1990yota-pickup

check this out this may help you save alot of money.. and if you got half a idea on how to use a tool this will get the job done

http://www.timesert.com/html/sparkplug.html

ESQ

That can be fixed by a competent machinist.

stir_fry_boy

If you are still looking for a head, go to car-part.com and look for one in your area. If you find one, you may not have to pay for shipping, but there probably will be a core. I was able to find a lot of stuff for my 02' on car-part.com even though every junk yard here in UT never sees that new of T4Rs. You may be able to find one cheaper than $235 or whatever you said it was.

SleevelessSteve

Alright guys, so I'm going to give a machine shop a try i think. At least having them evaluate the head can't hurt a thing.

1990yota-pickup

dont pay until its fixxed.. bottomline... test drive and get a compression test tooo.

SleevelessSteve

Noted, thank you.

1990yota-pickup

so what is your status with your ride?

SleevelessSteve

Well I'm fixing it myself, ended up ordering a cylinder head so that should be here tuesday or wednesday. Got the ignition coil today, and I'm still waiting on the new plug and the gaskets for everything. Should be back on the road by next weekend I hope.
-Steve

1990yota-pickup

are you going to change out both head gaskets.. dont skimm this process...

SleevelessSteve

Well i ordered all of the gaskets so i have two sets i believe. haven't gotten them in the mail yet. I guess i should just change both out while i have all the laid out anyways, eh? Is it bad to only change the one gasket out or something?

mt_goat

Is this a new head or used?

1990yota-pickup

well its kinda like this.. would paint your house from the bottom up to the top... or would you do it the right way and paint from the top down...

LifeOnABoard

Was the suit sleeveless?

I don't like the thought of tapping a hole above a cylinder. There's only one place for the loose burrs to fall....

1990yota-pickup

put grease on the die.. the shavings get trapped in the grease..

ibeamtaco

i am not sure about ware you are but in cali my family has a shop by the bureau of automotive repair standards we have to warranty all work for 1 year unless otherwise stated on invoice or if failure was caused by you so pretty much all part failure and workmanship failure is on shop that did plugs last i would talk 2 them

LifeOnABoard

If you're lucky you'll get 90% of them to stick.

1990yota-pickup

thats why you get a vacum from harbor frieght tools and putt the vacum line down in the spark plug hole and suck out the cylinder and make sure you got everything else... just how the do it at the dentist office when the suck the crud out of your mouth...

a electric vacum will work the best make sure you have a catch can setup.. so you dont suck the trash in to the pump..

redwilly

The Snap On kit I used to fix this has a tool to evacuate the debris.
I also looked in the cylinder with a bore scope to verify no shavings remained.
I really think you should look into the threaded insert fix, Mines been working for 9 months, and I've put 3 more in since then in other cars.
Ford 5.4 are aluminium heads and they use it as an OEM fix for this problem.
Frank

LifeOnABoard

I know that a lot of times it just makes sense. Primarily I'm just paranoid that one evil little burr would fall between the wall and the piston. It would just sit there on a ring and score the wall until it finally disintegrates. But I dunno, maybe it wouldn't hurt the wall at all. I've never had to do it and don't ever want to make that decision!

1990yota-pickup

pay the money and get the snap-on tool...

or do what i said before i bet its alot cheaper than buy the snap on tool..
plus you will not have any problem taking it back to harbor frieght tool they have better return policy than sears.