Stupid Question about Head Gaskets
 

If Toyota did not Torque the head bolts to the correct strength, why can't they just be torqued down a little harder? Wouldn't that be a preventive measure to guard against blowing the gasket?

Duh,

James

generally ...it's too "F" ing late
people think about changing oil and stuff like that . but who thinks " gosh i should re-torque my head this weekend"?
people learn about the head gasket issue because they are having issues and that usually means the gasket is already leaking .. a torque might help but it's already started seeping or leaking by then

yea by the time you notice it...its alrdy too late...you can do stuff to try and prevent it..but its like halfway there so you might as well just change it, coming from teh factory you would expect a car to be pretty much in pristine condition and it should last you longer than you expect, sometimes these things happen....they coulda done a recall..but it woulda cost more to do the recall than to just torque down the bolts themselves

RE: Stupid Question
 

What if its not too late? My engine runs great and it doesn't leak oil. I never have to top off fluids. My last car, a Mazda, leaked coolant and oil all over the place. But this engine seems really tight. I've gotten it up to 140 mph on our limited straigt aways here in New Jersey, and she still purrs like a kitten when I pull out of the drive way every morning to go to work. I do regular oil changes and just started using Syntech, had a tuneup done, and generally just keep an eye on things like oil pressure guage and so on. I was always told, if it aint broke don't fix it. So can I torque down those bolts or what?

yea u can...it will be a good preventative measure...i would do it, wouldnt wanna take a chance at the moment, haha limited straights...you dont need limited straights to go fast....plus we got a lot of cops....

is it a turbo ?
with an N/A your chances of getting a blown HG are lower . it will not hurt to torque them .
if you are gonna keep punching it on the highway be prepaired

Re: Is it Turbo
 

No, its N/A. I heard I'm a little safer. Its just that this car runs so well now, I don't want to screw anything up. I go to the corner store for bread, and by the time I get to the end of the block, I'm in third doin 45mph. I can't believe I found this thing sittin on a lot for $1800 and it just sat there for months till I broke down and bought it. What a suprise. I love it, I love it, I love it. Yeah, I still plan to drive fast, so if the hg blows, can it be repaired if I get her off the road quick enough? This car just runs so perfect for me, I don't want to screw anything up by messin with s**t that don't need to be messed with.

Thanks for lettin me blow off steam. Oops! hope thats not a bad omen.

all i gotta say is...dont wait for the hg to blow...u will pay for it later...trust me, i say torque down teh bolts regardless if you have an n/a or a turbo, i know its hard to mess with something thats running perfectly...but if you keep running it hard...all the abuse will add up...and once that hg will blow you will do one of two things...fix the headgasket which will cost some money, or sell it because you dont want to spend the money to fix the gasket

How many miles are on it?? Chances are, if it has more than 120k, the gasket was already changed.

Re: How many miles
 

Good thought. It had 124,000 when I bought it, and the guy who had it before me obviously took good care of it. So maybe that's why I'm not havin a problem cuz it was already taken care of. I wish I could find out who owned the car before I did so I could find out what was and wasn't done.

Thanks,

James