I put a new battery in the 88 yota and will be pushing it in the garage as I am afraid to crank it. I did however turn it over once and it fired right up. I will soon be getting the 88 FSM by email I hope. Once I get this I will be in the garage tonight pulling the head and changing the gasket following the 88FSM word for word. Keeping in mind that I am a mechanical engineer and that I have almost every common tool in the garage, is the head something I can take off and replace the gasket without a professionals help? Book Smart and Educated I am. A guy who knows his way around, thru, in and out of a Yota I am not...

Yes, just work slowly and thoughtfully and you will be fine.

Tips:

Before you take a single bolt off, set the engine to top dead center by lining up the timing mark on the main crank pulley with the '0' mark on the oil pump. Verify that you are on the compression stroke on the #1 cylinder either by pulling the cap off and seeing where the rotor is pointing, or by pulling the valve cover and making sure the rocker arms for #1 are slack.

This is the easiest way to make sure the timing is close enough to run when you put it back together.


There are 2 hidden bolts on a 22RE.

1) The lower intake manifold has a 6MM allen head bolt that goes through the thermostat housing into the head - very easy to miss.

2) Below the distributor drive gear on the front end of the camshaft (in the puddle of oil) is another bolt.


When you take the cam drive gear off, throw a couple zip ties around the timing chain to make sure it doesn't shift a tooth while you are working around it.

When getting the wiring harness out of the way, don't forget the knock sensor wire... it goes down by the oil filter, and can be easy to miss.

Basically, if something feels like there is still something attached, there probably is. You can pull firmly, but don't yank on anything too hard.

Oh and this is a good time to replace the fuel filter... you'll see why when the intake is off <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

bag and label all bolts, big big help. Use pictures or label all wiring and vacuum hoses

first time i did my headgasket it took me *forever* to figure this one out



GOOD CALL! I have the fuel filter out in the garage and totally forgot that I hadn't gotten around to doing it.
Tomorrow night my head comes off too wee

good luck go you man, come back w/ any questions <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

I took a large piece of cardboard and drew a picture of the front timing cover on it. Then I took the bolts out of the cover and pushed them through the cardboard in their correct places. You need to make sure you use the correct length bolts in the right spots on the timing cover.

Take your time, clean all the parts you can and put it back together. You'll be fine!

As mentioned, just go slow and label things. What I normally do, even after doing several engines now, is to follow a manual (Haynes or Chilton's are fine), then take my own notes as I go along. Such as, if I take a part off the engine, and it has several bolts of diffrent lengths, I will take notes and even draw pictures on which bolts go where. If I can, I will tape them in their respective places on the part itself. I will also take many digital pictures before and during disassembly.

I just did the headgaskets on my '95 3.0L. It's the second one I've done. I didn't really follow a manaul this time until I got to the reassembly (for torque specs and timing belt installation procedure). I took several pictures and took 4 pages of notes (both sides). I followed my own notes on reassembly with exception of what I just metioned about torque values.

Another big thing that helps me--using a fishing lure plastic box to store bolts and small pieces in. I'm referring to those clear boxes (or with clear lids) that have various size compartments in them, often with removable dividers. I then put masking tape in strips across the top and label which compartment is what, and what step it is in my notes.