'18 Head Gasket - Dang!

70k miles, Crewmax, 5.7L 2x4, I tow a boat occasionally, but well within the capabilities.

Blew a head gasket. Getting a quote from my wife's brother-in-law's dad who's normally a very friendly mechanic for $4500. Seems about $2k over doesn't it? He's telling me to throw some gasket repair in and let it ride for a bit. I think he's just covered up.

What should it be? What might a dealership charge? Any other ideas?

Here's an odd fact... I blew a head gasket about the same mileage in a Tacoma too. Both are brand new buys and they blew on me. How is that possible?

 

Weird to happen to both trucks at about the same mileage

 

I can't fathom it. Toyota's for life, except me and head gaskets.

 

Rotten luck to be sure. I’m not a fan of any kind of liquid gasket / leak fixing agents. I heard from somewhere they have to pull the cab to do head work on these such as cam tower leaks and what not. Seems crazy to me.

 

Crazy bad luck for sure. I hammer the shit out of mine (towing, off-road, mountain grades) and haven’t had any issues.
Did it ever get hot? What tipped you off that something was wrong?

 

I’m very curious about the thought process on the diagnosis, and would also like to hear your symptoms.

 

What year Tacoma? The ‘05 and I think ‘06 have know head gasket issues.

 

The old 3.slows had head gasket issues. They were otherwise very solid motors.

 

I'm also curious of your symptoms. And if in fact blown, a picture of the head gasket where it's blown would be nice..

 

And with it being so close to within warranty- I’d definitely get it in for diagnosis with a dealer ASAP and hope for good will repair if there is a major problem. I’d be putting my maintenance records together…

 

there have been a few head gasket threads over the years here, but most were well above 100K miles if memory serves. However a posted picture or even a description of the exact failure was never offered. Some of the situations involved a whole engine swap and additional teardown of old engine wasn't in the cars for science I guess.

So I'm skeptical on a few of the HG issues.

My standard headgasket diagnosis:

compression test
leakdown
radiator gas test
borescope cylinders for signs of coolant leakage


The cost will be fairly high. This isn't a 350 Chevy in a 1970s Silverado.

 

Never got hot. Recognized at an oil change when I was low on coolant. Filled it up and watched it leak down over the next 1k or so. Was backing a boat in the driveway and noticed a fog cloud. No coolant in our around the engine bay. I called my mechanic-in-law, solid mechanic. He did the leak down test twice to be sure and because he couldn't believe it either. He had replaced my Tacoma head gasket and was miffed by the repeat at well.

Tacoma was an '05, I don't think there was ever a formal recall and I never had another issue.

Just stinks that I'm on my second Toyota truck, 4th Toyota vehicle, and both trucks have had this problem.

Maintenance record-wise, I've had all with done in schedule at the dealer. We have a pretty terrible dealer locally from a sales standpoint, so I buy one town over but let this dealer do all of the work that is included in the Toyoguard. Whatever came with my truck, got me free maintenance until about two oil changes ago. The last oil change, the one that detected the coolant, was the first work not done at the dealership. Maybe a bit sketchy there too.

I messaged the town over dealership, there's a guy over there that I've bought all of these cars from. He's actually now over service, so I'm going to try to talk him into something like letting me pay actual labor hours instead of book labor hours. The local dealership says it starts at 26 hours. I don't expect the local dealership to naturally help, I would have to press some pretty formal way.

Any suggestions otherwise?

 

I’d go through the Toyota corporate office if the dealer won’t help try to get it covered under warranty. Will they really fight whether a problem existed 5k miles ago when it was still covered by warranty? I’d try that given the money at stake.

 

Wow, I'm blown away (get it?) that I didn't realize I was dealing with a 60k warranty on this! I had in my head I was way out of the 36k! That's pretty cool, hopefully

Who has the right contact at corporate for me to get some traction? Welcome to pm me quietly if you want to share privately.

 

Do you have any idea which side is blown, drivers or passenger, which cylinder ?

 

For the love of anything in the cooling system, don’t do stop leak.. or you’ll be spending way more to replace everything in the cooling system


8 years at the dealer and I’ve never actually seen a 5.7 fail let alone blow a head gasket. Odd failure for sure. Best bet is to just call corporate and see what they can do. They very well may goodwill repair

 

I don't know which side is blown and I'm 100% against the gasket sealer. I'm even confused that my mechanic would suggest it.

