05 Tundra advice ....Head gasket

New to the forum, and thanks in advance for any shared info!
Here's the story on my 05 tundra
405,143 miles
It has been a great truck and I want to keep it as long as it will allow.
All the work has been done at a shop, not by me.(I do not posses the proper skills)
Had an overheating problem and had the thermostat and the radiator replaced.
again had an overheating problem.
Took the tundra back in and they said it was a bad radiator cap. Replace it and
the same problem keeps on.
I am loosing coolant and have to top it off every couple weeks.
I brought it back into the shop, and I was told that it is loosing pressure after it sits idling for a while. This is a sign of the beginning stages of a head gasket leak.
I was given two options
1st - replace head gasket but that might lead to other issues and basically throwing money away.
2nd - find a used engine with low miles and swap it out.

A friend of mine had an issue with his tundra head gasket and he used a gasket sealer. So far it seems to have solved the problem.
Do these products really work? At this point do I have anything to loose if I do use them?
If I do use them and it does not work and I decide to replace the engine will this have a negative effect on the new used engine? Is there one that works best for Toyota engines?
I have heard conflicting reports on them.
Or do I just keep adding coolant to the engine as needed and ride it out and start saving up for a new engine?
Lots of "if" and unknowns here but I do appreciate any advice!
Thanks
Barry
@thecraftburger

 

With that many miles, I would go the swap engine route before a headgasket repair (if that's the problem)...as long as your tranny is not showing any signs of acting up... and you don't have any other big $$$ issues with it...I'm guessing you should be able to get a decent low miles (less than 150K) engine installed for around $2500 all in...?

 

Check in your coolant overflow bottle for oily residue, and check your oil and see if it looks like chocolate milk. Does it smoke any?

 

I think your shop owes you a little more diagnostic work before putting a $2500 bill for head gasket or motor swap in front of you.

Loosing pressure at idle is just that, a leak in the coolant system. It may indeed be a head gasket, but it could just as easily be an external leak as well. Any drips or wet spots on the driveway/parking area? There's several coolant pipes and pipe to hose connections for the oil cooler and heater hose connections that could leak when the motor is warm, drip coolant onto a manifold engine block that causes the coolant to evaporate before it has a chance to form a puddle. As said above, chocolate milk looking oil from the oil pan can confirm head gasket. Do a pressure test on the system. Spark plugs are super easy to remove on this engine. Pull the plugs and compare, the plug from leaking head gasket cylinder will be usually be noticeably cleaner.

 

$2500 is half way to another 2005 (or newer) Tundra with much lower miles. Think about that, newer engine, tranny, interior, exterior, suspension, brakes, etc... In my neck of the woods there are a few listings for Gen 1 Tundras with less than 150,000 miles for $5k to $6k. Good luck.

 

When i check the oil it seems normal. I will check the coolant overflow. When i lift hood the right side of the engine and hood has a white looking stuff on it. I figured it was the dried coolant that came out of the overflow tank. Thanks for the time and info. I will check the coolant overflow.

 

I agree with this. The shop has misdiagnosed the problem 2-3 times now with the radiator/thermostat and then the cap. It seems like they really don't know what the problem is. I'd take it somewhere else for another opinion.

 

I would clean everything up really good and then drive it again. Give it a few days and see if you have any new coolant residue show up.

 

Let the truck sit overnight. If it was run today, the oil and coolant will be mixed together, but if the oil is not chocolate milky, that's a good sign. Remove your oil filler cap and see what it looks like. It's winter so cold air condenses and show some moisture on the cap but should'nt look like these. Also, not to get your hopes up, but the whitish looking stuff, if actually light pink, may be a good sign of an exterior leak from the hoses I mentioned rather than a hg. Your shop should have noticed the residue and investigated as well.

 

Exactly.

Sounds like a high miles situation where if the OP could do the work the truck would be ok to keep. He doesn’t possess skills. I’d say buy a new truck AFTER a second opinion confirms its not something major.

 

Well i went and got an oil change and asked they guys about the oil. Said it looked good and that my coolant level was fine. I had to add coolant about 10 days ago. Here is what my coolant,oil cap , engine and hood looks like

 

May I ask what is the white splatter all about your engine?

 

I am guessing dried coolant

 

I would strongly suggest a thorough engine bay cleaning. I've heard simple green works well. Cover the sensitive electrical parts and spray everything down.

You need a clean slate to see where the problem is coming from.

 

From the pictures it looks like coolant shot out of the overflow tank. Did you add coolant when the engine was cold or at operating temp?

 

Or the radiator when they were perging the air out of the system. Hard to tell. Def time to clean it up and find the leak

 

I added when cold. All the spatter happened after the radiator was swapped out.

 

I've never done this with a tundra....but as someone who has owned five subarus and currently have three, I've had A LOT of experience with HG failure.

First, you have to keep in mind that an HG can fail in several different ways.

External oil leakage.

External coolant leakage.

