Hey guys,
just joined the forum here and looking for a bit of help. Here's the history of the truck...So i bought an 89 4x4 ext cab pickup 4 cyl. 22-re efi about 5 months ago. truck ran great when i bought it although i did have to get a new battery and put in a new starter pretty soon after. there was 171xxx miles on the engine but i bought it just after the rebuild with 500 miles or so on it. I noticed a few months ago a rough idle semi-often that would occur when starting it, but would go away after the truck warmed up. Then, I recently had the truck die on me when i let off the accelerator going to downshift at a stoplight. It fired right back up but died another 3 times on me getting another mile or so to my house. Temp gauge had climbed and when i parked and shut it down and popped the hood the coolant was bubbling out of my expansion tank. the valve cover was really hot and there was coolant dripping on the ground below. I had the radiator pressure tested and the thermostat replaced. drove it home to test it and had the same problem so i let it cool down, added some coolant and made it home again. I had white smoke coming out of the tail pipe but it would go away after several minutes of running. Doing some research, it definitely seems like classic leaky head gasket. I'm hoping to tackle it myself next week and start pulling off the head and getting it checked out by a local machinist. the mechanic I bought it from said the timing chain had been replaced with the metal guides and the head has been machined once already. I guess I'm just looking for ideas on what else to repair/replace while i have it torn apart and maybe what could have caused the Head gasket to go so soon after a rebuild??

 

Be careful having the head machined again. You could end up having valve clearance issues. If it got really hot you could have warped the head. If the PO didn't do it before you. If the head needs to be machined again. Call up engnbldr in Portland Oregon and see what he gets for a new stock head. Also I believe shipping is included and you can get a pretty sweet deal on an upgraded cam. Head gaskets are the best time to do a cam as you have to pull your head bolts to replace the cam.

It sounds expensive but your probably looking at least $100-150 to get a head machined and flushed anyways. And you mentioned it had already been machined once. So that's usually all you can do.

I have found it is easier to pull the motor replace the head gasket and reinstall the motor. Than it is to work on it in the truck. Engine hoists and stands can be found cheap on craigslist and seem to hold their value. So once your done using it just clean it up and resell it for what you bought it for. Kinda like renting it for free. Also when the block is out of the truck you can have it inspected flushed ect. I have done head gaskets in the truck and out, and let me tell you I will never do another one in the truck unless I have to.

Look up a copy of the Toyota factory service manual and read through the steps. It's really not that hard just takes time and patience. Also take lots of pictures as you go. We love pictures and they can help greatly with the reassembly process. Good luck and I hope this helps.