1999 2.7l blown head gasket

greetings, first time poster long term lurker.

i have dont a lot to my rig since day one of getting it to keep her my daily and travel wagon.

got it up to 330k and shown signs of blown head gasket after sitting for 24 hrs.

new header, oem gaskets, valve cover, plug seals and plugs as of novemeber of last year. when pulling valve cover noticed wells 4 and 3 were heavily saturated with oil but cleaned and maintained after new gaskets were put on. ran better than ever with exhaust manifold leak finally addressed and no more leaking oil. 4 months later head gasket blew, and now faced with 1 working vehicle for me and mine.

after perusing the forms for the first couple weeks, visiting youtube univeristy and poking my coworkers brains my next step is to dig into it and get it back on the road here soon.

i have decided to go with yotashop head gasket kit as they provide oem parts and i had recieved my exhaust header from them (very friendly and responsive).

https://www.yotashop.com/gasket-set...rz-oem-head-gasket-set-1995-2001-04112-75101/

i wont know the damage to the head but ive got a trigger finger on a new head rather than asking the machine shop in town to go after it right off the bat because i still dont know the extent of damage. recommendations on new cylinder heads would be much appreciated.

theres been a lot of hesistation to even begin with this as i am not 100% certain of how exstensive the damage is to the rest of the engine but i am a confident backyard mechanic, just need to know that its the right decision. we dont have the kinda money to throw a tdi swap in, which is something ive always wanted to do to this rig.

the next thing i am trying to figure out and would much appreciate guidance is if i should replace oil pump and gasket water pump and gasket and timing chain. i plan on replacing fuel injectors as i imagine they havent been touched in years.

the truck missfires like all head giving me a gnarly shake and white smoke if attempted to start. there appeared to be a slight milkshake with the oil, so i will obviously flush as much as possible prior to disassembaly. new radiator, hoses, thermostat as of last september.

its a long read, but i am simply tryna put as much info as i can into one post and save some time. thanks for looking, and i will try to responde as often as possible. i dont have a shop to work in, all our mechanical work is done in our front yard and this idaho spring weather is inconsistent as all hell so i am waiting for a bit more consistency and parts. i havent ordered anything yet, but i am ready to start gettin at it.

any and all pointers to a positive outcome would be much apprecated.

 

Little less than half the time it ends up being a crack(s) in the head between the valves unfortunately...

So I would be shopping around for options.....just in case...

I can recommend a high end head, but there are some as cheap as $400, major amount of parts available for these.

Toyota 2.7/2.4 L4L Remanufactured Cylinder Head - 8/96-8/00 2/3RZFE - Powertrain Products


As far as what to replace when front of engine accessories are removed....

I would do a new water pump, and just the seal around the oil pump cover.

If your oil is weeping from the front main seal, or harmonic balance time case seal is leaking I would do those..

but otherwise leave everything alone..


that 'car care nut' toyota mechanic guy did a video on the time chain on an gen2 2AZ at 300K when he replaced the head, and everything still looked brandnew...
even the guides looked almost new...
but that was for a well maintained vehicle.


See @ 13:00 min mark...

Engine Head Gasket / Cracked Head Repair (Toyota 3.4L V6 5VZ-FE ) - Part 4 (youtube.com)

 

Would also recommend checking and keeping the egr valve working smoothly....

that helps cool the engine at hwy speeds.....if that is fowled cylinders 2 and 3 tend to overheat...
and thats where gasket failures and head cracks form about 90% of the time....

the ones that never came with egr have a different cat setup to manage that back flow catalytic heat produced at hwy speeds.

That egr inlet port in the intake manifold tends to carbon shut about 150K or so...
and thats when the leaks usually start.

 

Unless there's absolutely a reason to do so, I'd reuse the OEM head. When I went looking for aftermarket heads I had a hard time feeling confident in any of the vendors.

Also note that toyota sells a full kit with all the OEM gaskets as well. I used it and have no regrets.

 

And after 330K your heads probably need new everything.

 

@O'Silver_Taco im keeping options open for sure regarding a new head or not, just keeping in mind absolute worse case scenario is all prior to wrenching. its pretty difficult to get large parts ordered to my bum ass country town but i can figure it out.
i currently have egr delete on my rig and have honestly never had an issue with over heating once. ill look into water pump and like HB seal as well to be safe.

same boat as @0xDEADBEEF in not feeling confident in vendors and what they offer, but some times fafo and it works out.

 

I took mine to the local head shop, and walking through the door I saw a sea of heads from every imaginable engine. I knew I was in good hands

 

Also be careful about purchasing something and they not even have it in stock...
that happens here a lot.
During covid I was getting 90day wait on back ordered parts from mcgeorge...

The really good people are backed up.....
.....Idiots abound.


I was in similar situation.....but after all that work I wanted long life and no problems for a long long time....so I ended up getting a reman short block for $800...
but that was a different time....and now everything is backed up and expensive...

Ton of options for 2rz/3rz/5vz....no shortage of aftermarket.....but existing oem is getting kinda sketchy, especially since some of the new oem is now made in mexico...

 

https://cylinderheadsinternational.com/shop
I bought my 5vzfe heads from these guys about a year and half ago and they’ve been going strong. My truck is my dd too.

I also ordered my head gasket kit from yotashop as well and they ended up sending me two right sided gaskets. Partly their fault and partly mine. They refunded me the cost of the head gaskets themselves. Just make sure everything looks good when you get it I guess. Should be easier to confirm with a 4 cylinder.

 

@0xDEADBEEF yessir thats what these boys here do, old school farmers jiggin up combines and big rigs. so their work is next to none, simply a matter of scheduling. as long as i get her runnin by november when snow flies im good.

@O'Silver_Taco i hear that. we have had issues when ordering for our 5.7l gmc and also my headers, gaskets etc. im really tryna get everything i need ordered at once for peace of mind, so i thought best to resort talkin to yall prior to going through with it all. its hard to say what really is oem and what isnt nowadays. for my valve cover i used felpro for headers and exhaust washers. they work amazing.

for the record i will be ordering new cylinder head bolts. i cant tell you how many threads i have read where everyone an their mother is fighting about wether to reuse them or not.

should i even bother changing the valve cover gasket? its new since november as i had mentioned, but if im already in there and have a full gasket kit, why not right?

@Logans2001 i might just drop the extra $ and get new head anyways. its way cheaper than buyin another rig and if i can get another 150k out this mofo imma do what i can.

 

thanks for the insight and thoughts so far everyone. more is welcome. points and tips! anything appreciated.