95 4Runner Head Gasket Replace
Roger Hundley
Well discussed topic but thought I'd throw in my few comments and
questions from a hands on job of replacing them.
1995 4Runner SR5 - 3.0 Auto. Manufactured 5/95 - After the recall
date. With the "fixed" head gasket design. 121K miles.
Symptoms - Few days back by Runner started missing at idle and through
full throttle pull. Would clear up for the most part after about 15
minutes running. I also had to start adding small amounts of coolant
to the overflow, about a pint about every other day. Replaced the
plugs and noticed #6 spark plug looked mucho different than the
others. Darker with crude on the insulator. The new plugs helped,
especially during full throttle pull but truck would still idle rough
at startup, but usually cleared up. Looking at more things I found
that I could see bubbling in the overflow after a small run. Did a
"sniff test" for exhaust gasses in the radiator that really was not
definitive, did not turn completely yellow but did turn clearish. My
theory was that my head gasket/s were seeping a bit into #6, not bad
but enough to make #6 miss until the coolant was burned off then at
shutdown start the process all over again. I decided tear into it.
Since the truck was manufactured after the recall date I made no
attempt to push Toyota into covering the fix. I also am second owner
of it. I bought the truck knowing full well the head gasket problems
with this engine and purposely shied away from the earlier
manufactured dates when shopping for it. I am disappointed but not
holding a grudge against Toyota for it. I would also like to state
that I have not really abused the truck and have taken extreme care of
it. I have recently started pulling a trailer usually with 2 dirtbikes
well within the rated towing capacity of the truck. (MDT Tech- saw
your posts in TT welcome to the Yamaha Thumper World! WR426 here.) To
maintain 65 mph on the freeway for a couple recent trips with OD off
the truck had to turn about 4000 RPM for extended periods. At no time
has this truck overheated. This may have been the push the gaskets
needed to go?
Repair : Using genuine Toyota parts... Head Kit $277 Water Pump while
at it $121. Oil. Filter, Coolant .... Total bill for head gasket
Toyota Parts $477. While at it and since I do not want wrestle with
the damn crossover pipe again and hopeful pulling performance gains
I'm installing a set NWOR headers and Y-Pipe and free flow Cat.
Genuine Toyota the rest of the way out. Another $1300. Saving $700 to
$800 labor by doing the job myself.
Tear down: Let me start by saying that this is probably one of the
biggest mechanical challenges I have ever done as an amateur wrench. I
took on this task because I had the time and didn't have the money to
pay someone to do it AND buy new exhaust system. Unless you have lots
of patience, good set of tools and are mechanically inclined I do not
suggest tackling this job yourself. It is a pain. I won't go into the
details unless asked.
Observations: Before pulling the heads off I could detect coolant in
seepage on left head in the valley at 4 and 6 cylinders. After pulling
the heads the left head gasket although not catastrophic in failure
there was deformation of gasket around the water jacket holes near #6
cylinder. I think I thwarted the big failure by getting into is early.
On removal of the right head I was surprised to see about a golf ball
sized glob of gray looking mud sitting on a spot near the #5 cylinder?
Anybody know what the hell that's about?
I'm know basically all back together and waiting on the headers to
arrive to finish up the job. Does anybody have any comments on the
NWOR headers? Performance gains? Good or bad welcome. I'll post a
follow up once I get her back together and running.
Regards,
R.
MDT Tech®
Small world, isnt it? Yes, sold my beloved 2001 KDX 220 I bought new,
just wanted large displacement and the big bore Yamahas were popular.
Picked up a 2001 WR426F in a neighboring state because it had the street
plate, so now mine is road legal, but not equipment wise. Funny thing,
when I go on poker runs now, the big thumpers seem to bring repect,
people just clear out of my way when I come up behind them. ;-)They
either never heard me on the KDX or ignored me.
Hey Roger, where are you located? Lets go riding!
Roger, its a tough job. We only got 11.0 hours under warranty time. I
managed to trim it to about 4 hours, and I'd leave the cross over pipe
attatched to the drivers hear, just disconnect the header pipe and the
cross over on the pass side is all. Remove the pass head first, but have
all headbolts out, then pop off the driver side with cross over. Headers
will really crowd you on this rig and hopefully, they wont ever leak.
See ya in TT ;-D
Roger Hundley
wrote:
>Roger Hundley wrote:
>> Hey All,
>> Well discussed topic but thought I'd throw in my few comments and
>
>Small world, isnt it? Yes, sold my beloved 2001 KDX 220 I bought new,
>just wanted large displacement and the big bore Yamahas were popular.
