you think knows better. The guy that came up with the idea for the new gasket design. Or Toyota, who merely used(stole) the idea. And then flip-flopped and decided it was better to invert the design. Or whatever the case may be....

Anyways, long story, in one 2 page thread...

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f123...askets-191393/

rworegon

Crazily confusing. Anyhow, I'd stick with either HG that the dealer supplies vs. non-Toyota OE. My 0.02.

Pat8942

Better to spend a little more up front for quality parts, then to have to do the job twice and end up buying quality parts the second time around.

Dmech

This is my first post on Yotatech.

Unfortunately it comes with bad news. I picked up very clean 93 4 Runner 3vze with a seized engine. The previous owner had run it down to the last drop of oil. The number 4 piston bearing was liquefied and the rod was burnt.

So I ripped it all apart. Did a home valve job aka clean and lap. Got the bock checked and honed. then threw it back together.... and got the head gaskets backwards. Long story short. It would overheat, every cooling system component was new. After throwing parts at it to no avail, I checked for the gasket tang on the LEFT side after RESEARCHING BEFORE POSTING. and Walaaa my dumb ass screwed it up. Well as a wise man once said " number of times over equals certainty" now I get to rip it apart and spend more Money. YAAAAY!

I just want to go wheeling again. I haven't owned a rig for 4-5 years.

I have no pic of my head gaskets but here is a photo of the piston that seized.

wcasey5

Live and learn. I started the second tear down around 11am. Took some beer breaks, and had it running and back together around 10pm. But I'm with you, facing a job that you just finished is not a great feeling. Good luck. share results.

Dmech

So after taking a few days to calm down. I got started re-replacing the head gaskets on my 4 Runner. here are some pics. I pick up some new head gaskets and ordered some new bolts. My machinist says that you can reuse the TTY bolt and that he has done it many times with no problem. On the other hand every bit of data I find on the web stoutly states otherwise. IMHO I would rather spend the extra dough than have to go through this embarrassing nightmare again.[IMG][/IMG]
Look closely and you see the tab on the left, right in the photo is absent and present on the right, left in the photo.
[IMG][/IMG]

snap-on

how about old head gaskets installed from the factory and before they were removed

wcasey5

definitely use new head bolts. If they had not gone through heat cycles you may get away with it. I have tried to reuse them in the past and the best case is they break when you torque them down. Then you just have to get new ones and throw them away. Worst case is that you torque them and they either break or are stretched enough not to clamp properly after the engine starts and goes through some heat cycles. Then you are tearing it down again.

Just to make you feel better, I tore down the 3vze, found a blown gasket on the left side, replaced it and put it back together without changing the right or machining the heads. Didn't torque the head properly (new rule, no beer until AFTER the heads are torqued). Still a problem, tore it down again and changed the right, found a blown gasket there as well, put it back together without machine work, and I STILL had a problem. At that point I tore it down, got the machine work done, and it's back together and working great.