blown head gasket......messed up motor

I posted this in the 4 cylinder forum and afterwards thought I should have posted it here.

I am new to this forum and have some sad news.

My trusty old tacoma bit the dust a couple days ago. I went to a friends house, truck ran fine. Later that night when I went to leave, the truck started a little rough, thinking it was just cold I waited on it to warm up. Idle smoothed out for the most part so I proceeded to head home. 2 miles down the road I realized the heater was not blowing hot air. Looked at the water/engine temp gauge, the needle was fast approaching the red. I pulled over immediately and shut the truck off. Damage was already done though. The truck spits and sputters, blows white smoke EVERYWHERE. This tragic event makes me sick because this really was my most dependable truck. It had over 260,000 miles on it, never gave a problem before this.

So I am posting on this forum to get some advice from the tacoma savvy folks. I want to drop a used motor in this truck. Can somebody tell me the makes and models of the tacomas that the engines will smoothly just drop into mine?
It is a 2002 Pre-runner 2wd, auto. I am looking for any advice!!!!
Thanks in advance!

Ryann

 

Assuming it's a 2.7 any year 2.7 from 95-04 Tacomas will fit. Sorry to hear what happened OP, that sucks.

 

Just a quick question, but why not just replace the head gasket on the current engine, and have the head inspected? Head gasket jobs are not typically that difficult, and they also are not that expensive.

 

Because I am pretty sure I overheated the engine.
She is one sick little truck.
From what I have gathered reading through forums, its just as cheap and easy to drop an engine in rather than tear the engine apart, have it machined, ect.

 

To be honest I have replaced head gaskets on hundreds of engines that have overheated and blown the gasket, and not had any problems with it. Just wanted you to know there was another option. While I get that a used engine can be not TOO expensive, you never know what condition that engine is in. It could be ready to blow a gasket itself. Just food for thought.

Also, head gaskets rarely "blow" on their own. Usually something happens like a water pump, thermostat, or a coolant leak, and THAT is what overheats the engine and pops a gasket. So look over everything thoroughly regardless of what you decide to do.

 

but the point BamaToy1997 was making is it may just be a blown gasket and nothing else is wrong with it.

it also is very common for the heads to get warped or crack when overheated because they are aluminum but also because of this the cast iron blocks are never heated up as much as the heads so only the heads get damaged 99% of the time in an overheated engine.

pull the head and see if its warped or cracked and then decide what to do but you can buy a remanufacture replacement head for it for only $350 and fix your engine for around $450 including the new head, gaskets, and new timing chain, water pump, and thermostat.

if you just want a low mileage replacement engine you can do that but it needs to be the same engine because the computers and cruise control ECMs are all matched to the engine so if you have a 2.4 you want a 2.4 replacement or you should also replace the computer and cruise control ECM with ones from a 2.7 salvage yard truck. other then that its all an exact match between 2.4 and 2.7 engines.

you can find 2.7 engines with around 75k-150k miles on them for around $1000 if you pull the motors yourself. if you want to buy one already remanufactured they run you around $2500-$3000

you cant easily switch to a v6 because it needs a donor truck because it requires replacing a whole lot of stuff. read more about that here: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/354787-2-4l-i4-3-4-v6-engine-swap-out-question.html

 

Thanks bamatoy, I will definitely consider those options.
It would be nice to keep the same engine under the hood.

 

Thanks keakar. I like hearing those numbers on replacing the head.
I'll get the head pulled and see where we stand. Might be after the holidays before I can get to it.
Thank you for all this advice.

 

look on youtube and they show you how to test the head for warpage and if its ok the machine shop can test for hairline cracks when they prep it for reworking

 

Can you guys give me any websites that sell the heads, gaskets, etc?

 

No worries. Always here to help! And if you want to see what it takes to put a head on one of these engines, check out my "partial restoration thread" and you can see some good details.

 

I actually bought my head brand new off a company on eBay. It was in perfect shape, and has given me zero trouble since I installed it.

Here is a remanufactured one with the cams and everything.

And here is a brand new one, complete

The critical part is making sure that you get the right head. while the 2.7 engine is essentially the same across the board, they did manufacture two different head designs. One has 4 ports, the other has 8 ports. You want them to be the same from your old head to the new one, IF you decide to replace the entire head.

 

This.

Why throw the baby out with the bath water?

Head may be warped but the bottom half may be fine. Easy enough to have it checked out and rebuilt as needed.

 

its best get all your stuff at rockauto.com, they cant be beat for any kind of parts we need for our trucks

by the way I just looked and my head prices were way off, I was thinking of the v6 heads.

upon further review, our 4 cylinder heads run around $600-$800 for the complete assembly ready to go

 

Bamatoy are you still located in Marion, AL?

That is not too far from Starkville, MS. I don't trust very many mechanics around my parts....so this will either be a first time DIY project or I'm gonna pay somebody to do it. Haven't decided yet. Need to do ALOT of research.

 

Nope. I am in Navarre, FL. Near Pensacola.

 

Pull the heads and have them checked. Afterwards you can make a decision on which route to go. She will live again!!!

 

Before a head gasket is replaced, shouldn't the OP be asked if he heard any knocking from the engine, and if there is coolant in the oil?

A blown head gasket can affect more than just a coolant leak into the combustion chambers.

 

Sure. Why not ask the OP.

Hey OP, did you hear any knocking from the engine and is there any coolant in the oil?

 

Hopefully he had already inspected the engine before deciding he wanted to replace it. So I was simply offering another option for him to look into. I am quite aware what a blown head gasket can affect. Reading the OP it shows that either the engine is toast, or the head gasket is blown, or both. Why would it matter if the head gasket were blown between the cylinder and the water jacket, or a water jacket and an oil passage? Either one would require that the head be removed and the head gasket replaced.