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

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
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4wdEconoBox
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My tercel:: 1985 Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD
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Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

I'm pretty sure I have a blown head gasket instead of a carb issue... Just earlier today it started doing this. Its overheating whenever I drive it or when I accelerate, even worse up a hill. I'm loosing a good bit of coolant, 1 quart every hundred miles or so(just a rough guess). When it idles, it sounds like a cammed car, like it has a lope to it. Whenever I take the radiator cap off and start the engine up, steam or smoke comes out of the radiator, smells a lot like gas. When I turn the car off after driving, I can hear it spewing air into the overflow tank. The car is really hard to crank and I have to hold the gas pedal to the floor before it'll finally "catch", which I've discussed in a few threads, thinking it was the carb, but I don't think it is now.... The car runs fine and has great pickup and acceleration when its driving, it literally just starting doing the overheating thing an hour ago. I made the mistake to tap the gas with the radiator cap off earlier and coolant went spewing, looked like a volcano eruption, much more than just the water pump doing this. The oil isn't milky, but the coolant has a brown tint to it, I always just thought it was left over rust from the overflow tank, but it may actually be oil...

So, am I right, or am I right?!?!
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dlb
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by dlb »

i agree that it sounds like a blown head gasket.
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4wdEconoBox
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Ok, good(well not so good, but at least I know I'm not losing my mind...haha). My buddy has a head gasket that he just bought a few weeks ago, so I'm going to borrow his so that I can do this job Sunday. No parts houses could get one in until Tuesday, and this is my daily, so I've got to get her running soon! I've been studying Petros method for replacing the gasket all night, gotta find some tile before Sunday too.. :/ Hopefully replacing the gasket will fix all of my running issues I've been having also!
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BaileySims
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by BaileySims »

4wdEconoBox wrote:My buddy has a head gasket that he just bought a few weeks ago, so I'm going to borrow his so that I can do this job Sunday.
Let me find out you can borrow a head gasket and give it back in usable condition! :D
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4wdEconoBox
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Hahahahahahahahaha, I laughed way to hard at that Bailey! But nah, I'm going to get the other one from the parts house on Tuesday that I ordered and just give that one to him lol. I need to talk to you about your rear bag setup too, let me get this issue fixed and I'll pm you, I'm thinking about using a hybrid setup, bags on the rear axle and custom coilovers for the front.
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by Ridlbox »

Be sure to check out the timing belt and seals while doing it
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4wdEconoBox
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Ohh yeah, I definitely will, they shouldn't be bad, but the head gasket shouldn't have went this soon either though haha. I just did a complete engine rebuild not to long ago.... But its whatever, I'm guessing my torque wrench wasn't calibrated is why this head gasket failed so quickly, so I've got to check it before I even dive into this project...
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irowiki
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by irowiki »

Did you retorque the heads after 500-1000 miles?

Did you make sure the block and head were not warped?
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lannvouivre
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by lannvouivre »

The easiest way to tell if your issues are due to a blown head gasket is to let it run and see if coolant is dripping on the floor. If you're losing coolant and it's not dripping out on the floor, there's only one place it can go, regardless of whether or not you have steamy exhaust, or foam in the oil, or oil in the coolant. You don't even always lose some or all compression in any of the cylinders when the head gasket fails and pours the coolant into the combustion chambers. You won't always have a textbook checklist of problems when a part fails, so don't be afraid to go with a logical choice, even if it sucks, once your testing has exhausted other, simpler possibilities.

I know someone who replaced the water pump because he thought a head gasket would be too hard, and that it had to be the water pump somehow. When the car kept losing coolant, he had to listen to my advice.

Also, I have seen a case where the water pump impeller blew up in a VW, and a case where the impeller's paddles wore off so that it looked like a saw blade...not much coolant flow!
But...did you try hitting it with a hammer?
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4wdEconoBox
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

No, sadly I didn't retorque them at all :( which is probably why this happened. I've already got a new head gasket and am borrowing a known good and recently calibrated Snap-On torque wrench. Only thing I have to get now is some smooth tile and sandpaper. The head was decked and everything when I rebuild it so it was fine, I'm not sure about now though, and I'm not sure if the machine shop checked the block for warpage but I want to say he checked that.

Yeah it definitely isn't leaking out anywhere, I'm going to start on it this week, I've got to get my new replacement vehicle going for work this week though. I bought my grandmothers 1999 Cadillac Deville, and I've got to replace some rusted out brake lines before its road worthy, I've already had to replace the heater core, but at least it runs and drives now, but it lacks on the stopping power hahaha. Anyway, back to the issue at hand, I'll update yall when I start tearing into the wagon!
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irowiki
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by irowiki »

Sometimes simply retorquing them will fix it. I'd try that first.

You break each one loose slightly, then re torque, in sequence.
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87 Corolla FX16, 105k
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95 Camry Wagon, 170k
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Petros
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by Petros »

make sure your replace your thermostat and any possible bad hoses, or the radiator if necessary, to prevent you damaging the new head gasket. what ever caused the first overheat may still be in the engine, it will not do you any good to do a head gasket job, just to have it over heat again for another reason, and damage the new head gasket.

Good luck.
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4wdEconoBox
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

I'm thinking about retorquing them first, I break each one loose in reverse order right? Starting with the outer head bolts?

The cooling system is fresh( new hoses, new radiator, flushed and super clean heater core, new toyota thermostat, and the fan stays on all the time). I never actually overheated, never got above the thermometer picture actually. It never ran right after the rebuild to be completely honest, I just always thought it was the carburetor though. I'm thinking that it might be that my torque wrench was really inaccurate and they just never torqued down right. I'm thinking about going and borrowing that Snap-On torque wrench and trying to retorque them today. If that doesn't work I've got the new gasket and I picked up a few pieces of tile today too... Just need some sand paper now

Thanks for the good luck wishes!!
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BaileySims
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by BaileySims »

Tile? What's the secret?!
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4wdEconoBox
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Re: Sooo.....Blown Head Gasket.....

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Haha, no secret, just following Petros head gasket guide, you put sandpaper around the tile so that you can get the block and head smooth, clean and make sure its flat before you put everything back together!
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