Hey all love the site! Learned tons from all the write ups. I'm a 7 year Acura tech and in 1 week I'll be wrenching for Toyota. Figured I love Yota so much I'm going to leave Acura. LOL kidding. Its complicated. But I am leaving on my terms.

Anyway bought my first Toyota a month ago. Knew coolant was getting in some how since it blew white smoke for a minute. Only did this if it sat over night. So I pulled the heads and found #3 gasket was toast. Sent the heads out and a week later I had her running. Did not fix the problem. 3hrs of sitting blew white smoke again. Pulled the heads and sure enough #3.... This time I borrowed my kid's magnifying glass. I found a dark spot in between the water passage and the cyl. Took a pick and was able to remove gasket material. Underneath was a deep rut (pitted) that I know they wont be able to resurface. I think the PO let it run this way for a long time.

I picked up a JY motor with 110K for $600. I coulda done better but this was still in the truck and ran well. Heres the dilemma (finally)
- Since both motors are on the stands one part of me says "pull the JY heads and toss on the fresh ones" the other says "leave it alone and run it cuz you may open up a can of worms".
- Since my expensive OEM gaskets have only less than 1hr running time and about a week installed can I reuse the intake and exhaust gaskets?

Thanks for reading

 

I'd put on the "new" heads with new gaskets. The only time I do reuse gaskets is when they do not come into contact with any liquids. Otherwise, brand new.

 

I say run the junk yard motor as is. Once you verify it runs and all is well, do whatever you want to it.

As far as the gaskets go.. A long as they are the multi layer metal ones you are generally okay to reuse.

 

I would never run an old gasket, once compressed, toss it. You run a good risk for such a little cost.
How many miles on the original motor? If much less than the JY, I'd switch heads (with new gasket), if not, run the JY as is. Question of miles on the valves at this point.

 

Thanks for the replies! The original motor has 214K.
I am going to leave the heads alone but I am going to use the original upper and lower intake since I've cleaned them. It will probably be easier to install the motor without them. If the JY motor has a leak coming from the rear main I'm going to replace it while the motor is out.

 

I would leave the junk yard motor alone, i don't like pulling apart running used engines without a reason. Especially toyota motors. You can change all the external parts you want, I would leave the heads in place though. If you ever wanted to install headers, now is the time to do it, 10000x easier.