I recently bought a 1990 4Runner 4WD - 3VZE last weekend which was sold with a blown head gasket according to the previous owner. He said there was a huge cloud of white smoke from the truck and he parked it. He should me that the engine still cranks and run fine. I picked it for cheap thinking I could fix it as the body was in great shape as I really like this model.

I had this mechanic who fixes blown HG with those HG sealant solutions for a quick fix in the meantime. He ran the truck and did a coolant flush to remove all the remaining coolant and then pumped water into it. However, he decided not to fix it since there was alot of water dripping from the exhaust pipe (before it goes to catalytic converter) and steam from exhaust hole. He said he found it odd as there has to be a big hole in HG for so much water to flow and suprised that the engine was still running. Said engine should have seized with so much water in cylinder.

There and left, saying that he's not sure what the problem or where it is or where the leak is.

I just wanted some advice from people. I am really sad and do not know what to do next. Is there anyone near San Jose who could drop by and help me on this or some online advice?

Harry

 

haha, in all honesty, i would say the best thing to do is pull the heads, have a good look see whats going on with the headgasket, at least you will know if possibly more damage then just the head gasket itself

 

that mechanic doesn't know how hard it can be sometimes to kill a toyota.

but your options are fix it or replace it.

 

true story

 

My 3.0 ran an additional 100+ miles with the blown HG. It was sucking water through the whole time too. Hell, I blew the HG by sucking wter through the intake. The motor will take tons of abuse and keep on ticking. You know you have a blown HG, so just go in there and fix it. I'm not sure what else you need to know..

 

There was a video on the internet a year or two ago of a 22R pickup running with a snapped connecting rod, and a hole in the side of the block.


There's absolutely no way anyone on the internet is going to be able to properly diagnose why there's water coming out of your exhaust with 100% accuracy. The only way you're going to find out for sure is to pull the head, which you're going to have to do anyways to fix the hed gasket.

So start pulling

 

Call Toyota with your VIN# and see if you are qualified for the recall first.

If it starts with JT6, you might be in luck.

 

Sure, and when I sucked water into my intake, I broke a rod. My HG is fine even.

 

haha, ouch... I was very concerned about that myself. I had initially assumed that's what I did when I hit the water. But I lucked out.

 

And if all else fails, 3.4!

 

I asked about the HG gasket recall this past Saturday while I was at the local Toyota dealer, they told me that recall was all over.

With a major problem on a vehicle you've just purchased, I would pull the heads and have a look just for peace of mind.

 

I blew the a HG on my 88 pickup and drove it home on the highway from where I blew it, white cloud of smoke pumping out the exahust the whole time, had to keep stopping to re-fill the radiator with water, but it made it back.

By the time I got home it was running like crap, but still running, and still pumping smoke. Toyota replaced the entire short block, I had actually cracked the block, probably bu driving it home hot as hell. But it still ran the whole way, never died.

So it doesn't matter how much water you see coming out or dripping before the cat, either rip the heads off or have someone do it.

I mean you bought it for cheap knowing the HG's were bad and you'd have to do them, so why are you sad, get the HG's done and you'll be all set. There's no quick fix magic solution for these HG's they were crap and they ALL blew, well most of them anyway.

 

good catch there, cus I was gonna say, I have two 3vz's with over 200k on their original HG's..

 

Nature vs. nurture