Today I had a loss of power accompanied by steam and coolant pouring out the tail pipe. Could this be anything but a head gasket?

I have spent the afternoon reading about 3VZE head gaskets, but still have a few questions. I am planning to head out of town for the holidays. If I leave it parked for two weeks is the block going to rust or be subjected to more damage? Is there anything I can do relatively quickly (drain coolant, etc) before I leave it to prevent problems?

Thanks for any help and advise!

 

id drain the coolant if possible. its gonna have to be done anyways.

 

Drain coolant like 93yotaSR5 said. If your so inclined, you could run a fog spray into the combustion chamber thru the spark plug holes. This coats the surfaces of the cylinder wall, and puts a layer of oily film on the piston rigs as to keep them from corroding.

Hope that helps. All in all I think you will be fine if only left that way for a few weeks.

 

If you have any coolant in the oil at all, drain the oil and fill with cheap 5W-30 and half a can of seafoam (and a new filter), run the motor for 5 minutes or so, and then drain again. The seafoam will leach out some of the water that may have gotten into the crankcase where it could damage the bearings. Another option for the rings is to pour an ounce or so of motor oil in each of the spark plug holes - that should help prevent rusting of the rings/cylinder liners. If there is coolant in any of the cyls, the oil will float on top, but after some time the coolant will drain past the rings and then the oil will drain down and coat them.

 

Thanks for the info, I will go ahead and do that in the morning.

What are your opinions on gaskets available, I would rather spend the money to get the best than to replace them twice. Are the OEM gaskets worth putting back in? Would I have to pull the engine to get the block surfaced to use MLS gaskets? I was also reading another thread about getting copper gaskets, are they worth it?

 

OEM head gaskets are just fine. The ones made Rock are my choice, they were the first company to make the latest style of OE gaskets for the 3VZ-E. They've only been copied by everybody else, including Toyota, since. The other high quality OE type gaskets(i.e. Ishino, Fel-Pro) are probably just as good, but not any better. Just be sure to either get them from Toyota, or buy a name brand(mentioned above). DON'T BUY NO NAME HEAD GASKETS!!!

MLS and copper both require extra smooth milled block and head mating surfaces to work well. Not worth the while IMO.

 

I have have only had good luck with OEM gaskets. I have tried others and had to replace after a very short time later. After going back with OEM gaskets, I didn't have to do them again on the last V6 I owned and sold it after about 20,000 and moved on to the next truck.

The other brands I had used in the past had missing holes for coolant and oil ways. The OEM gaskets had all the holes and fit like a glove. They were a little more money, but way worth it in not having to tear the motor apart again.