I've mentioned my 89 short bed 4x4 22re pickup before.

Saturday, the top radiator hose exploded when my wife was on the way home.
She stops as soon as the temp gauge started rising, and had the engine off before it hit the red.
got a replacement hose on the next day, but then the head gasket had gone. Didn't know though, and drove down the road. 8 miles down, Guage started rising and I stopped and topped the coolant. This time, wouldn't start. guy stopped to helpa dn he noticed water dribbling near the engine.

Head gasket nightmare.

This engine has, apparantly, 200k miles on it. It's been a NIGHTMARE to get apart The 3 bolts at the junction of the exhaust pipe to manifold were rusted solid, so I pulled the manifold, AND the cat. When I was unbolting the cat, almost a litre of coolant came out.
FML

Now I'm at the point where I'm getting the head bolts out, and well, lets just say they're so tight on, I've broken one ratchet, and bent my cheater-bar. Taken at least 100-ftlb to break some loose.

My big question is, how can I tell TDC? I don't have a manual and the one I was using online, has now disappeared. *sigh*

the timing chain cog has a little dot on it, and near the shaft there's a little mostly-filled O
then there's a | about 15deg around.
I'll see if I can get some photos.

 

Your pulley has a dash mark on it indicating TDC. Your cam sprocket has a dot or dimple on the front for TDC. The chain should have a crome link (or a link that is a different colored than the others) that marks TDC. All of these should match when you are at TDC. Turn the crank bolt so these are all at TDC with the valve cover off

 

I see the dash, and the dimple, but the chain doesn't seem to have the link. I'll look more closely

 

This is for a 93 pickup, but it should be the same. http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-buchanan/93fsm/

 

while you have it apart , you might want put one of theses in
timing chain kit

 

Thanks Brian - that helps.

Richard, the chain looks good, and the guides are still good too (and feel plastic)
It's also our ONLY vehicle right at this moment and I need it fixed ASAP, so I can't really wait for parts to get here.

 

You can check my head gasket thread in my sig. Best I can say is get some 6 point impact sockets and don't be afraid of torching bolts! It's not too bad a job.

 

Thanks thedrewski86 - I'm not THAT afraid.

6 years ago (almost to the day) the wife broke the timing belt on the 88 civic we had at the time, and busted valves. Had to replace a valve and the gasket, ended up pulling that head off 8 times in one week. annoying as hell!

I'm looking at your thread now, as well as 92_Toy's thread with photos.

I think one of the most GRRRRRR bits is that it has a 3" body lift. Which means its an awkward 6" extra to reach things (but then it's also a little easier to read stuff through the wheel wells).

Also, while I'm thinkingon going to divert a little.
End of September, we were invovled in a hit+run. wife was parked at school at the end of a row, and someone hit the back passenger corner. the bumper is messed up and the mounting brackets are all bent. I've been looking for a replacement OEM chrome bumper, but only finding the aftermarket 'square' ones. She doesn't want to go through the insurance, but pay for it herself. Anyone know where I can get original back chrome bumpers, so I can give a price to her for replacement?

 

ok, here's the sprocket. As you can see, there's a dimple, a line, and something else. Very confusing.


EDited to add
Yes, I already loosened the head bolts a little, just to get ahead of myself a bit, since i don't know where TDC is yet, so I'm at least doing *something

 

Sheared cam pin, perhaps?

 

The dimple should point straight up when it's at TDC compression stroke for piston 1. So in that picture it's correct. I doubt you have a sheared pin. The motor was running good before this right? It would run all sorts of bad if it was sheared.

 

I ended up doing it the 'hard' way. grabbed a light, cranked it around to #1 intake open, then looked down #1 plug hole and turned the engine slowly until the piston stopped coming up.

Head's now off! (had a little problem as the lower intake stuff didn't want to come free - I'd missed the bracket at the back holding the metal pipe to the head.



edited to add
That's just how it came off, I've stopped for lunch now, then I'm cleaning. No head gasket at all on the head, the passages are all blocked on the block, and large chunks of gasket missing at the back half of the block.
*fun fun fun*

 

Are you having the head planed? If not def check it for cracks, they usually show up between the valves (you're probably familiar with that though! )

 

Didn't seem to be any.
Anyway, the gasket was mostly intact on the block,
peeled it off. Massive gaps between cylinders 1 and 2, and between 3 and 4 (if you can see it on the photo) and looks like there was one gap about to start between 2 and 3 as well.
There was also a HUGE amount of gunk in the passageways, as well as on hte gasket as you can see, extending out almost a quarter-inch in places. I spent the last of yesterdays daylight yesterday cleaning it out of the block (as best I can) and the head, as well as prepping the surfaces. The gunk feels a lot like the oily crumbly gunk you get on the front face of an engine that's had a leak. dirt+mud+oil combined, not nice.

Anyway, putting together day today!

 

Sounds like you have/had the same problem I do. It's a crappy job. keep us updated on the "final stretch!"

 

It is indeed. tinigunner11
Anyone know where all this crap in the engine came from?

 

Ok, really weird question. If you look at the block and head pics above you'll see both have holes between the cylinders. two rows of them.

If you look at the gasket, that's where it started to fail. If you look at the new+old gasket, you'll see the new one has no holes there. DESPITE there being passages both sides of it.

Shouldn't there be holes in the gasket there? or is there a reason they're blocked?

 

I would buy a genuine Toyota head gasket. It costs around $45 and unless you're lucky they won't have it in stock. But if you read most of the threads concerning head gasket choice you'll find that some people have problems with other brands. I have had problems with non-Toyota head gaskets myself. After about 20,000 miles it started consuming coolant, about a quart every two weeks. When I removed the head I found the gasket was blown between 1&2 as well as between 3&4. If you have the time and the means, I would suggest a Toyota head gasket.

 

x2, who did you get yours from, i put a rock headgasket on mine and in 20k miles it blew apart so bad the truck just died

 

Yeah, I'd love to. Alas, as I noted above, I literally can't wait for one. We have this truck and a lumina, and the lumina snapped a camshaft a few months back, which is why we're driving the truck (was meant to be a 16th present for my eldest)
the nearest parts store is 15 miles away, and the same for even walmart. That's a ways to walk, along a hilly Georgia 2-lane, with semi's rushing by at 60mph.

BUT, I just looked up the genuine ones, and at http://22reengine.com/ I found a picture comparing the felpro (which I have) to the OEM


The passages that are between the cylinders are blocked up between them as well, so I guess there's a reason.