2006 Tacoma 4.0 V6 what head bolts to use

Believe it or not, assembly is much easier. Hopefully you guys bagged and tagged everything.

 

The hardest part on the re-installation is the timing cover. All of the other stuff is simple once you have made it that far.

 

Bagged and tagged every bolt and organized all the timing stuff

 

I did it before and I would definitely recommend doing it before otherwise there’s not much holding the heads in. You REALLY have to pry that thing off. I tried to just slide the outlet and pipe back as one unit but it wouldn’t go and also would out tension in the knock sensor wiring.

 

I finally got the damn bypass off the coolant pipe. And my head bolt socket arrived. BUT -- I just realized I need to remove the VVT solenoid to access the 1st head bolt on the passenger side. Do I just twist and yank that out or do you have to line anything up to pull it out? I've been twisting and pulling and it's not budging.



apologies for hijacking the thread but we're both in a similar boat so hopefully some of this will be useful to the next lucky folks.

 

Mine were super tight. I used a Channel locks and pulled while rotating at the same time. They have a history of seizing and breaking. Others have had success with threading in a metric bolt to remove it IF that happens

 

got mine off today ... 1st pic is the coolant sitting in that cylinder that started it all ...


gasket has black around the cylinder except the one area between the 2 ... on both sides whereas the other side doesn't have this ... but who knows?

 

mine looked similar. My suspect cylinder was number 6 but I didn’t nearly have as much coolant as you. Tiny droplets only sometimes

 

If you do the valves this tool is worth every penny. Removed and installs keepers in seconds

 

Good to hear that. That was one of the worst parts of the job. I might add that tool to my thread so that others may benefit doing this job next time.

 

I bought both but this one you literally just push it down and it removes the keepers and they go inside the magnetic tool so you don’t lose them. To install you just push down again and the keepers go right into place. The suction cups do not stick at all to the valves, especially the exhaust valves lol

 

Did you get it from Amazon? Is there a link or model number you can share?

 

Here’s the one I used. They have knock offs for cheaper but this one is the legit one

$67 Lisle 36050 Valve Keeper Remover and Installer Kit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012S61IO

and this tool makes removing and installing the seals super easy

https://a.co/d/8ncPPog