For some reason Toyota told the dealers that the head bolts were not TTY which they are. So a lot (pretty much all) of the dealers were/are reusing the headbolts. This reuse of bolts caused a lot of head gaskets replaced under the recall fail causing much frustration and causing people to think the 3.0 is weaker then it really is and on and on.

The 3.0 head bolts are TTY which means they are not to be reused.

 

The way I look at it...WHY RISK IT?? Even if you thnk they may not be TTY, why not replace them jsut to be sure?? I ALWAYS replace the headbolts. Better to have the peace of mind than worry about blowing yet another head gasket.

 

Exactly, I've owned three 3.0's and with my experience with them I'm not willing to take any chances

 

Toyota tech doesn't necessarily mean toyota trained or toyota certified.
For your $90/hr, you're probably dealing with someone making $18, if you're lucky. Even the toyota "trained" techs can be on a commission like operation, where they're paid a little more money per job. You get billed book rate.

Read what the FSM says. If the techs say something different, you might inquire as to why. Learning on the job from someone else doing a half-assed job doesn't mean that reusing the headbolts is what toyota engineers recommend.

 

It's actually my girlfriend's cousin who is a Toyota Tech who is doing it for me at his house for $25 an hour. I figure he is just telling me what he has learned working at the dealership. I'm getting new headbolts anyways even though he thinks I don't need them.

 

Good idea. Better safe than sorry. Have you reasearched his part work? IE how many comebacks he has had, or warranty work he has had to cover?

 

No, I haven't I just know that he works on my girlfriend's parent's cars and her car and he does a good job. Also, he owns a 99 4Runner and he used to have an 86 and an 89 so I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing.

 

I remeberd the other day while thinking back to my 4runner days i did reuse head studs once and i was changing the gasket a mont later.Maybe the bolts maybe the boost who knows.I wouldnt do it over even if i walked in to order them and they wouldnt take my money or sell them to me...id go to another dealer.

 

Boost? You turboed the 3vze as well? Im on that route right now as well...

TO4e-50 trim with a 0.63 hotside AR should work well I think Or I could do a lower AR hotside and incorporate a 50mm external wastegate...

 

Technically, the manual sais to replace the "stretch" bolts everytime the heads come off. And at around $12 per bolt, spendy!!! But from first hand expereince, you can easily replace the gaskets 2 times, maybe 3. You will feel them, break/stretch, when they no longer stretch, then its time. Toyota refers to these as "plastic region" bolts. The stretch is to allow the aluminum head as it expands at a greater rate then the iron block to "float" over the gasket. And the floating is what would tear up the gaskets too. So this should be the final word on this thread! Now if this is a 22RE, I find the 2 headbolts that goes betwen the exhaust valves are usually heavily pitted/corroded and should be repalced also. We stock them all. So on a 22RE, get 2 new bolts.

 

I reused my old bolts when the HG blew at 107K. They got restreched and are holding up just fine.