Howdy folks,

Just attempting to build a database of blown head gaskets for the 3.4 5VZ V-6 engine. Please copy and paste this questionnaire into your reply post.

Year of your Rig:

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100):

Has your Head Gasket failed?:

Mileage at HG failure:

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known):

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?:

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?:

Cheers,

Jeremy

 

I'll go first...

Year of your Rig: 96

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100): Runner

Has your Head Gasket failed?: Yes

Mileage at HG failure: ~195,000

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known): 6

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?: No

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?: Unknown

 

Year of your Rig: 2001

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100):4Runner SR5

Has your Head Gasket failed?:No

Mileage at HG failure: Current milage is 250,000 with no heat gasket problems

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known):N/A

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?:Never overheated

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?: N/A

I drive my 4Runner almost every day and most days I drive its 70-100 miles a day. I don't baby it and often kick it pretty hard when I need to pass someone on the freeway.

 

Year of your Rig:2001

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100):4Runner 91,000 miles

Has your Head Gasket failed?:no

Mileage at HG failure:na

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known):na

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?:na

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?:na

 

Year of your Rig: 2002

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100): T4R

Has your Head Gasket failed?: No

Mileage at HG failure: N/A

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known): N/A

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?: N/A

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?: N/A

 

ive heard 96 had hg issues

 

Year of your Rig: 92 with 97 3.4

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100): truck

Has your Head Gasket failed?: No

Mileage at HG failure: N/A

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known): N/A

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?: N/A

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?: Not sure got motor with 100,000 on the clock.
I have heard the 96 motors had problem with hg... but the failure was coolant or oil leaking out from the head. Not into it.

 

The recall in 4Runners was for '96 and early build '97 5VZFE's. My 4Runner was built in July of '97. After calling to confirm my VIN, it wasn't included in the recall. No problems to date.

I believe the recall was for all 5VZFE's (4Runner, Tacoma, T-100) from inception to early build '97's.

 

Does anybody know what the latest build date was part of the recall? Was this when they switched to the MLS type head gasket? Asking cuz our '97 Taco is getting up in miles and I'm wondering if I should pre-emptively swap the engine out. I'd hate for it to fail and leave me stranded up in the hills. Can you tell if the HG is the graphite type vs MLS type without removing the heads?

Cheers,

Jeremy

 

Year of your Rig: 1997

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100):4Runner

Has your Head Gasket failed?:Yes

Mileage at HG failure:352,839

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known):5

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?:No

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?:No

 

According to my documents from the original owner, my super early '96 (built Dec. 1995) had the head gaskets replaced at 28K miles because they were notably leaking coolant on the exhaust manifolds.

I would say if they didn't fail in the first 50-75K miles, then you're probably not going to have any dramatic failure down the road.

 

Year of your Rig:1996

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100):4runner

Has your Head Gasket failed?:Yes

Mileage at HG failure:156000

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known):?

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?:Yes

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?:Yes, this is the second one it has blown since new. Also lost a cracked head this time. Really sucks.

 

Year of your Rig:1996

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100):4runner

Has your Head Gasket failed?:Yes

Mileage at HG failure:183000

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known):5 & 6

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?:No


I have heard that a common cause of HG failure in the earlier 3rd gen models is commonly due to the exhaust manifold and cat. The y-pipe connects behind the engine along the seam between heads and block. If the cat craps out, there is insuficient dispursing of exhaust gas (aka heat build up) right along the the location of the head gasket. I believe it because my runners gasket blew on my rear most cylinders.

 

Year of your Rig: 1999

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100): 4Runner

Has your Head Gasket failed?: No

Mileage at HG failure: N/A

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known): N/A

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?: N/A

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?: No

 

Year of your Rig: 97

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100):4Runner

Has your Head Gasket failed?:No

Mileage at HG failure: Current Mileage - 183,450

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known):NA

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?:NA

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?:NA

 

Year of your Rig: 2002

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100):4Runner

Has your Head Gasket failed?:No

Mileage at HG failure:N/A

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known):n/a

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?: no overheating

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?: No

 

Year of your Rig: 1996

Rig Type (Taco or Runner or T100): T100

Has your Head Gasket failed?: Yes

Mileage at HG failure: 109,000 miles

Cylinder of HG Failure (if known): Passenger side bank, haven't taken the head off yet.

Did your engine overheat prior to HG Failure?: No, sitting in the driveway, tried to start it for work one random morning. FML

Was the Head Gasket Recall work done on your rig prior to HG failure?: If it was, it was prior to when I got it at 60,000 miles.

I also have a Toyota 7M motor that BHG'ed. Just finished putting it back together. The T100 was babied with full synthetic oil every 4-5k mi. This was supposed to be my "old reliable" while fixing the supra. Now I put all my eggs in one basket, toyota basket, and have no ride at all. That's what you get for paying the extra $ for the toyota name/reliability! Regrets I've have a few ...

 

Lol 7m is notorious for bhg.

 

2000 4 runner 250K no problems whatsoever

 

lol, notorious b/c boost pressure causing most of the BHG ...
and now the same rep can be had for the 5VZ.

The 7M lasted to 200,000 miles while being pushed rather hard before BHG.
The 5VZ made it to 11X,000 mi but was babied. Maybe it's time to push the 5VZ.

I didn't see any recalls on the 7M though, (maybe I somehow missed them) but I see quite a few posts stating ppl got their 5VZ HGs replaced as part of a limited recall campaign.