Blown Head Gasket

Has anybody anywhere ever seen this on a tundra 5.7 liter? 2014 SR5. Mine has 185k miles/300k KM and has been maintained to an aircraft level of meticulousness. Rust free. Super clean. Coolant and tranny was flushed on schedule. Literally all highway miles to the point where I wont even drive it if its a distance less than what it takes to warm up to operating temp. Oil changed every 5000 miles or less. I started kicking a misfire code (cylinder 8 misfire), it was intermittent and I figured if i changed the coil and plug it would solve it. Didnt work. No other symptoms, no abnormal temperature fluctuations and never overheated. I drove to the airport (about 40 miles) with no issue and left it in the long term parking to go to mexico for 2 weeks. Come back, its cold outside I fire it up and lots of white steam in the exhaust for about 2 minutes. uh oh. Drive it back home, have the same intermittent misfire issue which resolves when I cycle the engine. Leave it to cool down, few days later (no driving in between) take out my coil and spark plug and put a scope down the hole.. coolant in cylinder. WTF! I am speechless. I need that truck to last me another 10 years, I didnt think head gaskets fail in those engines! I cant find much info online anywhere, dealership said they have never done one and never seen one go. I'm at a bit of a loss. Any ideas anybody? No shops here will even take it because everybody is so booked out. So I'm desperate for advice/answers. Cheers
from BC Canada

 

Sorry to hear about the potential head gasket issue. Any evidence of cam tower leak or prior repair? Have you owned it since new?

 

No previous issues known. 1 previous owner, his son was a mechanic and it was a highway princess. I called the previous owner, he was just as surprised as I was. In fairness I have not necessarily determined that it is infact a head gasket and not a cracked head or cam tower. I am not sure which is worse.

 

If I manage to get it repaired properly.. my concern is that its a DOHC and if the other head gasket goes then I'm fucked. I could do both at once but its financially devastating for me.

 

I hate to put it so bluntly but, in all honesty, shit happens. This is a mechanical device and mechanical devices wear out and fail. Your odds of failure like these are better with a Toyota but not zero. I would try to make sure it isn’t a cracked head or something of that nature before you dive straight into a headgasket. Do keep us posted.

if you’re capable of doing the work yourself you’ll save yourself a fortune. If not, it’s not going to be cheap. There’s absolutely no guarantee that this repair will give you another 10 years.

This is also going to be a huge “while I’m in there” moment. Don’t go overboard, but don’t cheap out either. Use factory parts and get the head surfaced when replacing the headgasket.

 

How can I determine if its a cracked head?

 

Actually Toyota recommends that you don't resurface the head. It can change valve timing and through cam sync codes.

 

Yea no resurfacing. Cometic makes thicker head gaskets for some engines. That’s the only way to surface it and not ruin timing

 

In fairness I’ve never worked on these 5.7s

I have, however, used the thicker head gaskets with mixed results. I have never had any kind of luck putting a head back on without resurfacing. YMMV.

 

Where are you getting that info from?

 

From the service manual. I’m a just retired Toyota Pro tech.

 

hey man thanks for letting me know. I am staring down the barrel of a few tough decisions and I need some advice. Have you done head gaskets in a 3ur-fe before?

 

Not myself but have seen the job done by other techs in our dealership. I specialized in front end and alignment at our dealership although Ive got stuck doing head jobs when our engine tech was off, just not the 3UR. The reason you shouldn't shave the head down is because it moves the cams closer to the crank because you have removed material. The timing chain will have a slight difference in distance to travel and the ecu will read the cam sensor and crank sensor out of sync. Toyota motors are very sensitive to out of sync conditions and will even set the code on high mileage engines that have timing chain stretch.

 

Interesting. I have been told that you absolutely have to refinish the head when you do it. Do you know how I can access the service manual? Is there a step by step guide to doing head gaskets in a 3UR-FE? I am considering doing it at home with a mechanic friend in his garage. Need to know about special tool requirements ETC.

 

Refinishing on an old push rod engine is probably where you got that info from. When you have the head off have it professionally cleaned and they can check to make sure the head is straight. Unlikely you will have a warped head. As for a the manual, you can buy a subscription from Toyota that will give you access to the service manual.

 

essentially what i was told is that I should send the head to a professional engine shop that the toyota dealership here works with to have the cylinder head refinished jet washed and pressure tested and the valve seals refinished and tested.

 

Cleaned, not refinished. Just remove any head gasket material. I would skip pressure testing and valve seat work unless you have very high mileage. It's just not a problem on that motor. If you do have a ton of miles on it, it will probably be cheaper to find a used motor with low mileage.

 

Classic Head Gasket issue............ Get them done, drive another 180K

 

The car care nut just did a video on this. He said don't resurface it. But you have to carefully check it to make sure it's still flat or true.

 

Hope it didn't 'overheat' slightly and crack a head, best of luck.

 

I find this mechanic's channel to be quite good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9_LKFUDyig

 

FWIW, I bought a complete set of paper factory service manuals on eBay. It's expensive and about 7 volumes, but it covers the entire truck from A-Z. For me it's a better investment than paying shop labor for a Toyota tech. Good luck with the repair!

 

THanks man I love that guy, could you link me the video? the plan at this point is to send it to an engine refurb shop and have them pressure test it and all the valve heads.

 

I'm very confident it didnt overheat

 

That is interesting. Makes sense, though.

@Andrew_Tress Bad luck about the head gasket. Every once in a while one pops up on the forum but they aren’t common. As expensive as it is to, it’s still cheaper than a new truck. But I would still be quite disappointed as well.

@Ruggybuggy - mind if I send I PM you a few alignment/front end questions?

 

NP

 

Have you drained the engine oil? You can send that oil in to blackstone labs for analysis to see if there is additional wear debris. It is about a $30 round trip test and can help inform the decision more. They will provide a breakdown on what metals are in high concentrations per the mileage on the fluid and you may glean some information on if the coolant has caused accelerated wear anywhere else, or if you caught it really early and its just effecting ignition of fuel in the cylinder.

 

Car Care Nut just released a video saying this is a common issue with 2UR

 

I just watched this vid yesterday, and it was very concerning. I would like to hear from those who have had HG failures as to how often the coolant was changed. Carcarenut stated that dealership intervals are too long, needs to be done sooner.