Leakage of oil into coolant.

Leakage of coolant into oil.

Leakage of exhaust into oil.

Leakage of coolant into cylinders.


IF you have an HG failure, it sounds like its leakage of exhaust gasses into your coolant. This over pressurizes your coolant and causes it to overflow into your coolant reservoir, which in turns, overflows and results in loss of coolant. The hot exhaust gases displace coolant and cause overheating. When your engine cools down, the excess coolant is pulled back into your radiator which make result in your coolant levels looking normal or low when the engine is cold.

The FIRST thing your mechanic should have done was run a hydrocarbon test on your coolant. This would confirm HG failure if positive in the early stages.

If the failure is as bad as it sounds like yours maybe, you will see bubbles in your coolant reservoir when the engine is hot. You can test this yourself easily. Simply run the truck until you observe it start to overheat and then with the engine running, open up your coolant RESERVOIR (not your radiator, that would be very bad) and look at the coolant. If you see a stream bubbles that is a confirmed HG failure.

With the above test its important to check as soon as it just starts to overheat. If it gets hot enough from lack of coolant (say from a leaking hose) the coolant will boil in the engine and blow steam into your reservoir. You need to check before it actually gets that hot.

Now, all that being said, its still completely possible you have a leaking hose.

As for replacing HG's, wether you want to do it on an engine with that high of milage vs replacement is up to you. However, it is a doable job. I've done it half a dozen times myself on subarus. It takes about 10-12 hours of work and although time consuming, is not a technically difficult job.

When I bought my tundra I looked into this since its something I've had to do so many times on my other cars and it actually appears EASIER on a tundra than a subaru because you would not need to remove the engine, just the intake and heads.

Replacing the HG should lead to no other issues if done right. However, the engine will still have whatever wear it already has in its bearings, rings, etc.

If your going to pay someone else to do it rather than do it yourself,....well, I doubt its worth it. I have a fleet of subarus because when they blow their HG's at 150,000 miles people will give them away for $1000 because it costs more than they are worth for a mechanic to fix them so I bring them home, fix them up for about $300 in gaskets over a weekend and then have a perfectly good vehicle that will go another 200,000 miles.

 

Well I am back on this train again. I have been topping off the coolant and just keep driving. I took the truck to a toyota shop and they ran their test. I just said to them that I was loosing coolant. They came back with it appears to be a head gasket leak, and said they will swap out the engine for $6500. Not sure if that was money well spent. I tried the test with the air bubbles. I let the truck idle for a while, did not overheat, so I put it in drive and sat in the truck and after 6 or 7 min it started to overheat. I put the truck in park checked for bubble...nothing.
I am not sure if this make a difference but when I put the truck back in park the temp gauge goes back to normal. I also keep checking the oil and it looks fine. Can I have a head gasket leak with the oil not looking milky? I found an engine with 125k for 3k and that includes the install. If I try the head gasket sealer, and it does not work. will that have a negative affect on the new engine install?
Thanks for your time!
Barry

 

Man 400k miles.
That motor has served well.
I'd say it time to let it go if the money is available get a new Tundra. These trucks last !


Or if a low mileage motor is available and the rest of the trunk is in decent shape. Give her a second chance to keep on keeping on.

 

Time to write off the old engine. Sounds like that new engine is a great opportunity.

In response to your oil not looking milky, the newer synthetics oils can hold a tremendous amount of water and still look normal.

 

Yes, it is possible to have a head gasket blow that doesn't result in the mixing of oil and coolant. Yours is an external leak to the outside of the gasket to the engine bay. My wifes 4.7L had the same problem with only 150k on it.

$6500 for a brand new engine R&R? Or a rebuild?

 

I’d just replace the head gasket myself. It just a gasket. A few days work and a few hundred bucks.

 

Sorry for highjacking a thread but I'm having the exact same issues with my 2004 4.7 tundra limited. His pics could be my pics. My tundra is Not running hot but blowing out any radiator I install in it. It appears to leak coolant between the black plastic and the metal. As long as I keep the original radiator in it, it won't run hot. I replaced the water pump and timing belt hoping the water pump was the issue but im still smelling antifreeze after driving it. I've done the engine block test looking for exhaust smoke in the coolant but that comes back good. I've got to have a blown head gasket but it says its not in tests. Its at 223,000 miles on full synthetic oil. I'm at a loss on what to do.

 

Have you done the Co2 tester on your radiator overflow? Turns blue liquid to yellow if detects exhaust.

 

I have only tested the radiator mouth but will report back what I find. I will say this, after I did the timing belt/water pump replacement the smell did diminish quite a bit.

 

Didn’t really the whole thread but I do have some free advice.

had a buddy with a F-150 that had a blown head gasket, I got a blue bottle gasket sealer from the local parts store for $25.

you had to dump all the coolant, add this stuff, let it idle for an hour, than put new coolant in.

over a year later, seems to still be working.


I would do that before replacing the engine.