I've been reading several threads on the topic and with most of the information being 5+ years old I thought I would revisit this topic for 2020.

Background: I've got an old 4x4 truck that I picked up with unknown history. It was my brother in-law's truck and he was having issues with it shortly after he bought it so he tore it apart and gave up after losing interest. I ended up with it a year later and thought that getting it up and running would be straight forward however its proven otherwise. Long story short, I put everything back together replacing many parts along the way only to find out the engine is low on compression in several cylinders which makes starting it at any temp below about 65 degrees ambient impossible (even with starter fluid).

Plans: I'm planning on pulling the engine soon and rebuilding it. I've read all about 3.4 swaps and other platforms (neighbor has a Vortec V6 in his 2nd gen) and the rebuild option seems to be the best option for my circumstances. One thing I'm not so sure on is what brand and/or type of head gasket to get. from what I've read, some people gravitate toward the OEM route, others are on the MLS gasket bandwagon and others indicate to stay away from brands like Evergreen and other economy brands. I'm interested in something that works best for stock power and performance on an engine with over 200k on it. Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated.

 

Hi:
Just my $.02 worth, but I have successfully rebuilt three 3.0 engines out of four, over the last 15 years.
The first one turned out to be a dud, The next three were successful.
The difference was using OEM head gaskets, and new OEM head bolts on the three successful rebuilds.
A lot of posters on this forum will take exception with that advice, for a host of reasons, but it worked for me.
So be it.
Good luck.
Art

 

Thanks ZARTT, the OEM ones are composite correct? Any other tips for the rebuild? Any idea on what machine shop will charge for cleaning up the bores, resurfacing the top of the block and micropolishing the the crank if thats all that needs to be done (fingers crossed)? I think i can handle the rest.

 

Hi:
Some hints that have worked well for me:
1.) Toyota brand gasket paste, (they call it seal packing in the FSM) Also call it FIPG (Form In Place Gasket.) Part# 08826-0080. Buy it from dealer only, not ebay. $12-16 per tube, but worth it.
2.) Do not coat head gasket with copper spray, or equivalent. Install dry.
3.) Replace the knock sensor pig-tail while you have the top of the engine open. 12-20 dollars at the dealer. The sensor is buried at the bottom of the V, and the elec. connection snakes up thru a couple of rabbit holes before it gets to the outside world. A bitch to replace if the engine is together.
4.) Pay very close attention to valve clearances Intake=.007-.011 in. cold Exhaust=.009-.013 in. cold. Valve clearances can have a dramatic effect on 3VZ engine performance. Buy a decent micrometer and a valve cup depression tool so you can pull out the shims with a magnet wand and measure them.
5.) Inspect the crank dampner closely for the ring rubber delaminating. There are services that will refurbish it for you. price = ?? New dampner from dealer-price= many times ??
6.) Wash the block with soap and water like a madman when you get it back from the shop. Use gun brushes on oil galleries and the like. Blow it dry with shop air and rub it down completely with ATF to foil flash rust if there will be any time passing before you start re-aasembly
7.) Chase the head bolt holes in the block with a bottom tap. Blow out any crap with shop air. Coat the bolts lightly with 30wt.oil before installing. NO LIQUID OIL in bolt hole. Observe bolt tightening routine religiously. OEM head bolts are NOT torque to yield, so resist the urge to reuse the originals, a false economy.
8.) Resist the urge to retorque the head bolts after two or three thousand miles, This will piss off the gasket, and it will get back at you, guaranteed.
9.) There is a square profile cast into the camshafts so that you can hold them steady with a wrench while you torque the pulley bolts to the required 80 foot lbs.
10.) The crank dampner bolt is torqued to 181 ft. lbs. You will have to be creative taking it off an on again. Like making a tool to hold the engine steady, or resorting to explosives, or prayer. Whatever.

 

I've Done the head gaskets on my 95 3VZE 3 times.
I used toyota factory head gaskets and

 

Sorry...hit return by mistake....anyway
1st time used Toyota factory gaskets and sent head out to be milled and valve seals redone. That repair lasted about 50,000 miles.
2nd time- used an ebay everygreen 'backwards' graphite head gasket. I did a fast repair ...only replaced the head gaskets. (same head bolts) This repair lasted 10,000 miles
3rd time - used an MLS head gasket and hand milled both the head and the block. The MLS gasket needs a very smooth surface. In the process, I noticed both the head an block had very small damage. I repaired with JB-weld. This repair is going on 2 years..15,000 miles and seems very good.

My failures I believe were due to negligence...My son had the vehicle during this time (high school) and it had a radiator leak. He would just fill with water and go. He overheated a couple times. I think that my first repair with the factory head gaskets would have lasted.

One thing I learned: The cam bolts in front left head bearing cap and the and back right bearing cap are easily stripped. I had to tap and replaced with studs. All the rest of the tips found on yotatech are great! I also fixed (glue) temp sensor harnesses and vacuum tubes while in there.

