hey everyone so iv had discovered the other day that my head gaskets are blown on my 3.0 92 4runner, whats new right! but i want to repair this issue an get her running again. now im kinda planning on just getting another set of heads an sending them out the machine shop an get them pressure checked an deck them too ,but while im getting that done an got everything apart an having the heads sent out is there anything i should do to the heads for one so this doesn't happen again an two maybe kinda get alittle bit more juice an efficiency out of the heads an motor its self thx guys

 

What makes you believe you need another set of heads?

 

your right i dont really , just wanted to know if there is anything i should do to benefit my motor while iv got everything apart to the heads?

 

About the best thing to do for your truck is leave the 3vz sitting in the recycle bin. Put a 5vz in the engine bay. From my experience, head issues always come back around on the 3.slow.

 

I would also suggest the 5vz swap, but it's not the only solution. Probably the best thing you could do if you keep the 3.0 is get some headers. I'm not the only one that believes the majority of the 3.0 head gasket problems stem from that horrible crossover design at the back of the driver side exhaust manifold.
If you go 5vz swap, don't leave the 3.0 in the recycle bin, sell it! I think I got $300 for mine with a blown head gasket(which, incidentally, wasn't at the #6 cylinder like most. Mine blew at #2 cause my radiator had a pinhole leak and when I overheated slightly going uphill, the front cylinders lost cooling first).
Good luck whatever you do!

 

Hey I had this same problem. And my 89 4runner is in the shop right now getting fixed too. But this is not my point. My point is to give you a heads up here cuz it might help you out and hopefully save you a big chunk of cash. I did some research when trying to fix my truck. I found that 4runner motors that were made between the years 89-95 had a recall because heads were being blown after a certain ammount of miles and if your truck qualifies you can actually get your heads fixed for free without any cost to you. Unfortunately my 3.0 motor was built toward the end of 1988 and didn't qualify for the recall.

All you have to do is call Your local Toyota dealership. Have you vin number on hand and ready to tell the guy. If your truck doesn't have a head rebuild on file from a past owner that did a recall on those heads you should qualify for a free head fix.

That is what the Toyota tech told me.

Good Luck bro. Hope you save some money with this.

 

Replace all of the coolant hoses, and even the vacuum hoses while everything's apart and easy to get to. The knock sensor pigtail is another good thing to replace.

 

If you are planning on keeping the 3.0 I'd also have the block machined and rebuilt, you're already so far in and a good flat surface on the head side and the block side is imprtant. I agree with a 5vz swap (had a Taco! Sweet engine!) but mechanically I couldn't do the work myself and to pay a shop to do it would be much more $$$$ than just fixing the existing problem so I understand why that could be an issue. When I'm OPRAH rich though.... things will change


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