Blown Head Gasket repair w/pics

[88Tsupra]

hey how much does it cost to resurface and lap both top and bottom block...and one more question my idle is funny i know my timing is off because the last owner retarded the shit out of it..but i got it to idle at 900rpm buh on cold nights itll idle around 1200-1100 im thinkin my HG is going bad now


Just to say the last previous owner is a machanic and he said he replaced it with a metal gasket but my concern is that hes lieing

[IHateHacks]

yama1- Thanks for the input (about 2 months too late lol) thats exactly what I did, prybar in the flywheel worked so F'ing good. The intake manifold was off so it was easy to stick a prybar in there and see what the F*ck I was doing.

88Tsupra- I paid $200 for all my machine work (if you cared to read this entire thread and see my price break downs) which included a valve adjustment, cleaning, checking for cracks/warpage, planed, and welding and rethreading exhaust manifold stud threads. If you just get the head cleaned and planed it will not cost more than $80, $100 MAX any shop that charges you more than that for a plane and cleaning is ripping you off. Block is a totally different story, I have no clue how much it would cost but if you are going to have a machine shop hit the block surface, since the engine will be out of the car and completly stripped, you're better off totally building the engine: rods, pistons the whole 9.

My only advice to your other problems is to set your base ignition timing and maybe start your own thread, no sense jacking this one as it is 15+ pages long and I'd bet not half the people that look at this thread read EVERY post word for word.

[IHateHacks]

Little update: I was washing my car the other day, vacuumed the whole interior, and detailed the exterior (inside of the doors, under the hatch, etc) and when I was done I just, for no particular reason, looked under the car to make sure nothing was leaking. And sure enough, my downpipe is completely covered in oil. At first I thought it was water since I just washed it, but nope it was engine oil. At first I started flipping out, panicking, trying to think where it was coming from while I dug out my hydraulic jack. So I climb under there and its getting on the downpipe via the downpipe brace. So I further climb under there and I pinpoint it to the turbo oil return pipe, where it bolts to the block. Now I distinctly remember torqueing those 2 nuts to 108in/lbs, just like the TSRM and the Haynes manual said. It was a bitch to fit a torque wrench down there, but I did, and I remember doing it. So I proceed to take the turbo heat shield and dipstick back out so I can try and tighten them a little more. And those motherf*ckers turned another 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn!! TSRM is a lying piece of crap. I was so pissed. The TSRM says in bold letters on page EM-37 "Install oil pipe, 9ft/lbs" Now that is for the oil pipe to turbo nuts, which I did and that wasn't leaking at all. Then on page EM-38 for the oil pipe to block: "torque the oil pipe union bolt and flange nuts" Bolt 25ft/lbs (I did that and it was fine no leaks on the feed line) Nut 9ft/lbs which is WRONG. It should be: torque "as tight as you can get it". Because actually I tightened them once, drove it and it was still leaking so I had to get in there again and I just gorilla'd those f*ckers as tight as I could. Needless to say its fine now. I think I'm going to write my own TSRM with torque values for those nuts, the water outlet housing, EGR bolts and nuts, ECT sensor and a real life solution to how to get the crank pulley off. It just pisses me off that I spent $125 on a manual for this car and it 1. doesn't give you all the torque specs and 2. on the ones it does, half of them are wrong. A little side note, the O2 housing to turbo nuts, the TSRM says 38 ft/lbs and the Haynes says 32ft/lbs. Then, it gives you the torque spec on the turbo to exhaust manifold nuts, 33ft/lbs, Yeah I'd like to see anyone get a torque wrench on those nuts. Its impossible. Maybe if you had one of those torque wrench adaptor wrenches (like you use on dirtbike engines) and then you would have to do all kinds of calculations to find out what to set the torque wrench to, to get 33ft/lbs. So they give you torque values where you can't use them, but where it matters they just leave you hanging. I can go on and on with pointing out the TSRM's flaws but I'm sure you are all sick of my bitching so I'll stop now.

On a lighter note, it was a beautiful morning and I just loved how the light hit my car so I just had to take a pic and post it. Makes me thankful for what I have.

[MA70-3.0GT]

Originally Posted by IHateHacks

no sense jacking this one as it is 15+ pages long and I'd bet not half the people that look at this thread read EVERY post word for word.

Well I for one AM reading the whole lot, makes for interesting reading (jackers aside ) as I'm halfway through doing my own HG job at the minute, that & the weather/lack of funds mean I'm waiting to get it back together now...

EDIT-: FECK ME, I've just read the rest of this thread from the point at which I posted. Dude this needs locking & all the hijack crap deleting 'cause otherwise it's gonna ruin an otherwise informative & interesting thread on ONE MAN's HG replacement... Mods, can we do this? How come so many complete morons can afford to buy such a lovely car & then ruin it?

EDIT#2-: By complete morons I do not mean the likes of Tony or Devicehead (how's that coming now D?) by the way, so don't go thinking I'm trying to flame people for asking pertinent questions on your own HG jobs. I'm thinking more of people who come on here & say things like "your impact guns are sh1t" or "Grab a punch and a pound hammer. Tap a couple of times on each head bolt " etc. without even taking the time to read into what they're replying to or verifying that what they're saying is not potentially going to cause someone to ruin their engine...

[Spudboy]

This is a great thread. I'm feeling your pain.
I just got my head off. The gasket seems perfect. (had it replaced 8k miles ago with stock gasket and bolts...will use metal and ARP now)
I have a fluid leak from my EGR cooler too but the gasket was fine. Maybe the bolts had been to loose but that doesn't acount for the fluid.
You stated I can see this being the source of a mysterious coolant leak via that big stupid plug...
Did you ever learn if that big stupid plug was the source? Or what did you learn?
(I'll have lots more questions later...)

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.

[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.

[IHateHacks]

I would think by my last post, my sig and the picture in this thread of my ARP bolts that you would know what I used. Yes, I used ARP bolts.

No don't return the ARP studs. Since you already bought them, use them. They are indestructable. I now wish I used them just for the bragging rights lol. But hey, do you. It's your car.

[Spudboy]

Originally Posted by IHateHacks

I would think by my last post, my sig and the picture in this thread of my ARP bolts that you would know what I used. Yes, I used ARP bolts.

No don't return the ARP studs. Since you already bought them, use them. They are indestructable. I now wish I used them just for the bragging rights lol. But hey, do you. It's your car.

I wasn't sure if you 'say' bolts but really meant studs with nuts. I was not offered a choice so I didn't know I had one. At this point I would prefer bolts. So far these studs and nuts are a real pain. I need to look at some other threads for some ideas on the install.

My guess is the advantage to stud/nut combo is better and more consistant torque values. It will be worth it if I don't ever have another BHG.

Once I figure out this obsticle I will explain later.