>Picked up a 2001 WR426F in a neighboring state because it had the street
>plate, so now mine is road legal, but not equipment wise. Funny thing,
>when I go on poker runs now, the big thumpers seem to bring repect,
>people just clear out of my way when I come up behind them. ;-)They
>either never heard me on the KDX or ignored me.
I came back to dirtbikes after about a 15 year layoff. Last bike I had
was an 84 Yamaha YZ490. I shy from the street. I think riding the
roads on a bike is CRAZY!. The WR is certianly a sweet bike. Power
wise a YZ 490 its not but the overall package is SWEET!. I've
re-sprung mine for my weight and she handles like a dream.
>Hey Roger, where are you located? Lets go riding!
I'm in Central KY. If memory serves me from posting pretty regular
here a couple years back you are in WA. Long way to hook up for a
ride.
>
>
>Roger, its a tough job. We only got 11.0 hours under warranty time. I
>managed to trim it to about 4 hours, and I'd leave the cross over pipe
>attatched to the drivers hear, just disconnect the header pipe and the
>cross over on the pass side is all. Remove the pass head first, but have
>all headbolts out, then pop off the driver side with cross over. Headers
>will really crowd you on this rig and hopefully, they wont ever leak.
>See ya in TT ;-D
>
You got the head job change down to 4 hours! Practice makes perfect.
Going back together went a lot faster. I thought about just unhooking
one side of the crossover at some point. Probably when I was cussing
trying to get the drivers side bolts undone. Gotta be some reason why
Toyota implemented this horrible design... What the heck were they
thinking. Shipping snafu haven't gotten my headers to me yet. Should
arrive tommorow. The more I look at it the more I'm thinking I should
have forgotten about them. It will be tight.
Later.
R
MDT Tech®
>
> I came back to dirtbikes after about a 15 year layoff. Last bike I had
> was an 84 Yamaha YZ490. I shy from the street. I think riding the
> roads on a bike is CRAZY!. The WR is certianly a sweet bike. Power
> wise a YZ 490 its not but the overall package is SWEET!. I've
> re-sprung mine for my weight and she handles like a dream.
Interesting, I dropped out for 20+ years, just got a wild hair up the
uno and told the wife, I'm getting back into it. In 2 years, between
bikes, trailers, I've dished out about $22,000! That doesn't even count
riding gear and accessories. But we are all having a good time, wife,
kids, grandkids...
> I'm in Central KY. If memory serves me from posting pretty regular
> here a couple years back you are in WA. Long way to hook up for a
> ride.
>
Yep, too far. But if your even in the area...
>
> You got the head job change down to 4 hours! Practice makes perfect.
> Going back together went a lot faster. I thought about just unhooking
> one side of the crossover at some point. Probably when I was cussing
> trying to get the drivers side bolts undone. Gotta be some reason why
> Toyota implemented this horrible design... What the heck were they
> thinking. Shipping snafu haven't gotten my headers to me yet. Should
> arrive tommorow. The more I look at it the more I'm thinking I should
> have forgotten about them. It will be tight.
>
> Later.
> R
>
I can tell you the headers will be much more crowded in there. I've seen
it plenty of times. Repairing a leak is a bear! The original system is
bullet proof. Now the headers may give you more HP, but you'll pay
everytime you get a leak, and with headers, you WILL have a leak, just a
matter of when. You could still return the unused headers, but the real
question, are the heads already on with the cross over pipe out? Hey
Roger, if you ever need a hand on that rig, drop me an email. Are you a
memeber of: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Toyotas_Only/ ? Its a
little group I started with some moderators like TeGG and Scott helping
me out. It will be a year old the 26th of this month. We are over 700
members strong and about 3000+ post. You have to see our "files"
section! We have really done a lot with it.
Headed over to TT to check out the latest on the WR426's right now, See ya.
conu...@fish.net
{snip}
> I'm know basically all back together and waiting on the headers to
> arrive to finish up the job. Does anybody have any comments on the
> NWOR headers? Performance gains? Good or bad welcome. I'll post a
> follow up once I get her back together and running.
Since I need to have this procedure done to my Toy sometime soon, I
was curious to know what kind of life I can expect from the latest
design. Is the current head gasket design more durable than the
previous ones and will the problem be solved once and for all? I
have managed to get this engine to 140k (bought with 69k already on
it) and have had little in the way of trouble, but even so, I would not
relish the thought of having to do this again further down the road
after another 140k.
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