I found out today that I blew a head gasket. It is losing compression on 3 cylinders, but hasn't started losing coolant yet. Toyota wants $2000 so I have recruited a friend of mine that use to be a mechanic to help me. I have couple of questions:

1. How hard is it? I have removed an engine from a Chevy S-10 before to get rebuilt but by far not a mechnic.
2. What else should I replace? The timing belt was replaced about 20,000 miles ago. I am trying to keep the price low because I am low on funds since the wife decided she wanted to be a stay at home mom.

I am getting the gasket kit from engnbldr.com. I have the Haynes book. Is there a better book?

Thanks

 

just take your time.water pump & upper idler would be a good idea since your there.send the heads to a machine shop to ck the valves & for any warpage.

 

Does anyone know a good machine shop on the north side of Atlanta? Marietta area.

 

You say that it is your first headgasket? If so you should be able to get it done by Toyota under the recall. Go to a dealership and give them your VIN and see what recall have and haven't been done. If it is the first time its blown one they should do it under the recall.

 

Yep, the FSM, here's the 93 truck FSM:

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...fsm/index.html

Be carefull using a Haynes, I found several errors in mine.

 

I have contacted Toyota about the recall and they stated that it was out of the date range by a couple of months. Maybe I should try another dealer.

 

Nope, the late model 95's weren't covered under the recall. It's pretty retarded because they all had problems. I replaced the gaskets and all top end gaskets on my 95 4Runner last fall with a gasket kit from Toyota and it runs great now. I also did the timing belt, water pump and various other small things too.

 

I am in the process of getting an estimate on resurfacing the heads. Do I need to get anything done to the valves? I got quoted $90 to resurface both heads. Does that sound low?

 

get the heads pressure tested and have them do a valve job while the heads are out as well.

 

What is the average price for the resurfacing, pressure test and valve job? I know if will be different for different parts of the county, I just want to know if they are trying to screw me or not.

 

i have my heads at a local shop right now and I'm paying $300 for surfacing/pressure test/valve job for both. the shop i took the heads to was highly recommended by a couple different respectable people so I didn't bother shopping around.

 

I found someone that comes highly recommended for $350. I am going to use this guy. I found my torque wrench today and wanted to find out which torque setting do I use.

 

There are SEVERAL good, detailed threads in here on HG replacements; do a search on Bumpin' Yota, justinking & my threads...you should have no problem finding them. IT'S ALL BEEN DONE BEFORE!! Let's no reinvent the wheel.