3Ltr Surfs and cracking heads
Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:40 pm
Since I have one and it blew a head gasket (fortunately didn't crack the head) at the left rear I thought I might mention that the mechanic and I found there has been a design flaw with either the head or gasket or both. My recollection is hazy now since it happened a long time (at 100k) go but basically the gasket has a narrow spot whereas the head or block has a wide spot. If the gasket was a little thin then it will blow. Not if but when. We checked several different brands of gasket and found all but one (including a genuine Toyota gasket) had the same narrow bit (between a water passage and oil passage from memory). Plus they were all a little thinner at the same spot. The exception had a much thicker and wider bit. He also welded up the head to widen the land to correspond to the block.
This issue is a known problem in the US (the head cracking anyway) and in the early days Toyota used to fix it under warranty.
Stripping the engine, skimming the heads and block and reassembling with a new gasket won't necessarily fix the problem until you make proper repairs in the design flaw area - personal experience here.
I had photos of the area which clearly showed the design flaw but can't find them now.
Had no problems since except the heads had to come off again - thought it had blown again - but it was a poorly installed valve stem seal blowing massive clouds of smoke.
If I saw the gasket again I could point you to the right area.
I think that the gasket popping was probably helped by overheating at the left rear (and there are other fixes in the US which deals with this overheating issue by leaning up the water passage within the head). Mines an auto so fitting an external auto cooler, flushing the radiator, using water cooler and fitting a better exhaust could well help.
This issue is a known problem in the US (the head cracking anyway) and in the early days Toyota used to fix it under warranty.
Stripping the engine, skimming the heads and block and reassembling with a new gasket won't necessarily fix the problem until you make proper repairs in the design flaw area - personal experience here.
I had photos of the area which clearly showed the design flaw but can't find them now.
Had no problems since except the heads had to come off again - thought it had blown again - but it was a poorly installed valve stem seal blowing massive clouds of smoke.
If I saw the gasket again I could point you to the right area.
I think that the gasket popping was probably helped by overheating at the left rear (and there are other fixes in the US which deals with this overheating issue by leaning up the water passage within the head). Mines an auto so fitting an external auto cooler, flushing the radiator, using water cooler and fitting a better exhaust could well help.