HG Replacement

Hi everyone.
My '08 Taco 4.0 has been diagnosed with bad Head Gasket.Searched forum and looks like a lot of guys have same issues but wasn't able to find step by step instructions how to do it.Called few shops for an estimate and cheapest one is $3500.Can't afford that much now.Decided to do it myself. Does anyone have an instructions how to do it? Please!!!
Mechanic at a shop said HG start to going bad.

 

I heard you have to pull the motor don't know if thats true or not but thats what i've read on other forums. Some say it's a 20 to 30 hour job.

 

You have to remove the heads from the block and maybe get them resurfaced. Then you replace the gasket and put it all back together. If you are asking how and what it is its probably too big of a job.

 

Did you get the dreaded cylinder 6 misfire? I just bought an 05 a few months ago and about 3 weeks after I noticed it idling rough for 20-30 seconds occasionally and then a few days later I got the CEL with a misfire code. Fortunately the Toyota dealer I bought the truck from stepped up and changed the head gaskets but I was ready to tear into it if they didn't. There was a thread on toyotanation with pics but honestly I would look into getting a short term subscription to alldata. I looked it up on alldata and although it's a lot of crap to remove the job didn't appear to be terribly difficult, just tedious. And you need a few locking pins in specific sizes to hold stuff in place. Of course I've rebuilt a number of engines so I may have a bit more experience in this kind of stuff than some DIY'er's out there. It took a Toyota master tech 14 hours to do mine the Toyota way with removing the front diff and steering rack to get the oil pan off. But it can be done without doing that a bit faster. I think they book the job out at like 18 hours. I was actually going to pull the motor to do it. Thankfully all I had to do was drop it off and pick it up 5 days later.

 

Complete used engines with 3 year warranty are less than $3500.

Also, you're head gasket is either good or bad, there is no in-between. It's either holding pressure, or it's not, and if it's not, it's not going bad, it is bad.

I'd go see a different mechanic to get another opinion.

What are your symptoms?

 

Personally I would rather fix a known engine than install a used one. I'm a bit surprised to hear of a bad head gasket on an 08 considering Toyota changed the gaskets in mid 07. Lots of early ones failed at number six just like mine did.

 

I've had good luck with replacement motors, get a two or three year warranty, plus its usually a lot quicker than waiting for machine shop to machine parts and all that goes into a rebuild. Also, I have never rebuilt a motor myself, but I have installed head gaskets on multiple different motors. Some are easy, some are a pain in the ass.

I would like to know what OP is experiencing that a mechanic said his head gasket is going bad?

 

I have rough start with misfire cylinder#6.Car have low idle about 500rpm.When driving no difference in power.Loosing little bit of coolant.Sometimes got random misfire CEL.Sometimes CEL is flashing sometimes is still.Wierd.
Also when CEL is on car is shaking.Sometimes runs great.

 

Yep that's what mine did and every other one I've heard about. If you're losing a noticeable amount of coolant I would fix it asap but i've heard of a few cases where guys limp them along for several thousand miles like that. If you let it run hot you're going to be in trouble. Mine hadn't ever got hot and I never had to add any coolant. No damage except the gaskets themselves. Some aren't so lucky.

 

Unbelievable this engine suppose to last more then 86K miles.

 

how often did you change the coolant? If never that could be why. It breaks down and gets corrosive over time, eating things like MLS head gaskets.

 

I did all maintenance on time.Truck never overheat no any other issues but this.