Blown Headgasket?

Hey guys so I've had a few problems with my truck recently and I wanted to know if anyone can help.

So first off I notice I have a misfire. I went ahead and changed my spark plugs which seemed to make a difference because they hadn't been changed in forever. It helped for a few days and the violent shaking returned.

I got autozone to plug in their computer and a error code came up for one of my coils. I went ahead and changed it.

Now the real problem. My truck overheats in idle and my radiator runs low on water. I went to a Toyota dealership and they said I have a blown head gasket. This will cost me around $5,000

I don't have the money to spend on that so I got a second opinion from a older man I'm friends with.

We found out that my fan clutch was out! So I was relieved because it was a cheap fix. I also idled the vehicle with no problems.

So today on my lunch break I saw my needle slowly rising and I'm just confused. I have no water in my oil and my radiator hose does not hold pressure. (a mechanic told me if I can't squeeze it then I have a blown head gasket). Now the only thing I noticed is my coolant reservoir bubbles when I get home. I have no external leaks and I read that it could be internal and evaporating. It also stated that this can foul the spark plugs so that could be my misfiring problem.

My temperature gauge is normal when I drive but when I idle it heats up. (When ac is on max it rises rapidly but I turned it off before it gets too high)

Also my truck has a whopping 333,000 miles.

I'm sorry for such a long thread and my lack of mechanical knowledge lol.

 

If it was me, and I'll likely get flamed for this response, I would pour some head gasket fix solution in the engine. What can it hurt? if your head gasket is gone (which it sounds like it is) it may fix it. No way your truck is worth sinking 5K into a head gasket replacement.

If my head gasket ever fails (I have an '05) I will drop in a 2007 or newer 4.0L tacoma engine from a salvage yard for 3K or less. Apparently late 2006 and up Tacoma's received an updated head gasket that doesn't fail as commonly as the 2005 and early build 2006's.

 

See post #7 in this thread. Detect blown head gasket.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/coolant-reservoir-bubbling-and-filling-up.437255/#post-12676768

 

I've been using this method for detecting blown head gaskets for MANY years. You don't need to pull any spark plugs though. All you need to do is fix it so it won't run and have somebody crank it while you watch the water in the radiator. A small leak will cause the water to raise and lower each time the leaking cylinder comes up on compression. A bad leak will shoot water all the way to the hood like a geyser. I've seen it. "We were driving on the freeway and it just quit". In the days of distributors, all you had to do was pull the coil wire, fill up the radiator and crank. 1 minute test to determine that they fried the motor.

 

Do a block test.

 

I agree with the block test, if you can get a hold of a cooling system pressure gauge you could put that on in place of the radiator cap and run the engine, if the pressure goes a substantial amount above system pressure (which is on your cap) you most likely have a blown head gasket.

 

The block test I was referring to detects exhaust gasses in the cooling system. Takes 5 minutes to do.

 

Yeah I know that test it's the most accurate done it many times I recall the kit being expensive though it's been awhile since I used one. I've also used emission gas analyzers with the probe just above the coolant to detect the hydrocarbons.