So about a week after doing a midnight recovery my head gasket popped between cyl 3 & 4. Fortunately no water in the oil, and no oil in the water. The timing guides and chain were in pristine condition.

Long story short, replaced the head gasket and a few other nifty problems.

So the list that got replaced on the way.
All Intake Gaskets,
Removed EGR system completely,
Head Gasket
Exhaust Gasket
Semi-Circular Plugs,
PCV Valve,
Injectors (O-Rings and Misc) one was leaking bad before hand, and another had a cracked nozzle when I pulled it out...

Thanks to my buddy Mark at McCords Toyota for excellent prices on toyota goods. Used all Toyota Gaskets (cept the header and pcv grommet).
Relocated Fuel Filter...

The hesitation I had before the blown head gasket seems to have gone the way of the dodo...

Some pics from the 2 week project...Since this was my first head gasket project I took my sweet ole time...











Took the head in had it pressure checked and a couple bolt holes heli-coiled spent about $70 to have it done came out with clean bill of health, and clean!





New HG On



Created some EGR Block Off Plates





Not bad for only using a c-clamp, a drill, a cordless sawzall(destroyed one 18tpm blade) and a die grinder...


Block off plate installed on head


Relocated the fuel filter...may re-relocated it again...not sure about this spot...



Fired up last night after some timing adjustments and ran me to work with ease this morning! And sorry for some of the blurriest pics in the world...

 

well looks like your motor was in good shape.. recent rebuild?

 

Supposed the head was done ~3000 miles before I got it...but after splitting the head and the block, I could tell the work was shody...

Most of the bolts in the intake manifold were standard size heads(½" Socket), and I had checked the torque on the head bolts and 5-6 of em where low before I undid them...

I'm not sure what brand of HG was on it before hand, but from the pic of the New HG where it has all the metal(?) in the gasket the prior one did not...and it seemed some silicone was used in conjuction with the HG

Don't understand why ppl don't get a Toyota HG...cost me $35...

 

Everything looks pretty good in there, Cary. Nice work. I really like the fuel filter relocate, seeing as I changed mine last week, what a pain......

Were you able to torque down the headbolts to spec? I wonder why they weren't up to snuff the first time?

 

Yep was able to get em torqued all the way...I'll recheck them in a couple hundred miles just for gits and shiggles...

 

Sweet, sounds like someone either had a crappy torque wrench, or none at all......

 

sounds like a bob can rebuild the fist time around. Silicone would be the culprit of the headgasket failure. I never add anything to headgaskets. All sufaces should be clean and grease/oil free. Good to see someone's doing it right. As far as the egr Block off... not something i would do but hey each his own.