Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
User avatar
Petros
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by Petros »

to retorque you do it in the same order as a new torque. Start in the center and work outward per the pattern. You back off the bolt about an 1/8 of a turn (usually it will pop free), and than immediately go to full torque value the other direction.

If the torque wrench reads in both directions you can watch to see where it breaks free, if it is below the spec it means it worked loose and should have been retorqued sooner. If that is the problem, the retorque should take care of it if the head gasket was not damaged. Watch your coolant level carefully of course, hopefully that will take care of it.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
User avatar
4wdEconoBox
Top Notch Member
Posts: 461
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:56 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD
Location: Talladega, Alabama

Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Ok, so I retorqued them the other day, but it didn't fix the problem.... Still drinking coolant, radiator was blowing smoke, and running rough, and trying to run hot. So today I'm going to tear into it and replace the head gasket. One question I have is, do I need to use that copper head gasket spray stuff? Or will that just cause more problems?
User avatar
4wdEconoBox
Top Notch Member
Posts: 461
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:56 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD
Location: Talladega, Alabama

Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Ok, so I replaced the head gasket today, when I got the head off, cylinder #2 was full of water so the head gasket was definitely bad, but I got everything back together and let it run for a little bit after changing the oil and adding new coolant. Now we went and checked my oil and it looks like there's coolant in the oil and looks like there's oil in the radiator also.... Is this normal, like I know that not all of the coolant and oil was drained completely so there was still residual contaminants in the oil and water. So could this all be caused by left over contaminants?

Edit: I changed my oil again and it looks fine now, but when I drive the car the temp needle goes to about the middle of the thermometer picture on the gauge which is a little higher than it used to run at. I'm still burping the system, but I'm wondering if refacing the block and head bumped up compression more and maybe I need to back down on the timing now? I'm running at 15 btdc right now BTW, head was shaved and engine was bored .20 over or so when I rebuilt it a year ago. So compression has already been raised quite a bit. I only run premium gas now BTW.
User avatar
Petros
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by Petros »

if you are getting ping, than back off the timing. the ping or per-ignision will cause the head gasket to fail. Run only premium fuel, I ran my high compression engine at 10 deg BTDC and had no head gasket issues.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
Mason
Newbie
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 4:34 pm
My tercel:: 85 SR5 4WD Wagon
Location: Fairbanks AK

Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by Mason »

I use a $3 pane of glass from the hardware store and tape a sheet of sandpaper to it instead of tile. I'd trust it more to be flat.
User avatar
Petros
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by Petros »

do it carefully, pressure on a sheet of glass will warp or curve it. It is not as thick as a granite tile or piece of counter top. Most hardware stores that sell tile will sell a single polished granite tile for about that much ($3-4), you can likely get a broken one for free. But a brick of thick glass also works.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
Mason
Newbie
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 4:34 pm
My tercel:: 85 SR5 4WD Wagon
Location: Fairbanks AK

Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by Mason »

I was picturing porcelain, granite didn't even cross my mind for some reason. I use a slab of countertop to check boards for flatness off the planer so I should have...
mrdance123
Top Notch Member
Posts: 152
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:03 pm
My tercel:: 84 and 85 4wd wagons

Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by mrdance123 »

Just a side note for 4wdEconoBox,
the radiator fan is not supposed to stay on all the time,
unless there's another problem causing overheating.
There's a thermostat sensor down there at bottom of radiator.
It turns on the fan when the bottom of the radiator gets hot,
usually due to lack of airflow when the car is not moving.
Let it idle long enough in the driveway,
the fan will eventually turn on, then cycle on and off.
85 T4 Speedy Blue, SR5, 270-312k, operational R12 A/C, in use.
84 T4 Curmudgeon Copper, 188-294k, my first T4 in 1990, now Dad's daily driver.
RIP - 84 T4 Foxy Blue, 256-288k, engine died 2021, sold to PNP
Sold: 86 T2 Silver, VIN ending 5847, 194k, cherry condition, now in a good home.
RIP - 83 T4 Smokin' Gold, 270k, rusted out body, parted & scrapped
RIP - 84 T4 Quicksilver SR5, 125k, blown engine no oil, had sat 10+ years, parted & scrapped.
RIP - 80 Corolla (purchased new), 0-473k, 358k original engine, rear-ended totaled in 2003.
User avatar
4wdEconoBox
Top Notch Member
Posts: 461
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:56 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD
Location: Talladega, Alabama

Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Yeah, I know, I've needed to get a new sensor. for a while. Mines been bad since the day I got the car haha. It's never caused me any problems, so I've never been pushed to get a new one yet, ya know? haha
Post Reply