Blown Head Gasket.
 

Hello, everyone. I purchased a 1989 Toyota Supra 7M-GTE (turbo, manual) a few months ago. And, now that the snow is gone, I'm out driving it. However, as of last night, it's over heating. I've checked the coolant, and the cooler condenser fans... there isn’t a leaks, that I could see (no coolant on the ground) and all three fans work. Any ideas what it could be? I’m thinking it's a BHG… as there's white smoke coming from the exhaust... but I’m not sure...



David.

Check the oil cap and oil dipstick and see if it is kinda milky. A sure fire way to test it, is to get a block test from your local automotive store.

The question is... if it does have a bhg do I want to get it fixed -.-'' I love driving my supra, but repairing it costs more than I bought it for.


David.

Yea, thats usually what happens. If it has it, the time has come to decide if you want to fix it and keep it or try to sell it off.

It's a manual GTE, fix it. Its worth saving. Its really not that hard to fix a blown head gasket on these things.

If you see white smoke coming from the exhaust in summer temperatures, you have a problem. Oh wait I just saw you are from alaska, nevermind!

Lol. Well, today I made up my mind. I was driving my friends '93 civic, and then a '90 mazda, and decided I have to fix the Supra. IHateHacks, I saw the thread where you replaced your head gasket, mind sending me the parts list? I can't afford to have someone fix it, and I've managed to scrape together around $1,500 for the repair... Joy. Supras are just to fun to drive.

If you need help with a parts list...., you may be in over your head.

In short you replace everything that could possibley ever again give you problems. Upper gasket set. Spark plugs and wires. MHG. ARP. Molly.
Machinist. Starter, you definitley want to replace this while the head is off.
Assorted hoses. Anything that is rubber that has solidified, gets replaced.
Oil and filter. This is just an off the top of the head list, my build list is a bit more detailed.

1.5k isn't going to get it done. The cheapest you can do a BHG on an n/a is right at 2k. 1800ish.

Good Luck.

Way to go and thrash what little confidence I had. Thank you very much. And I have a turbo... This week keeps getting better.

David.

Confidence???

Don't worry man. These cars are easy enough to work on. It's not hard to repair the BHG. But as I said. Your'e going to need to by a vowel first so you'll have an idea as to what you are in for.

How do you plan to prep your block? Who's going to machine your head.
Parts lists are different for every one. Each of these cars needs something different.
It's going to take you some time. I planned my build down to the wire and I spent the better part of a year doing it.

It' nerve wracking enough with an idea of how things go and keeping track of everything..

My advice to you new guys is do your research and try to buy auto's you can work on yourself, or buy something new and just let the dealership do what you want to it.

You will be wanting a tsrm. Is the engine stock or is a transplant?

You may as well replace the timing belt and be carefull removing the crank pulley, they are fragile, and expensive to replace.

Well, today I picked up that Napa tester... and it's a blown head gasket. So, I recruited a mechanic I know to aid me in the task ^_^.

I did some calling around to machine shops, and the price to hot tank and surface the block/head varied a lot (from $375 to $225), and I was asked about magnaflux... I did some searching on the inter-web and found out that it's a brand of magnetic particle inspection, used to detect surface cracks. Again the price varied from $95 to $45. Any idea why?

What does pressure testing the head do? I couldn't find a solid answer on the net.

The TSRM for a '90 and an '89 are the same, right? I found a few postings of a '90, but I couldn't find one for the '89.

How important is it to get the special service tools? I hear they are fairly expensive. And, according to my local toyota dealer, have to be ordered from Ottawa Tool Company. I'm having a hard time finding information about them (OTC) online.