Burnt Exhaust Valves. Ideas?

yup, dead hole for sure.

Might be just a head gasket, always keep your fingers crossed and optimisim high, but be prepared for the worst.

 

If it was a gasket wouldn't more valves/cylinders be leaking?

 

Question:

If I get the timing straight and a good belt on there, can I limp around with the crummy valves until I get the cash to do the heads without causing more problems?

 

not always,,but it would kill the compression and run like crap on one hole.

 

as much as it sucks to pay for it now, getting the top end redone will get you another 200k miles easy. Thats less then 3-4 months of car payments. If the truck is in great shape, bite the bullet and get the top redone. You have to ask yourself, how much maintenance have you NEEDED to do to the truck, probably very little major problems.

 

Man this blows.

 

You should be able to pull the suspect head on your own with relative ease if you are an aircraft mechanic. Just follow the FSM exactly, ask if you have any questions, and just take your time. Of course, a complete lack of hand tools would prevent any of this from happening.

I had a full head job done ( new seats cut, mating surface machined/trued, new seals as well as new valves installed) for 110 bucks locally for an inline 4. The $$ is in the labor of installation/removal of the head and doing the timing.

Search for a local machine/head shop. Try and get some prices for a hand carried head. Source all the necessary timing components for a T belt change. ( water pump, belt, tensioner if needed, etc. ) Do it all at the same time.

 

Shhhh lets keep that our little secret ~~~ Just kidding, that is where my frame and 6" lift came from. Called him for my inner fender yesterday.

Red is not just running a junk yard ~ he is running a full Toyota only shop. Not sure why he slipped my mind earlier. Give him a call he can proablly do the head work and timing belt / water pump for much less then the dealer. And RED knows these trucks inside and out.

To some folks more comfortable with high end dealerships with paved lot + doughnuts & coffee his operation might look alittle scarry but he runs a good shop. His wife knows more about Toyotas then most Yota guys I've met, but TOYOTA is all they do. + Red has all the used parts you may need for cheap.


I still haven't heard results of the leak down... You can still run the leak down test to determine where the bad seal is (Piston / intake valve / exhaust valve). I don't expect cracked head or headgasket.

PS: doing your timing belt now is just wasting you time and $$$ save up and do it all in one shot.

 

I would not spend the money to change the timming belt until you do the head(s). The timming belt will need to be removed to remove the head(s), if you wait the additional cost will only be the price of the belt since all the work to change the belt has to be done to remove the head(s). You might have your mechanic check the valve clearance. I have found conflicting information on if the valves need to be adjusted, my dealer says no but the haynes says yes. If the valve clearance is tight (not enough gap) it will hold the valve open and affect your compression test. Check the simple stuff first, you should be able to take it to the auto hobby shop on base and get some help to get the job done. They should have most if not all of the needed tools and some good advice as well. Hope this helps.

 

Leak Down Results:

Cyl 6 - Both Intake & Exhaust Valves either bent or burnt out.....

Toyota shop in Ivor/Hwy 460:

I'm not sure if we are talking about the same Toyota mechanic, but I think we are. The guy I've always been in contact with is Dennis. I'm not sure if that is his wife or someone else's (Red?)..... but yes, she knows her stuff about Toyotas too! At any rate, I'm 99% sure Dennis owns the joint and does the majority of the work. He's one knowledgable dude and a straight shooter for sure.

Verdict:

RK Toyota (whom I now know to be crooks) RE-RAN the Compression & Leak Down tests after I dropped it off with the documentation from the previous days Compression Test....

It pissed me off because I had to shell out ANOTHER $100, so they (RK) could tell me something I already paid $100 the previous day to find out. However, that allowed me to get their "actual" quote ($3,300) for the maintenance, which was about $2,300 more than they quoted over the phone..... Long story short, I'm not having them do the work.

I called Dennis and told him what was up. He broke it down to me shotgun style and gave me several different options. One of which is the "full meal deal" and the no joke right way to go about it, for less than half of what RK quoted me:

- New Idler Bearings
- New Timing Belt
- New Tensioner
- New Water Pump
- 2 New Factory Toyota Head Gaskets
- 12 New Exhausts Valves
- 2 New Intake Valves
- Machine work on the heads

I took out a loan yesterday to cover the cost......so Christmas is'nt completely ruined. My truck should be good-to-go in less than a week.

Thanks again for all the information everyone provided. I appreciate it more than you know!

 

I thought that one quote was extremely low, considering.

Very rare for a toyota to burn valves, or at least not heard of very much. So they are saying that the leakdown test had sounds and percentages from both the intake and exhaust?. That is even more rare on the same cylinder. It can happen and has, but just,,odd. There is another possibility for that, but it will have to wait for the teardown and thorough inspection.

Usually it is just the exhaust because it takes alot of heat. The valve stem to guide clearances are critical, as well as is the lash adjustment to pull said heat off of the valve face and transfer it to the head seat. Keep a clean fuel system afterwards, that fuel shot from the injector helps to cool those items. (disclaimer) a burnt valve is subject to interpretation due to the many areas where it can "burn" (stem,face,tip).

The quote was written down and handed to you?. They have to stay within 75% of there original quote, but you have to have it in writeing for any recourse if needed. And always have a little extra side money, for the just-in-case scenarios.

Congrats and good luck Josh, I hope it works out for you. Wasn't trying to play devils advocate or Donnie Doomsayer for you, just trying to save you some bucks around the holidays. It's always good to get several opinions on a possible costly and extended job.

 

Noted!

 

im curious where you typically buy your gas from? I try to stay away from stations that sell lower quality gasoline and if you regularly go to them that can cause premature engine wear. Especially on valves

 

Truck runs like a scalded dog now, but I can hear the valve train at Idle (and low speed when cold). Sounds like a little diesel engine. I've heard some people say this is normal, some call it the "Toyota Tick".......the noise never existed before.

Is there any truth to this and can it be stopped by switching to a full synthetic oil?

 

Even if you do decide to switch oils,,Run it by the shop that did the work and tell him it wasn't there before. All new parts stuff and money spent. Good idea to point it out to them anyways,,if you haven't already.

They might have not got the lash just right on a valve.

 

I just switched to a Syn-Blend (Castoroil GTX) because the guys at Advance told me you have to do a complete "flush" if you want to switch to full synthetic, or else you will blow out seals and gaskets.....

Sounds fishy.... but the blended oil reduced the v.train noise signifigantly. I still want to run Amsoil full Syn. though.

The noise was never really loud, in fact it wasn't audible over outside traffic at stop lights or inside the truck really... I asked the mechanic and he said that everything was good to go, it's just the new cut on the heads and a typical thing after having the machining done.