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.