OliveYoter85

I just redid the head gaskets on my 3.0 4runner, got it all together, fired it up and oil is pouring out down the back of the motor... I just tore it all down again and there is oil sitting in the valley of the motor.... where did this come from? The heads were torqued to spec and the gaskets are fine... I do have a little bag of gaskets from the set left over that I couldnt figure out for the life of me where they go.. anybody got any suggestions?? I know nothing about 3.0s except for the problems they have and the stock exhaust sounds like crap lol. Please help, Ive got to be back in Florida by monday and Im in Ohio.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Where is the oil coming from exactly? You can't pinpoint the leak?

:wabbit2:

OliveYoter85

It looks like its coming from both heads from midway back, the mechanic across the street mentioned some rubber seals, like grommets, that also install with the gasket? hadnt ever seen this

MudHippy

No, that's not it. There aren't any.

There's some freeze plugs down in the valley there. But...but...I wouldn't think...hmmm...I wonder what the...

I dunno, I just keep drawing blanks on this one. I mean other than cracked heads and/or block, I ain't got much of nothin' really at this point. There's a few places above the heads where oil could be leaking from. But they'd all be pretty obvious. Like the valve cover gaskets or the camshaft seals/plugs.

OliveYoter85

I did use a thin layer of Black Silicone to hold the head gaskets in place, would that make em leak? Im thoroughly confused with this thing.

MudHippy

I presume that's exactly what it would do. Because I've never heard of anybody doing that and it not causing a leak of some sort. But then again, I've never heard of anybody doing that period.

In other words, I believe you may have just set the precedent proving that it will.

But hey, good news is that's most likely the problem. And all you'll need to do is install a fresh pair of HGs. Without the added silicone this time...of course.

And don't feel bad. We all make mistakes. I still do things like that that I end up regretting in the end too. For instance, I recently made some plenum chamber gaskets for my Chevy 3.1L out of some bulk high-temp gasket material I had laying around. Problem there was it was only the 1/32" thick type. Where the stock gaskets were made from 1/16" thick material. Did a real nice job cutting them out too. Fat lot of good that did me though. When I went to torque the bolts down, the thinner material squished out on a couple places. Not noticing it happening while I was working on it, I didn't have an opportunity to stop myself from overtightening those couple of bolts(causing the gasket material to be squished out). Came back later to inspect my work and...ahhh what the...cracked the plenum chamber in 2 places!!!

Oh well...$45 at the junkyard for a used one. Start over...

OliveYoter85

I really think the silicone caused it, got to looking at the HGs and there were spots where it looked warped almost because of thick silicone, I really only used the silicone to hold the gasket in place, didnt use a whole lot, but I guess it was just enough. Oh well, I took notes lol, thanks for the responses guys, Ill let you know how it goes tomorrow when I finish it all up.. the 860 mile trip home is gonna be a true test of my work I suppose. Wish me luck.

MudHippy

Good luck!

But you probably won't need it. I'm sure you'll do an acceptable job with or without it. If not excellent. Practice makes perfect!

OliveYoter85

Now Ive got it all together, after solving a small gas leak, my cam seals are leaking, and i dont have an impact big enough to get the belt sprocket loose and i just broke a torque wrench trying to get it by hand... i need help bad, im stranded

scope103

With the valve covers off, you can see a 27mm hex cast into the middle of the camshaft. That's not an easy size to get, but 1 1/16" is not hard to find. Since you don't want to lean that wrench on the aluminum head, cut a slot in the end of a short piece of 2x4, rest one end on the fender and tape the wrench into the slot. That will keep the cam from turning while you undo the bolt.

And if you used a torque wrench to UNDO a fastener, well, just don't tell anyone about it.

MudHippy

I guess if they're leaking really bad, you should probably tend to 'em before hitting the road. Man...that sucks! I was hoping to hear that it all worked out great.

Can you afford, or do you own a ½" breaker bar? If you had one, you'd be a little less screwed. Then, with a long enough cheater bar so as to brace it against the frame, you could do the "bump the starter" trick(w/timing belt installed) to break 'em loose. Or just do it the way the FSM says, with the tool that holds the cam sprockets from spinning while you break the bolts loose. That tool might be a little hard to find though. But you kind of need it to get the bolts torqued back down when you're done replacing the seals anyways. I think I've heard somebody here say you can rent them at Autozone, or NAPA, or what-have-ya. There's other ways of doing it too though. Some a little more conventional than others.

I've made tools of the sort from a length of 2x4 with a couple holes drilled in it, and some long grade 8 bolts slid through the holes. I don't know if you can picture that. But it works. If you did it with a tool like that you'd have to have the timing belt on, and be holding one sprocket(w/bolt hand tightened) while torquing the bolt for the other sprocket. Or you could drill another hole in the 2x4 between the bolt holes, large enough to get the socket, and/or a short extension through. Then you could torque on each sprocket bolt independently. Or you could(w/timing belt on, and cam sprocket bolts hand tight) bolt the 2x4 to the crankshaft pulley. It has some bolt holes that are used to attach a puller for its removal(pretty sure they're M8x1.25, and use metric grade 10.9 bolts). Being sure that the 2x4 is long enough to brace itself against either frame rail(making it usable for bolt removal and tightening) as the crankshaft tries to spin. That will hold the crank and the belt still(and consequentially the cam sprockets) while you torque either of the cam sprocket bolts down. IIRC, I've done it all of the ways described. Right now I just don't know how much of this is going to sink in, but I'm really trying here. Hopefully you'll get atleast some of it, and/or be able to put it to good use.

I'd swing by and give you a hand free of charge, but I'm just not anywhere near there. I truly would. NW Oregon is a pretty long drive though, unfortunately.

Come on somebody! Find it in your heart to go lend a fellow Toyota guy hand if you can. Or atleast start throwing in some more ideas here. I think I've just exhausted my resources in that department.



EDIT: I was typing this up as scope103 was offering his suggestions. I just wanted to say thanks to him for that. Right on man! Good on ya! Makin' me proud!

And BTW, do you know what the definition of genius is? Basically, it's being able to do what needs done with whatever's at hand. As in, you don't always need the "right" tool, or need to use the "proper" method. You need to know how to make one, should that tool not be handy, and/or to find another way to do it.