2.7 Head Gasket job in progress.

Greetings once again 2.7 Tacoma fans!

Long post - grab a coffee and buckle up. Let's do a head gasket (and a few other things) on a 2.7 2TR-FE. I thought I'd bring you along in the hopes this can be useful to anyone attempting DIY work. Inflation is real and these engines are aging - I figure there will be more guys attempting this. I'll add a video or two as well throughout the process. I'm not a Toyota technician, but I *was* a Honda technician for about a decade following trade school and my dealer apprenticeship. I left the industry for a career change (I teach English now) but still wrench in my own shop. I will update this post as I complete the job - parts are still en route for re-assembly so I anticipate to finish this whole thing the week of Aug 5th 2024.

The Saga of the 2.7: My 2010 was part of the batch that got bad oil control rings. FML. By 100k it had great compression, but drank oil like beer on a hot day. I decided to fix this during the toilet paper shortage wars of Covid, and ended up ordering a long block from a builder in California due to the scarcity of JDM engines at the time, and price gouging on the ones that were available. The engine ran great - 15k on it so far - but I eventually noticed an oil leak from the front timing cover - hence my previous post on March 2022. The builder used a felpro gasket kit that used a physical timing cover gasket instead of the liquid gasket Toyota calls for. I resealed it (previous thread) and I figured after I fixed it my troubles would be over, but last summer I noticed a coolant leak near cylinder 4.

This vehicle gets driven 10 minutes to work and on occasion a forest road camping trip. It's never, ever, been overheated on my watch. No...this was a crap gasket set plain and simple. If you blow a head gasket/overheat the engine - you're definitely going to want to send the head to a shop for resurface before reassembly.

See photo below without exhaust manifold for clarity:



It looks worse than it is - that's 2 years of leaking - the leak was actually quite manageable by adding coolant to the bottle every oil change, but it nagged me and was not something I wanted to put off indefinitely.

Then, last month, the gasket failed at the water pump as well. It was time.


Since the engine runs great and uses no oil, I decided to make this project a complete gasket and timing parts refresh. To be replaced with genuine OEM/AISIN Toyota parts :

-Front Cover/oil pump/water pump assembly.
-Head gasket + all top end gaskets.
-Timing Chain
-Metal coolant bypass pipe (because I'm lazy and didn't do it last time since it looked okay.)

Additionally, I planned to clean the intake manifold, throttle body, and combustion chambers/pistons just because my commute is short and buildup happens fast with consistent little trips vs freeway/heat/revs.

Teardown and Cleaning
Get a PDF or physical copy of the service manual. It's great to reference even if you're experienced. However, keep in mind the service manual should be used to check specs and procedures, not necessarily a step by step for the whole job. It will tell you to remove the oil pan and the transmission for this job.

First, drain and remove radiator/fan/shroud being careful not to damage them. Set aside somewhere safe from the main work area so you don't nick the radiator with a part you drop. (ask me how I know)

Next, get the manifolds off. Throttle body comes off (4 bolts) first so you can get the fuel rail off. Intake manifold comes off after that, YMMV on how you prefer to access the bottom bolts. I did the front bottom bolt from the top with a long extension, the back (closer to transmission) lying on a creeper. Exhaust manifold is self explanitory and far less complicated. Be carful pulling it out not to smack it into anything.

For me, everything went well pulling things apart, minus one fused bolt on the exhaust manifold heat shield.



Note for future DIY guys - use of cardboard diagram to keep track of bolts.



Getting the engine to TDC is easy. Loosen but do not remove the crank bolt - use the Toyota harmonic balancer holder tool or a good impact gun. Then, hand tighten it with a ratchet. Pull the plugs and put your fingers into/over the plug hole of cylinder 1 (valve cover removed of course). Crank it by hand clockwise until you feel the air pushing out so you know you're on compression. Then just line up your marks per the service manual: two on the gears line up with marks on Because you already loosened the crank bolt, it will zip right off with the impact gun and engine shouldn't move.


Marks:


After that, you can pull the cover, tensioner, chain, and cams. Keep in mind when you remove the cover, coolant is going to rush out. Be ready for that with a pan and towels. Having a place to set removed parts in the order you took them off helps. I use beach towels on the shop floor.

You will notice my red gasket maker residue (this was all I could get as Toyota FIPG was backordered at the time I fixed this). Use FIPG or your preferred liquid gasket (right stuff, permatex 90, etc) depending on the speed you need to reassemble it.



