2.4L problems after HG change...

Hey all,

A friend has a 1998 2.4L Tacoma. He had a blown headgasket and opted to hire some local goofball to get it fixed instead of dumping it. His choice, but now there are several problems. Please bear with me as I explain what this guy did:

I monitored progress on the truck over the days he was working on it. I come from the land of working on Subaru's so I'm not as familiar with these drivetrains except that they last forever.

He tore down everything to the block. The leak was drastically viewable as a divot exists on the block near the #4 cylinder. I suggested a new block. He opted to razor it down and put the hand-sanded head back on it. It did NOT go to a machine shop. Already, I'm thinking he screwed up. The divot is significant. And personally I would never charge someone 4 digits for a HG job and sand the thing down myself. I don't care how minor the warpage was that he claims to have measured somehow.

For whatever unknown reason, he honed the cylinders out "to get the glazing off". He did NOT do a ring job on the pistons at all. He claims that "he builds engines bro and does this to all his builds". He used the 3 stone hone.

He claims to have done valve seals. I did not see this.

Upon putting it back together, it ran terribly. It almost immediately threw out codes.

P0301 cylinder 1 misfire, P0300 random, and then some EGR and O2 sensor codes which I'm not even thinking about until the misfire gets sorted.

He did a compression test. He claims Cylinder 1 has 135 whereas the rest have 175 across the board.

He has steadfastly refused to do a leakdown test "because bro it won't show anything". After some words yesterday, I've convinced him otherwise and I await the results of that.

He has switched around wires. I do not believe the plugs got replaced (seriously? with a blown headgasket you kept the old plugs??) I think he has tested injectors.

Now him and his friend are saying they think maybe the intake gasket was this or that and he plans to rip it down to the block again. I keep telling him to diagnose first as it takes very little effort before he goes throwing his conspiracies at it.

Has anyone else dealt with this? I know there are a ton of variables here because of mr. shade tree mechanic and his ego, but if there's anything they're obviously overlooking, I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks everyone, great forum here!

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this sounds like forth and long, punt. With what you described I’m afraid that one is full of abrasive contaminants.

If you want to keep the truck look for a salvage engine. I think I would look into the JDM market.

 

Thank you for the reply. Not surprising.

I still think it's worth doing a leakdown test, but any result leads back to the "mechanic" here so what use is it at the end of the day?

Coolant bubbles? This was a HG job initially. That's on him.

Bad intake or exhaust valves? He touched 'em last. On him.

Bad rings? Well, he honed out glazed cylinders without removing the pistons and without changing the rings. What did he think was going to happen? If they were actually glazed, then no kidding they're already bad rings.

I don't see a leakdown test coming back normal.

 

I use razor blades and sandpaper(emry cloth) professionally on heads and blocks, its not uncommon. The wrong way is power tools.

Usually you machine heads for issues like bowing, which is usually in the center, so leaks 2-3 cylinder. If it was leaking out coolant near #4 it probably didnt NEED a cut.


Ok. Cylinder #1 miss. Assuming his PSI is right 135 isn't terribly low, and it's not firing properly so fuel could be washing the cylinder, this lower compression.

A leak down will show if valves aren't shutting properly, if there's a rough valve it will bleed compression and you can only find this with the leak down.

It would very well be a simple vacuum leak due to intake gasket, a fuel injector that didn't like being disturbed, a spark plug or wire that didn't like being reused etc.

I would start with simple swapping of parts, (cylinder 1 to 2 etc) then lead up to a leak down.

 

A PreRunner would have a 2.7L engine...?

 

2.4 is found on 5 lugs.

2.7 is found on 6 lugs.

Don't see where anyone mentioned a Prerunner anywhere, though I do see the OP's signature...pretty sure he's just unaware of the trim models as it's not his truck.

 

Look at OP's personal info...

 

unfortunatly your buddy got ripped off. If it is as you described, it is time for a replacement motor and mechanic. This guy is a hack at best. That grand he spent could have been 3/4 of the way to a different outcome... sorry to here that things like this still take place.

 

The rear gate says PreRunner though I imagine that could have come off a different truck at some point, this thing has been well loved (and now abused).

It is most definitely a 2.4L engine. Apologies for the confusion there.

I told him before this started that he either needs to get a new truck (this really isn't meeting his needs anyway, the suspension is shot, 2nd gear is shot on the trans) or put a new engine into this thing. I recommended he just dump it though. I would've done the work for him for free but I'm not super familiar with these like I said, I take care of his Subaru.

This guy is basically local to where he has his contractor shop. They see each other constantly. He's saying he'll make good on it, but I'd just like to see him at least refund the labor costs. I don't know what the plan is currently.

Whatever the case, that hack sucks.

 

So this is definitely my Subaru background then. I know not to use a whiz wheel, ever, but the HG jobs we end up doing constantly seem to be more delicate and if you hand sand, they don't last as long. Good to know it's probably limited to the delicacy of those. What about the rest though?

 

One more question-is there ever a case where you would hone cylinders with the pistons still in the block? Because this is what he did. If they're glazed, that says to me they already have bad rings.