2012 tacoma head gasket recommendations

Well, I installed a new engine a month ago from a marketplace ad that I tested and compression came out good. One month later it is showing clear signs of a bad head gasket which I why i replaced the last engine.
I dont have any money to do another engine swap and im just fed up. I am going to just do the head gaskets on my current engine and call it a day.
Looking at gasket kits on rock auto. Any recommendations of what company to buy?
Just rebuilt my 77' 351m ford engine and used fel pro but very different engine and age
thanks

 

V6? Go OEM. You want the Engine Valve Grind Gasket Set from Toyota.

 

Maybe fresh studs as well.

 

Like new exhaust studs? Those are brand new as I just replaced the engine a month ago.

Guess I’ll give Toyota a call. Hopefully it’s not unreasonable. I’m honestly at the point where if I get 20k miles out of it I’m happy and then I’ll roll it off a cliff

 

If you are not in a time crunch buy your OEM parts online and save some money. I did and it does add up.

 

Hoping to do it in about a month. what’s the harm if I don’t grind my valves? Compression is going to stay the but not cause any damage. I’d understand while your in there do it but again I stopped caring about this truck and just need it to run for a bit longer

 

Grind your valves? If your truck is running fine most folks just check the heads for warpage, cracks and change the valve seals which come in the gasket set referenced earlier.

 

i assumed the valve grind gasket set was for a partial head rebuild which would involved re lapping my valves. What you just referenced is pretty much all I plan to do.
Appreciate the responses I’ll go ahead and order this kit thanks

 

I suppose that kit can be used for multiple purposes. E.g., replacing head gaskets, valve job, etc. It has all of the gaskets you need and then some to replace the head gaskets including new valve seals. You might want to consider changing the water pump as well if it hasn't been done. I documented everything I did when I replaced by head gaskets a few years ago here.

 

Ahhh fair enough. Yeah I just replaced everything in the cooling system except the rad when I did the engine last month so all I really need to do is anything in the engine itself.

thanks for the link to that post. Seems to have a lot of information that should help along the way.

I’ve got my old engine sitting on a shelf right now that I’m going to take apart as a test run to make sure I know what I need before parking the truck