That brown sludge in the radiator might be from mixing red and green coolants. Some weird chemical reaction goes on that leads to the radiator's quick demise. Shortly after I changed from green to orange coolant (prestone long life), I flushed the block, but forgot to crank the heater, so some residual green remained in the heater core. Soon thereafter, I'd hear gurgling sounds (like you hear from water running down the sewer pipes in a 2-story house) after starting up the engine and starting from a dead stop. Radiator was 60% clogged, coolant looked brown.

One possible scenario is, the prev. owner mixed coolants, that clogged the radiator, then that caused the engine to overheat, blowing the head gaskset. After all, the 150hp V6 on the '90-95 4Runners is infamous for blowing. Apparently, the '88 V6's (first year introduced) have good (ie, contains asbestos) HGs. No problems w/ the 22r engines either, but the 1FZ-FE I-6's in the LC 80s are also known to blow gaskets in cyl. #6, and in most cases, it's from an improperly maintained cooling system. My guess is the HG blew.

Thanks DRTDEVL, 85TrailToy and James for your posts,

That info on the V06 Campaign was interesting. I guess it can't hurt to call Toyota with my VIN# and see what they say.

I figure a HG job is going to cost me about a grand... the question is where to do it. James, I see you're in Tucson; what do you think?

Red and green coolant eh? Sounds like a harsh cocktail. Do you know if the resulting sludge floats or sinks in green coolant? The stuff I have in my radiator floats (and I have green coolant), but not the way I would expect oil to float.

One more important question: I should not drive my truck now at all, right?

I drove it for like a week or two when I still thought it was just a valve problem limited to cylinder #6, but only after I had yanked the injector wires and changed the oil.

One more thing occurred to me: Here in Tucson, we just went through a weather change where inside a week it went from being in the 70s in the day to down in the 20s at night. Could this make the metal in the block and head contract, causing HG leaks to start appearing?

I called Toyota and they told me for sure that the HG had been done under the recall back in '99. They said there is a possibility it may have been done wrong, but they'd have to tear it down to find out (minimum $1,000).

If they find out it was done right, I have to pay for whatever comes next: new HG, head resurfacing, block resurfacing, new engine (!!!!)..., and of course the valves.

If they find out it was done wrong, Toyota *might* pay for everything having to do with the HG and only make me pay for the rest.

Is it worth the gamble???

Meanwhile, they warned me not to drive the truck at all (though I'm still not low on oil or coolant, and I don't see any signs of mixing on the dipstick).

Come up to Colorado and I'll give you a rebuilt 3.0L with 160K and 30K on the rebuild. When my HG went at 130K the dealer rebuilt the motor (unger the HG recall). I paid to have the head rebuilt and then I tore it out about 9 months ago to do the 3.4L swap. Motor is missing a few minor, random parts, but you'll have them on your existing 3.0.

The only hitch is you gotta come and get it. I'm not putting any effort into it, other than to open the garage door and setting up the engine hoist.

Hello CORunner93! Wow, thanks for the offer! Any way I could persuade you to ship it if I pay for everything?<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Just asking. I still don't know if I'll need a new motor. I found a guy through the Arizona Land Cruiser Association who's going to tear down the heads for me and see what I need to do.

About doing it at Toyota, in the words of a good friend:
"Nothappening." <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Still, for you other folks who've had HG issues with the 3VZ-E, and I've found out that I'm far from alone on this, would you recommend getting Toyota gaskets when I replace mine, or will something cheaper do the job??

Another concern: someone said I should not do new valve seals on an older engine because I'd have problems with oil getting by the rings or something like that. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

You are definitely not alone, my friend... definitely not.. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />



I disagree. If you are going to spend $$, do it right. Have the heads completely rebuilt...

bkg

I disagree. If you are going to spend $$, do it right. Have the heads completely rebuilt...

bkg [/quote]

>>>*Yep, do it right. Not doing a valve job with new seals is silly. On the "cracked" block part, I would like to see it if it is.
The only ones I ever see broke threw a rod through the side, *well, one froze up and broke once, guy put plain water in it.
A gasket leak near the oil passage can put oil in the coolant, actually fairly common.
Sounds to me like clean, hone, rings and bearings, and a valve job.
Most of the work is in getting all the stuff OFF the engine to get to it, then it's easy....*EB

Oops, I meant BrakeMax.

They totally *lied* to me about my truck! They told me all this stuff symtomatic of HG trouble like leakage from #4 to #6, oil in the radiator, white steam and coolant coming out the exhaust pipe, and none of that was true! How do I know? I took it elsewhere, and got it torn down to the block, and the head gaskets on both sides were pristine! The coolant was completely oil free, and the oil in the heads was clean. Plus, examining the gasket, head and block, there was no evidence of any HG failure whatsoever. The only coolant leaking was from a tiny hole in the bottom of the radiator which FakeMax didn't see. I now have lots of choice words I could say about them, but I will control myself.

They told me I would *probably* need a new engine, or that if I didn't have the money for a rebuild, I should just sell my truck as quickly as possible, but I'm not selling it because after 150,000 miles, the cylinders are still squeaky clean and pretty soon, it's going to have re-machined heads, a brand-new water pump and timing belt, and all new gaskets.

They may have taken my 70 bucks for the diagnostic, but B.M. is not getting a dollar more from me. There a couple of morals to this story: Treat your customers with respect and honesty, and... don't go to B.M.

Heck, I had a Toyota dealer tell me one of my 4Runners needed a new V6 engine. I took it to another dealer and they said it just needed the valves adjusted, it turned out to be fine after the adjustment. What was the actual problem with your engine, a burned valve? It sounded like you had no compression on a cylinder and if it wasn't the headgasket, I would think it was a burned valve.

Yeah, a Toyota mechanic in another forum was saying that the number two biggest problem after head gaskets with the 3VZ-E (aside from lack of power and poor gas mileage) is burnt exhaust valves. He said that if you're going to do the HG, you better make sure you do the valves at the same time even if they don't need it yet.