Head and crappy aftermarket head gasket removed for cleaning:


I use aircraft paint remover to take off carbon. It is sticky, stays where you put it, can be easily manipulated with a brush without making a mess as the chemical process occurs, and works great. It might take one or two applications. Spray, agitate with brush, let sit for 10 mins (now is a good time to clean your interior) and wipe off. From left to right, far left chamber is 2 passes complete. Second is one pass, third and 4th are in process.



It works great on pistons too. The carbon you see is 2 years of 10 minute trips to work with only rare freeway/longer trip use. I'm going to adjust my habits now for at least once a week freeway/high rpm pulls and regular use of fuel additive. Most who drive their trucks for longer trips won't experience this but if you're blessed with a short commute, thus cursed with "short trip engine syndrome" it's really good to remember these engines need to heat up, breathe, and get to upper RPMS regularly.




After:


All cleaned up, gasket scraped, and waiting on parts.


My intended takeaways for future DIY guys re:teardown:

1. Aside from my impact gun for the crank pulley, I used no air tools. In fact, with a good breaker bar and harmonic balancer holder tool, the entire job can be done with no air/power tools quite easily. I'll probably fire up the 1/4 drive air ratchet for reassembly to run down bolts before getting out the torque wrench.

2. It is a big job, with lots of parts, but staying organized and going slow is the key.

3. The whole job can very much be done without following the approx 25 flat rate hour procedure Toyota calls for. The transmission and oil pan do not need to be removed.

4. If you can follow the manual for small steps + the great videos out there, have a garage to work in, a full set of metric tools wrenches, 1/2, 3/8, and 1/4 drive shallow/deep sockets with extensions, a decent pry bar, torque wrenches (in-lb and ft-lb) and some beer...you can do this. When I was an apprentice I recall being nervous my first time rebuilding a customer engine. A shop mentor told me "Look, Johnny. It's an internal combustion engine, not some kinda F*****' warp drive. Relax, go slow, you'll be fine."


Intermission for now: As of this writing, parts are on the way, so I'm just cleaning up the engine bay and the block from the leaked coolant. When parts arrive, I'll take more pictures and discuss the reassembly and proper use of FIPG below the front of head gasket and left/right of where the head meets the block.

 

Some parts started arriving, so here's how I do valve stem seals on the 2TRFE head using hand tools and a pizza box.

https://youtu.be/YrvID1G-4iM?feature=shared

 

Gasket Day.

You can see below the difference between aftermarket and OEM. Note the engine code on the Toyota part.


Valve stem seals from previous video. OEM intake on the left, aftermarket on the right.


Head on and torqued to spec (29ft lbs then 90 degrees + additional 90 degrees)


Manifolds back on - replaced valve stem seals and all gaskets associated with the head. (Injector seals, injector cup seals, throttle body, etc.)



Quick Video on what I'm talking about with the form in place gasket (FIPG) when putting the head and gasket on. This is VERY important for such a small step that, if ignored, will require you to re-do nearly the entire job down to removal of the head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfLJJwx9CDA

 

Here’s the stuff I used for the front of the head gasket. The FIPG you mentioned is mainly for the oil pans and timing cover.

 

Aye! Good catch. That one was sold out so I used the other - both are rated for the temps needed. Since it's sealing oil, doubled down on the black. I actually thought about using Hondabond HT tubes I have leftover in the stash from years past but that didn't feel right on the Taco. In the end, any high temp silicone gasket sealer will work. Rock on brother.

 

All back together. Runs great - no leaks. Added a catch can for good measure since I kinda like my clean pistons after getting them all shiny. If anyone on the forum ends up doing this job and has a question - toss me a DM, happy to help.

Have a few brittle broken plastic clips to replace but she drives strong. Not a bad project, happy the 2.7 has years ahead of it.


Now...about that steering rack....

 

Outstanding!!

 

Great post!

I have a similar leak in my 2009. A little coolant now and again.

Eventually I will go this route but hoping to do the clutch at the same time.

Thanks for the tutorial.

 

Nice job! Great detail and information. This should help others tackle this job. I don't have a 2.7L but I can appreciate the effort as I did this job myself on my 4.0.

 

thanks for sharing - about to go through this with the 4.0 soon and try to see/hope it's the HG and not worse.

 

heads up, you should consider replacing all the head bolts as they are "Bolts Of Uniform Strength" intended for one time use.
Especially if it ever overheated. You might get lucky and they wont lose torque over time, but its a high stakes gamble

 

Fantastic. The info on the seal packing on the front of the head just saved me. I thought it went on the ends not the middle.