thanks again to user: bugs1961 for showing us how to make this tool

now I decided to go ahead and take the crossover pipe off so here's how I did it. I took off a little area from the passengers wheel well,

and that gave access to this (after taking of the heat shield on the exhaust manifold).

It is the one bolt that I could not access from the top so I was now able to put a wrench (closed end with it facing toward the front) on it with another wrench attached for leverage and that broke it free. Then like I said I was able to get to the other two from up top.

Then on the drivers side of the crossover pipe I was able to get to the two at the bottom threw the wheel well again,

and then after taking off the engine hook I was able to get to the top one.

the three bolts attaching the crossover to the down pipes weren't as easy though, I got two of 'em off all right with about a foot and some change of ratchet extensions but there was a third one right in between the exhaust pipe and the transmission, that required a knuckle. I broke mine while I was trying to take it off and then I said eff it and went at it straight on, or as straight on as I could, and stripped the bolt. Then I went to the auto parts store to by a set of bolt extractors, used it then it stripped even further, after a very, very fair amount of torque might I add Irwin makes them and they usually work like a charm. Then I hammered on a 13mm star-point deep socket. It too caught on a descent amount but not enough. Finally I tried the 1/2 bolt extractor socket and it wouldn't even catch, and thats when I came down with a terrible case of insanity and was able to thank of this wonderful idea...

but then finally I was able to take the head off

and I was finally able to see lucky #6's reflection stare back at me

hey how bad of an idea would it be to do only this side of the engine and leave the other side alone?

 

Whoa, wow, trials and tribulations! Congrats on getting that thing off. Sorry it came down to torching it.

I got my downpipe off the same way, lots of extensions. The third one was tight, but I got to it with a wobbly. Bugs helped me out on that job too, told me to use WD40, and to use anti-seize grease when reassembling it.

It's frustrating now, but you'll feel better about the job later if you do both sides. You're only a set of head bolts away!

 

Great Job thus far!!......

no pain, no gain the old saying goes.....the #6 cylinder has caused a lot of heart ache and frustration for a lot of us 3vze owners

I thought I escaped the clutches of the monster because my vin # was not in the recall list...........I was wrong....the monster got me and I had to do the head gasket job

I really didn't want to even work on this piece of crap!! 4runner..please tell me why I should like this 4runner..I don't have the patience I used to have with it anymore

btw I would do the other side and you will be rolling

 

well I understand your frustrations but the head gasket around the #6 cylinder really seems to be the only real issue with this truck other than that normal wear and tear type brake downs are rare. I bought this truck for $2800 with 190k. Around 60 thousand miles and 2 years later with multiple trips to the old dirt (sometimes mud) trail and 3 trips to the ocean to romp around on the sand and camp, driving endless miles around texas while hauling a 6x10 trailer with a 400 pound bike, and the head gasket blew admittedly due to my own neglect (not having antifreeze during a freeze). I have to say that I love this truck.

 

I got you........I wish I was as pleased with this one as you are with yours..........now back to the thread and I need to

 

I need to add this.....I forgot to mention that on the R.H. I had a large coolant hole plugged up from some sort of head gasket repair liquid stop leak (RED in color),,,,put in by the P.O. here is a pic of what it looked liked in my radiator and reservoir.This stuff was like a past and circulated around the cooling system and I couldn't get rid of it no matter how much i flushed the system.I did replace this radiator right before the head gasket blew

 

Dude, don't even THINK about stopping now.

Pull that other head, & send them both out for a valve job. You want to do this again in 3 mos?
Also make sure you pull the oil cooler off & clean it. I just went through the same thing on my "new" 95. The water lines to the cooler looked like someone packed them with grease. I was worried because after running on the interstate, the oil press @ idle was low. After cleaning the garbage out of the coolant lines, it's fine.

It would be mony well spent to have that rad dipped & rodded.

 

PS,

I was having to run 93 to avoid it knocking, I used about 12 cans of brake cleaner, & 6 SS toothbrushes on the pistons. Now able to run the timing @ 10 DBTDC & no knocking!

I know this sux now, but in the end you'll be happier!

 

OK, I know I'm coming to this party a little late, but another helpful hint.

When you go to torque, (notice i said torque) the cam sprockets, you can take a 10mm socket on a 8" extention, use it like you are going to remove the plate behind the sprockets, jam one of the spokes on the sprocket against the extention to stop it from turning. Works like a champ

 

Yea man, ill throw up some pics of where im at.

 

Ugh, that radiator is horrible, take it to the shop and have them blow it out.

Owners who are stupid enough to put that kinda crap in their engines should be shot. Put them out of their misery, and prevent them causing the rest of us misery.

Ok, feeling better after that rant.

 

My HG blew on #1 which was weird. I was pumping exhaust out the over flow tank.

Block sanded with 220, then 500, then 1200. same with the heads. I just didnt take a pic of em.


Heads and intake were chem-diped and then steam cleaned.




Both heads, valve covers and cams on





My water neck is nasty.

I should be done with all of this by the end of this week. Im kinda nervous about her runnin again. I did everything according to the toyota FSM, I just need to think positive.

 

I replace that radiator a few weeks before the dead gasket blew....I wrote that into that post.....but still have the radiator with the dookie in it

 

no skimming over post you must read all, so you wont miss important information

 

Sorry, guys, lesson learned.

Still, if you got that thing redone, you'd have a good spare!

 

Good work man, Nice pic's good for reference when I get around to mine.

 

Excellent pictures! I'll probably be adding some of my own here soon. Need to take care of some maintenance on the working vehicle before I claim the garage with the inoperable one.

 

tubby fatty: How did you ensure that your mating surfaces were true? The tolerance on that is rediculously small like .03 of an inch. Was the sanding block the width of the head or something like that. I did the same thing to a nissan ka24de cylinder head but I had a true table (a table used to measure tolerances) and put a large sanding paper on the table and slid the head back and forth on it to insure it was sanded evenly. On that iron block I would worry much about that but something like aluminum I would be a bit cautios with that. I'm not at all knocking your work though the mating surface on that block looks fantastic, and you could serve up dinner on those heads. I just wanted to let everyone know that you wanna use great caution when sanding you mating surfaces.

 

Budro. I didnt stay in 1 spot for ever, I slowly worked around the whole thing and evenly got it done. I took a metal straight edge and started poking with a feeler gauge (.03) and it never went through. Same with the heads. I was a little worried about the heads but I just took my time and paid attention. It took me a good 2 weeks to sand everything.

 

my 02 cents....I'm no engine engineer here, so please don't take my word as the Gospel
I agree that you have to use caution and care to not get uneven sanding on those mating surfaces.....but you also have to know that some folks like me and others, only have minimal shop like equipment and don't do this for a profession.I do understand that most of the time you get a professional job at a professional shop...but I have also had a few bad professional jobs

I will also add that there is a thickness to the head gasket that once installed and torqued properly, will to some degree seal uneven areas of the two surfaces(from what I have read), provided the heads are not warped beyond tolerances