Rock Headgaskets
 

I think I'm about to blow a 2nd 'Rock' Headgasket on my 22re... Have there been known problems with these? They seemed like good quality gaskets but I never saw a Toyota OEM gasket to compare it to.

1st time - after 20k miles or so - new EB head with ARP studs but I didn't get the block checked or resurfaced, although it was thoroughly cleaned. When it failed I assumed the block was slightly warped or something.

This time - after 15k miles - After the first one blew I completely rebuild the motor and took everything to the machine shop. Block was resurfaced and 'true' and the head was decked just slightly to become 'true' again. I used ARP studs again of course when I buttoned it back together.

In this case I've been going through coolant a good bit and noticed it was low when the motor started surging at idle. It's been run pretty hard but I never overheated it; I had it 3/4 of the way on the guage a few times but no further and not since the summer.

Now today I noticed it started up rough and if I shut it off (warmed up) and start it back up it blow white smoke out of the exhaust for a few miles and it clears up. It still runs great and no loss of power yet so I'm desperately hopeful it's something else, perhaps the coolant line going into the throttle body?

What do you guys think?

head gasket. i just went through the exact same symptoms and it was 5k into a full rebuild everything freshly machined and built to the fsm specs with the rock gasket. a rough misfire start for 30 secs or so then fine and after shutdown for a few minutes on restart it would blow coolant out the exhaust. just put it back together with a toyota gasket.

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The key here is to have the block & heads resurfaced. I'm certain that's why there are so many HG re-do's....

I couldn't agree more. That's why I'm pissed that it's happening again when this time it was put together correctly - without a doubt.

Oh damn - I figured. It will surely be put together with a OEM Toyota gasket.

What do you think of the quality of the Toyota gasket VS rock? Noticeable difference or anything?

I'm going to start pulling it apart next week to see what happened - I'll post pictures and updates.

TNRabbit......he had them resurfaced.


do a compression test and THAT will show you if you have a blown gasket.

I got 8,000 miles out of a rock gasket on a complete rebuild. It has a Fel Pro on it now like my other 4runner. I've always had good service out of Fel Pro.

i got about 7500 out of mine...but the place that "surfaced" my head didn't do it right...was not straight at all..then we took it back to the place..and when we got it back (only 10mins later) it looked like it was done with a grinder...so we bounced and took it to a different place.

what did you torque the head down to with the studs?? i know for my bolts it was only like 50 or 55lbs, i torqued mine to 65lbs and i think I will retorque next oil change, you might try torqueing it down a little more, i think supperbleeder had an issue and retorqued to fix it. wouldnt hurt to try.

Torque them down Per FSM specs and you SHOULD be fine.

ARP specs are 85-90 lbs IIRC.

I torqued them to 90, checked them after 500 miles and a few needed a half turn. Checked again after 3-5k miles, all still tight, checked again after 10k miles, still tight.

When I pull the valve cover I'll check to torque just for the hell of it. I highly doubt they have budged.

I'm really getting close to giving up on the 22r... I've really tried to give it a chance but I've just not had good luck with them. My friend also has had horrible luck with them - he's looking for #4 for his truck -:bang: So that doesn't help either.

Am I too hard on this thing? Yeah I mash the gas all of the time - I've had it revving 5000-5500 for minutes at a time during snow runs, is constantly under heavy load turning 37's with 4.88's.

I think I'll be keeping an eye out for a 3.4.

iv seen on the board discussions of people having problems with rock head gaskets. iv had my motor apart 2ce neither time was for a hg failure but the hg was replaced both times first time at 120k second time at 240k I'm at 265k now and running great. esp with having the head and block resurfaced you should not be having gaskets fail. if i was in your shoes i think i would go with a Toyota gasket but i have never had any issues with fel-pro i have used them on many vehicles over the years.

I pulled the plugs, throttle body, and valve cover - I was expecting one of the plugs to be very clean but they all looked the same, the one looks a bit different in this picture though. (They are in order; the first plug is the # 1 cylinder).

- There was moisture under the oil cap but not much - there were no signs of water\coolant in the oil or on the valvetrain.

- The ARP nuts for the studs were all still torqued properly so I was happy to see that.

- I noticed coolant in the intake manifold for the # 3 and # 4 cylinders.

Attachment 85311

I'll be ripping into it some more throughout the week.

that's not from a bad head gasket.

7500 miles on mine. No signs of head gasket failure as of yet. Decked block and new EB head. 20 over and .010 off the head. Head torqued to 65 ft-lb. I believe I had seen that value from EB on another forum.

???

Sounds like the membrane on the coolant pass-through in the throttle body is leaking. I found a thread on this the other day.....let me do some searching....

or the intake manifold gasket is leaking coolant from the heater supply between 2 & 3. But that would most likely only draw coolant in to #3. Not both.

where I have the red circle.

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s.../1060004-2.jpg

Head Gasket
 

Use the Victor Head Gasket.Torque to 65 lbs.Retorque at 500 miles.

a headgasket will not put coolant into an intake manifold. Unless you have hydro-locked the engine and completely filled a cyl with coolant. Which is theoretically possible, but very highly unlikely.