 

Great info guys. I think I'm going to take the wait and see approach. If the block cleans up nice enough I'll go MLS route, if not I'll probably use OEM gaskets

 

Hey Grabbit89,
If you go with the OEM gaskets you can save your self a lot of hassle with not having to get the heads and block machined and lapped to near mirror flat surface finishing like you would need to do with MLS gaskets. But that is exactly what I did as the failure mode on the Feld Pros that my 4runner came with at 235K was because the composite material is what had failed were on #1 and #6 they have the shortest distance from the compression crimped-ring to the water gallery port that is blind on one side of the gasket. As this was a used 4Runner I have no idea how old these gaskets were but they were not original that is for certain. So the Feld-Pro head gasket composite material had bulged and blistered with enough thermal cycles and then started to erode till the crimp ring collapsed in the area that seals the block to the head and HG-failure to the water gallery to cylinder occured and boom over heat in my case it was #1 which promptly channelled a good deal of coolant into the EGR as it is behind the #1 cylinder port on the OEM exhaust manifold and that in turn made the exhaust exiting the tail pipe seem like I had a steam engine running under the hood when it all let go on the Grapevine pass near Lake Castaic, CA.

When I rebuilt the engine I had the block bored and decked, the crank reground with new pistons/rings hung on the re-used rods and new bearings fitted in the block. When I picked up the block I had the machine shop re-pull the alignment sleeves so I could hand lap the blocks decked surfaces and the heads. The machined decking was specified for MLS but the relative roughness was not good enough for MLS when I looked it over. So when I started in on the lapping process immediately what you see is that the surface of the block between the cylinders tends to be dipped down because the fly cutter tool pressure is relaxed as the cutting head sweeps over the surface of the cylinder voids and the fly cutter can dig into the web surface areas between the cylinders. The non flatness was close to a .0005" and so the lapping process took three applications of emery paper glued to a drill press tool rest. Lots WD-40 and figure 8 motion of the tool rest got the entire decked surfaces to be super flat for both banks. The heads came up fast and are mirror like in how well they clean up. If you go with the MLS I would recommend you use the ARP head studs which are the most odd metric thread combination. I have put 12K on this rebuilt engine as it just rolled to 244K this week. The internals are all OEM and all I did to the heads was to replace the exhaust valves as the seats would not clean up. The heads, intake and plenum are port matched to each other and with the TB and DT-Headers. I run 2-1/2" inch from the header through to a FlowMaster HP-2 (CAT-Substitute) and then through a FlowMaster-FX muffler with 2-1/2" to the exit behind the wheel. I made a custom aluminum air box to surround the 9006 K&N FIPK air filter and a 16 Zirgo attached to the a custom made fan shroud. The OEM clutch/fan is removed. Four hole injectors and a new EGR modulator diaphragm along with some sensors and a 170 amp alternator finish of the current build. She will pull over 5K in fourth gear with me in the driver's seat and that is with 31 x 10.5-R15's AT3's by Cooper with 4.53:1 gearing which is pushing 100 MPH.

When you rebuild the engine use Loctite 515 anaerobic gasket maker to seal the cam bearings caps to the heads and the oil pump and oil cooler to the block as well as the timing belt idler-pulley to the intake manifold. Use Halomar for the TB to the plenum and plenum to the the intake and the intake to the heads. Seal up the windage tray and oil pan to the block with Right Stuff gasket maker. Loctite 515 the rear main seal housing to the block. I haven't figured out the best approach for those blasted valve cover gaskets as the Halomar and silicon gaskets still tend to leak given enough miles. But Right Stuffing the cam caps at the back of the heads and then dropping the cam bearing cap on top of then and the cams with 515 at the jointed surfaces seems the best sealing solution for this leak prone area. I don't use any paper gaskets. But to use the Loctite 515 you have to make sure the surfaces are clean and flat as this stuff is looking to be 0 thickness when you draw up the tension and torque the fasteners to assure even pressure over the jointed surfaces. Same deal for the radiator hose adapter that is studded and nutted to the idler pulley casting use 515.

 

Great info Andrew Parker! Where is everyone getting their OE Toyota parts these days?

 

Some stuff is out of production but much of the stuff that needs to be replaced is still available.

 

Some stuff is out of production but much of the stuff that needs to be replaced is still available.

 

Has anyone found any known manufacturer MLS head gaskets? The only ones I am finding are the ones on eBay with unbranded manufactures and what seems to be the same unbranded gaskets at the yotashop or LC engineering. These gaskets all seem to be the same unbranded head gaskets. Has anyone used the eBay ones or the yotashopn or LC ones for three times the price. All seem to be the same construction. I have found no name brand MLS gaskets. Can anyone tell me what they have used and how they worked for them.

 

The gaskets that came with the LC Engineering kit are GreenLee

 

Thanks I have been trying to find out who manufactures them as well as Yotashops gaskets vs what is on eBay which is just listed as unbranded..

 

Cometic makes MLS. It's not going to be cheap.

https://www.cometic.com/materials/head-gaskets

 

Thanks. Unfortunately the only make them for the 3.4.