This is on my '89 4x4, 22RE.

2500 miles ago the motor was rebuilt, both top and bottom. Cylinders bored to 40 over, crank 10 under, new pistons, rings, bearings, valve springs/seats, EB 268 Cam, timing chain kit, head bolts, and full gasket set.

A couple weeks ago, the radiator started boiling over and puking coolant into the res. overflowing it. Was also exibiting the crazy rhythmic idling and typical behavior I've read about on the board concerning cooling system issues. The radiator was old, though I'm not sure how old, but I started by replacing it as I'm not sure of its history. Put a new radiator, cap, and thermostat (also drilled the thermostat this time), even though the thermostat was replaced when the engine was rebuilt along with all the hoses.

The truck was running better then, but I could hear it pushing air out of the radiator, and sometimes made a humming sound almost like a tea kettle. I had been fearing a blown head gasket all along due to the symptoms, but wanted to eliminate the easy things first. A pressure check on the radiator showed some increase in pressure when reving - more evidence of a blown hg. In the past couple days, its been harder to start after being off for 8 or more hours and I started seeing/smelling white-ish smoke out the exhaust. Also runs on less than 4 cylinders for about 30 seconds or so. Seems the coolant is getting into one or more cylinder and fouling the plug(s) causing the hard starts. After it burns off the truck runs good again.

My stupid a$$ used an aftermarket HG during the rebuild, which came with the full gasket kit I got off Ebay (only thing I DIDN'T get from EB <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" /> ) I can only assume the HG just wasn't up to spec, as the head and block were inspected/machined by reputable shops.

This time around I've picked up an OE Toyota HG.My question is whether or not it is ok to reuse the head bolts that were new when installed 2500 miles ago? I very specifically followed the factory manual procedure on torquing down the head bolts during reassembly so I don't think that was a contributing factor of the failure, but is it a bad idea to use those bolts again? What else should I pick up for the job this time around?

TIA for your comments and suggestions, it just sucks to be ripping into the motor again so soon <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />