Blown Head Gasket repair w/pics

[Spudboy]

Originally Posted by IHateHacks

Sending it out today. Next picture will be it looking brand new. Here's a picture of the good ol' EGR cooler. I can see this being the source of a mysterious coolant leak via that big stupid plug Toyota felt the need for putting in there. Ill ask it again (just like the 4 plugs that hold on the no. 3 cylinder head cover) Why did Toyota just throw plugs (at rediculous sizes) in various areas throughout the 7M? Its not like they serve any purpose on planet earth. Why didn't they just cast it over like the rest of the head? I think its pay back for buying a car just because its turbocharged. Compared to other manufacturers Toyota design sucks dick.

Another note for anybody...this EGR cooler area I now know has been the root cause of several problems for me and now the main reason I will do all my own work on this car.
1) The first and only BHG I had was 'repaired' by an ex-Longo Toyota mechanic. As the EGR inspection and subsequent new EGR gasket is not a required process to just replace the BHG, and the EGR cooler cover-plate gasket is not even included in the head hasket kit, this apparently was never touched. This is insane since you can not get to this EGR cooler properly without removing the head. Shortly after I got my car back I started having a moderate exhaust leak in and around the back portion of my manifold.
2) I hired a different "mechanic" to heli-coil the bolts as they had streched and when I told the first "mechanic" he said "yes, that is a problem with these cars". (why didn't he suggest replacing those bolts during the BHG job?)
After this second mechanic heli-coiled and semi-repaired the exhaust leak I could still detect a leak from the EGR area. I tried and bought many funky tools to try and reach the bolts but couldn't get to them all.
This leak got so bad the heat burned up my speedo cable covering and broke the cable. (twice)
3) I hired a 3rd "mechanic" who said he could do it without removing the head. His shop seems to have Ferraris, MB's and other high end cars there so I let him try. It seemed to be OK for a few thousand miles then apparently started leaking fluid. (That would seem impossible unless I had another BHG).

This is when I decided to do my own work.
I now have the head off. Took the EGR cover off and noticed 1st the bolds did not all seem tight. Then upon visual inspection of the cover I could easily see the surface was almost warped looking, enough that no way could you get a good seal. I also noticed an eroded area and pin-holes on the inside elbow of the heater hose from the union. I'm pretty sure this was the fluid leaking on top of the EGR cover, bubbling from the actual exhaust leak through the EGR gasket, giving the elusion I had fluid leaking from my EGR. (no sign of fluid ever being inside the EGR cover)

I just had my head machined and also had the EGR cover machined, along with the exhaust minifold.

Moral of the story...make sure you deal with this stupid EGR issue whenever you have your head off...

AND...do your own work if you want it done correct. Three "mechanics", lots of down time and my personal man hours just taking the car back and forth to these loosers, several thoudand dollars, and they ALL missed or mis-handled this EGR problem.

[IHateHacks]

I agree totally. Do it right, do it once. And do it yourself.

As far as the ARP's, I'm a big fan of ARP bolts. Ease of installation with ARP's unsurpassed quality. And unless you are running over 500whp, I don't think ARP studs are needed. Unless you like juggling studs, washers AND nuts all covered in ARP moly lube. I prefer to juggle just bolts and washers. Plus its a tight fit inbetween the lifter bore castings for ARP bolts but it IS possible without machining the castings. I've "HEARD" that studs DO fit without removing the block from the engine bay but I've never used studs on a supra so I can not verify. I can only verify that bolts fit without any problems, it was actually fun installing the head bolts!!

[Spudboy]

Originally Posted by IHateHacks

I agree totally. Do it right, do it once. And do it yourself.

As far as the ARP's, I'm a big fan of ARP bolts. Ease of installation with ARP's unsurpassed quality. And unless you are running over 500whp, I don't think ARP studs are needed. Unless you like juggling studs, washers AND nuts all covered in ARP moly lube. I prefer to juggle just bolts and washers. Plus its a tight fit inbetween the lifter bore castings for ARP bolts but it IS possible without machining the castings. I've "HEARD" that studs DO fit without removing the block from the engine bay but I've never used studs on a supra so I can not verify. I can only verify that bolts fit without any problems, it was actually fun installing the head bolts!!

So you're saying you have ARP bolts, not studs with seperate nuts?
I wasn't given a choice but maybe I can exchange the stud/nut set I have for just bolts. Would be much easier.

[Bruno Molly]

Originally Posted by IHateHacks

"No offense, IHateHacks, but apparently the 5 impacts that you were using to get the crank pulley bolt off were shit."

Yes I agree the craftsman was a POS, but the titanium series IR and the last one I used that required 120psi were definitely not junk. I talked to some other professional mechanics and they said that I should have used a 3/4" impact gun. And I was just being sarcastic about patenting that little trick. It says it right in the TSRM. I just didnt want to f-up one of the teeth on the flywheel, but when there is no other choice, I quickly overcame my fear.

"By the way, the pry bar in the starter is nothing new."

It wasn't in the starter, it was in the starter hole in the bellhousing. And if you were doing it for years why didnt you drop a dime and help me out before when I was asking- "Except for the starter method, how does everyone else loosen their crank bolt?"

No offense but it seems that most (not all) people here are more about 1-uping each other and claiming that they are superior, then about helping each other. To be frank I really dont care how long you say you've been a mechanic or about how you brag you've done something before. I respect someone much much more when they just drop a hint about what Im having trouble with. Those are the people that make me say damn that guy knows his stuff. Sorry, you just made me mad claiming all 5 of the guns were junk when you've never even seen them, you just make a blind assumption. The guns werent even mine so I dont know why Im even mad. Its the fact that you just come to a conclusion with no information other than they didn't get off the crank bolt. Remember a properly torqued 7M crank bolt is torqued to 195 ft-lbs. Most other manufacturers only require around 100 ft-lbs. Those guns take off crank bolts everyday at a BMW dealership because the crank bolts aren't torqued to 195 ft-lbs. All crank bolts are not created equal, but you should have known that.

Sometimes people use Locktite Thread locker which can complicate things.....You never know what you will find working on something someone else has worked on before you... Jus my 2Cents

[Devicehead]

Hi boys n' girls. New to the boards here. Thought I'd chime in on my rebuild project: 1987 Turbo.
The Story:
After a brief road race with a guy that works a couple doors down from me, the car started running bad with missfires and the like. After about a few failed attempts at quick-fixing it, I decided to finally thrash into it and get to the root of the problems.
Pulled the cylinder head and found the culprit!


Head Gasket - Blown between Cylinder 1 and 2. Fail. -.-
After further inspection of the lower end, (Block and pistons) I decided the whole engine was going to need rebirthing. So I sent the block and head out for re-machining.
While that was going on, I decided a fresh engine was worthy of a respectable home so I gutted the rest of the car and prepped it for competition re-assembling. >



And Then things started to brighten up a bit...


Then the engine arrived...


I'll have more pics of the head and other stuff later but, were getting close to going back in with the powerplant.

[Tony]

(From my thread http://www.toyota-supra.info/forums/...-problems.html)

Hey everyone,

I bought my 88 Supra Turbo with a BHG a while back, and have since done the following to it:

New HG and upper gasket set
ARP Bolts (70ft/lb)
Different turbo head purchased (old was warped .020")
Head machined flat, checked, and valves reseated
Set of completely refurbished fuel injectors (ultrasonically cleaned and flow tested)
Vacuum systed completely gone through and everything is properly connected.
Also tested every coil pack for spark (looked for spark in a removed plug attached to each coil pack)

Feels like a cylinder or two isn't firing.
Here's a video (don't mind the squeak, alternator belt is not tensioned all the way)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BudtjtPh70

The car starts but runs terribly, once the RPMs go past 2500, all power is lost until it drops below that.
If you keep the accelerator floored, it will go up past 2500 RPMS, then fall back to it over and over.



Can someone help me?
I want to get this thing on the road!