Head Gasket Popped

While the mechanic was working on the engine, I decided it would be fun to inspect and clean everything coming off of it. When the upper rad hose came off I noticed it had a bubble and a gash on the underside. I mocked up the hose on the truck to see where the hole was aiming, and sure enough it was aimed right at the exhaust manifold. So I told him to stop disassembling as I am sure it is the hose causing my coolant loss and steaming.

As I type this he is reassembling the engine, decided it would be wise to have the fuel filter and all of the belts changed while he was in there with the intake plenum off. I also am going to clean the intake plenum out before it goes back on.

The engine swap comment was a joke, I would like a 1KZ-TE in the future, but that is for when I find myself a new daily driver. The 3RZ and 2RZ do have weak heads (very prone to cracking between cyls 2-3-4), ask anyone who has put a blower or turbo on them, but it can be remedied and I'm not worried about it as the engine runs like new.

While the valve cover was off I got the opportunity to witness the shiny cleanness that was my valve train, no sludge and very clean oil. The previous owner apparently was just as good as me at making sure the oil is changed on time.

 

Cool beans! Always check for the easy stuff first!

BTW- if you ever suspect HG failure, you can get an oil analysis done, which will tell you.