jcatalanello

Okay, I know this has gone over before, and i have searched the forums, but would still like some thoughts. 94 4runner, 3.0 5 speed 191xxx. Few things:

1. bubbles in the coolant. No smoke of any kind. After sitting for a while, when an attempt to start is made, I get a single "click" and after a few attempts it starts but runs weird for about 5-10 seconds then clears up and runs great. Could it be anything but a leaky head gasket? (have not compression tested)

2. How long should it take to change the head gaskets out? (I have pulled the engine and done the gaskets on a 2.2 subaru successfully so I have some experience)

3. I normally go OEM, but I hear people saying that Victor-Reinz are better in this case. Is that true?

4. Do I need any special tools?

5. Is it fine to reuse the head bolts?

I know if I look long enough I could probably find the answers, but I would appreciate some help. Thank you guys very much.

HighLux

Sorry for ya man.

Rev it up with the rad cap off....does it shoot out filler neck?

oem gaskets. new head bolts.

Good thing...many been down this road...tons of threads.

search tip....use google...but add yotatech to search line...

"3.0 headgasket job yotatech" for example.

james92toy

Here's your options in order of money.
$ put in new gaskets and bolts.
$$ gaskets , bolts and have heads rebuilt . Because it's pita , rebuild as much as you can .
$$$ Have a shop do it .
$$$ Put a rebuilt motor in. Because your going to have half the motor torn apart that has 200k on it , and for a few more $$ than getting the heads rebuilt you could buy a rebuilt motor.

jcatalanello

So, where does one find a rebuilt motor? Is there a common source?

james92toy

Not sure where a good place would be .
Maybe enginebuilder.com ??
All I can say is stay away from atarco . They sell motors they claim come from japan with under 50k . When mine blew up after the warranty was up , I took it apart . What a pos it was . You can see they did a bad job putting a sleeve in it .
So I just rebuild my own now.
Or think about motor swap to 3.4
Best thing I ever did was put a gm 4.3 in mine .

HighLux

If you are going through the trouble of swapping the motor yourself..might as well just do the head gaskets on the one you have.

If a used 3.0 fell out of the sky for a few hundred...then by all means swap it. They are hard to find used and get snapped up quick. Craigslist...ebay...

Buying a rebuilt there are options...few guys here have done that...the cleanest option...but most money.

All boils down to how much time you have, money to spend, and mechanical ability.

scope103

You could have a crack in the head, but my money is on the head gasket only. When it happened to me, I had a machine shop do the heads (which includes the pressure test), but it rapidly approaches the price of an entire rebuilt head.

Just keep in mind that you will likely find things you didn't expect, which will extend the time it takes. Shopping trips, and all. I would not plan on getting it all done in one day, unless you want to just slap it back together, no matter what you see.

jcatalanello

Yeah, I briefly thought of a swap to a different motor, but all this will be done in a gravel driveway, so I'd like to keep it as simple as possible. I am thinking just pull the head off,have them check and machined if needed. Brush of the carbon, replace and gasket and seals that are exposed and put it all back on. Maybe timing belt and water pump if the could use it. I know there is a lot that could be done, but not sure it's worth the time I will take me to learn all about it, and get the parts, and spend the money. My hopes are $200 and weeks worth of evenings. I am not In a position to fabricate mounts and stuff for a different style engine. So unless there is one that will just drop right in, it's kinds out of the question

jcatalanello

The dealership said I probably just have bad starter contacts, and a non headgasket related buble in the coolant. Could that be? I poped the radiator cap with a a very cool motor, and got it started. Coolant slowly but right away started to overflow. Could that just be from it getting warm? It was totally full when I poped the cap. Didn't see bubbles.

stanprophet

Don't assume anything!

When the contacts on the starters start to fail, and you are trying to start numerous times the injectors are pulsing and injecting a large amount of fuel. For example on cold running engine it is not uncommon to see 6ms injector pulse width give or take, most of the time a hot engine will have 3-5 ms of pulse width. Cold engine crank can be anywhere from 19-50ms of injector pulse width, this is very close to wide open throttle pulse width values! Several of these "clicks" and you are at the starting stages of flooding the engine. When it finally starts it will run like crap because there is an abundance of fuel in the engine and will clear up rather quickly. If there was enough coolant entering a combustion chamber to Hydro-lock the cylinder, and keep the engine from turning over, then there would be some serious indications of a root mechanical problem. If it was coolant entering the combustion chamber there would be evidence of steam and white smoke on the start up.

Air pockets can and will circulate in the cooling system. The rise in coolant level is rather normal, especially if the engine is cold and the vehicle is at high idle. Best thing to do is to have the cooling system pressure tested, this will verify if there is a leak or loss in pressure without a visible leak. Check 4Crawlers web site, you can get the contacts for the starters from him. It is super easy to replace them and usually will last longer than any crap re-manufactured starter for a fraction of the price. The contacts and plungers on the Nippon Denso, Permanent Magnet Gear Reduction Starters burs a little spot every time you start them. Over many years it eventually will hit a bad spot intermittently giving you the click click crank syndrome. It will eventually get worse, and one day will refuse to start. My money is on the contacts. Unless you are having problems with overheating or, coolant overflowing from the system, I would keep an eye on the system and keep on rolling.

I really wonder how may people have done HG's on engines because they have symptoms that may or may NOT be a HG.

HighLux

If he has coolant shooting out of the cap when he revs it up.....its a blown head gasket.

stanprophet

I did not read anywhere that he said he had coolant spraying out. Coolant rising after startup is normal since as it begins to warm it expands. That is the entire purpose of an expansion tank. It allows coolant to expand and overflow. As it cools a vacuum is created and the overflow is sucked back into the system. Having serviced hundreds of cooling systems and diagnosed many combustion leaks I will respectfully disagree with that statement. I have seem many times where broken water pump impellers and stuck thermostats causing head gasket like symptoms on vehicles. I am taking about coolant spraying to the roof in the shop like old faith full as the engine warms up. Cooling system pressure tests, and chemical block tests can be used to root out combustion leaks. But like anything else they are not 100%. Assuming coolant rising is a blown head gasket is like an ER doctor saying someone with chest pain has a clogged artery in the heart and rushing into surgery. When it is obvious more testing is required.

Unless there has been some underlying cooling system issues, like loss of coolant, overflow from the expansion tank, running warm or overheating, there would really be no reason to suspect a combustion leak into the cooling system. It sounds like the root problem is the no start.

Of course diagnostics of a vehicle over the internet is nearly impossible. But i feel that trying to give the best advice to others when i can, for free is the right thing to do. It beats the heck out of my shop rate of $109.00 an hour. Just my advice.

jcatalanello

Thanks guys. No, I have not had and overflow out of the overflow tank. I have not had overheating issues. I was low on coolant a little over a month ago (not sure I had checked since we bought it, it's fairly new to us), so it could make sense that there was still some air in the coolant system. Here is a link to the youtube video I uploaded with what's happening.

HighLux

rev it up while the cap is off like that....and watch the filler neck....what does it do?