I'll call corporate in the morning. Thanks all.

 

I wouldn’t do anything until it’s been dealership diagnosed blown head gasket. By then you’ll know what side.

 

Talked to 2 dealers, the one I bought it from (hour away, better prices) and the one that serviced it (local, terrible prices). The one I bought it from was very supportive, said for sure Toyota will stand behind this. The local guys started making excuses and talking in circles. That's about what I'd expect of them. I also called the Jiffy Lube. They confirmed that I had only had it serviced there once. I couldn't remember (it isn't my daily driver anymore). So, dealership serviced it through 56k miles and Jiffy lube found coolant problem at 65k.

I called Toyota Customer Service, was very polite but basically took a bunch of notes and told me to take it to the dealer to have them confirm it is actually blown. Also told me that it was out of warranty and mentioned 36k mile warranty, so I had to correct the lady that this was drivetrain and was 60k. I hope I was talking to the first level and assume I'll be moved up a chain there. Basically sounded like a phone service taking notes and knowing very little about much.

Moved it from the mechanic-in-law's shop to the dealer last night.
68,450k miles by the way... not 70k yet!

We'll see.

 

… keep us posted.


I treat JiffyLube like an unpredictable dog. I stay away from it and keep my kids away.

 

Just got the word back from the dealership. "No gasket problem at all". So, here we go... I told them to confirm why I occasionally had fog out of my tailpipe and coolant is dropping. They went into the "under what scenarios do you see fog". I said "cranking, driving, backing... occasionally". They asked "fog or smoke" in a quippy diminutive way, so I said "fog but let's assume either, you tell me because they both would be drive train problems and those need to be fixed, but it looks like fog, smells sweet and my coolant is dropping". Gave me the whole "coolant evaporates and needs filling from time to time" bs... I said "you tell me then" and said "it is fog, it is coolant through a gasket leak and Toyota Corporate just needs you to confirm it... nothing more than confirm for them. It is happening, please just confirm it".

Same for me with Jiffy Lube, not my target outfit. I took a job out of town, learning to drive 2.5 hours a day and keep up with normal life needs. I hit the service mileage back/forth/back/forth and had no time here/there to get it somewhere that I would normally use. I hit it up near a burrito place while I stuffed one in my face between things. I've since acquired a hybrid Avalon (Toyota too!) that's much more suited for the commute and I dig it.

 

If your getting coolant into one or more cylinders, a bore scope would likely point it out. As the coolant turns to steam during the combustion process, it literally steam cleans the cylinder. Shiny clean piston heads is a good (or bad) sign of a coolant leak.

 

I've borescoped other things, but never into an engine. I know it can be done but how does it get into the head enough to see it? There's a path without disassembling a lot? Reasonable to expect a dealer to do it?

 

Through the spark plug holes. The dealer says there is nothing wrong so I wouldn’t expect them to look any further.

if I were you, I’d run it. They’ve documented your concern and said it’s not an issue. Use a sharpie to track your coolant level in the overflow. Mark where it’s at when it’s been sitting cold. See if it drops much below that. It will fluctuate a bit due to temp but should be fairly consistent stone cold.

FWIW - my coolant was a little low at 60k. I changed the coolant and hoses and it’s been gtg. Now at 76k.

 

Thanks for all of that.

My coolant was below the low line, not just a "top-off" level. I like the sharpie line idea.

 

So if the head gasket is blown wouldn't there be exhaust gases in the coolant ??
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...rYUgDVI7FgfEipSvQGkey24Y70BqnqtUaAkOdEALw_wcB

 

And/or coolant in the oil.

 

sometime a blown head gasket will pressurize the cooling system. once your car sits for 3-4 hours there shouldn't be any pressure in the cooling system, you should be able to squeeze your radiator hose, if not your cooling system may have a leak to combustion side. Quickest way is put a pressure gauge on your radiator and drive the car. If pressure is ever over 20 psig you have a blown head gasket. Has your oil level increased?

 

potentially could have happened to running it hot? Was your coolant low before it happened?

Secondly, do not use the head gasket sealer, we've tried it at the shop I work at, and its hit or miss, it might stop it for a week, or it might just make it worse