Head gasket out at 489,000 miles, repair or replace engine??

Got me a 4Runner hood scoop from ups today, now will have to just get it cut in and painted,
Dry run with the hood Scoop looks like it will look great and give the supercharger some cool from above

 

Scoop project started

 

Scoop is all welded in and primer coat on

 

I have a 2000 taco 4x4 Trd 5 speed and its burning about a quart a week (5miles back and forth to work) and a quart if I go camping (2-3hr drive) .. She have 326k on the orginal engine .. No white smokes or anything just high idle at cold start .. Do you guys think i blew my h g ? Thanks in advance

 

You sure it's not a leak?

 

It's prolly not the head gasket. You should start a new thread explaining the details on the truck and symptoms. Also tell us the mileage and maintenance and repair that have been done.

 

Keep the pics and the info on the progress of the scoop hood project coming in. I would like to do the same thing to my '02. I like the fact that it's the steel hood rather than fiberglass or just an add-on.

 

Here you go, I started a thread of how to do the scoop for the supercharger
This week will try and get it painted
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ma-for-trd-supercharger.452234/#post-13283847

 

...^^^... I love the looks of that truck ... especially in a R/C configuration ... and with a super charged V-6 ...

 

Wet sanded and ready for paint in a few day

 

I know nothing about motors, but my opinion is to keep the truck if not the engine. That's super clean for almost 500K, mine has 278K and doesn't look that good. If the cost makes sense, I'd keep the original motor just for bragging rights, but that may make no sense to the person paying

 

All painted, almost there, will install tomorrow, I'm really excited, it's only taken me 18 years to do this,

 

At last, came out perfect, chopped the fiberglass insert end off and Its totally funtional

 

So Got the heads off the old engine, guess what, found that both heads had cracks in them.
Glad I went the route of replacing the engine and not doing a head gasket only to find that both heads were shoot.

 

wow!!! that thing must have been massively overheated to crack both heads like that. that or since you are in cold area, maybe it froze water in the passages and cracked them.

you made a good call and its nice when you find out you were right in the decision you made.

maybe im getting old but soooo many times I got burned with money pits trying to rebuild high mileage engines I learned its best, faster, and cheaper to just buy a replacement low mileage engine.

then you can sit back, have a beer and relax, instead of spending 6 months tearing your hair out wondering when your gonna stop spending more money on an engine that you just keep finding more problems with

 

Thanks, but the strange thing is I'm the original owner and it has never over heated,
anyways all is golden

 

A year ago this month and 25,000 miles ago did my engine swap now at 515,000 and running fantastic!
No issues, no problems, did some upgrades this last year after new engine
rebuilt supercharger
4Runner hood scoop,
dynapro ATM,
line-x bed liner
2004 side door mirrors
Auto dim, compass, temp rearview mirror

ALL IS GOOD

 

I had my radiator flushed and timing belt is done every 90,000 miles. Won't that take care of the problem you're talking about?

 

Nope, I changed my belt every 90k and never overheated the engine and come to find out the heads were cracked from time I guess but made it to 490,000 and was in October so it was not a freezing issue

 

Just found this thread. It's great that you saved this truck. Looks great and was fun to follow your project from the beginning.