DIY Headgasket advice for '02 5VZ-FE

Hey I’m doing head gaskets as well as refurbished heads on my 99 right now it has about 340,000 miles on it. I had a burnt valve and several of the valves were almost out of spec so I elected to just drop the dough (500/head) and get two refurbished heads as well as new head gaskets and the timing belt kit from air cabin man. Of course this ends up where you’re also doing valve cover gaskets and a bunch other little things like hoses and other parts. just spent about $800 on OEM Toyota parts but hoping it buys me a few more years in the truck.

Also the head bolts are one time use you absolutely need to replace those, I would suggest OEM, don’t forget the washers either from your old bolts or buy all new washers. The factory manual is incredibly key on this because those bolts have a three step tightening process that is very important. The intake manifold gaskets and exhaust manifold gaskets are also one time use, I would consider the knock sensors (and the harness no matter what!) while you’re in this deep, and I would also do the fuel injectors if yours are original. Check out MotorWest Performance.

i’m also doing a new radiator, fan pulley bracket, fan, fan clutch, and replacing the bearing on the lower air-conditioning tension pulley. Hit me up if you have any questions, I have not done the head gaskets before but I’ve done timing belts and related stuff many times on various 3.4 engines.

 

Well, I've made it to the cylinders! Thanks again for all the advice and tips. It's been a bit time consuming, but not an onerous job so far. We'll see how the reassembly goes. So far the mistakes have been pretty cheap. A broken exhaust stud and a wire for the Coolant Sensor. I still need to finish pulling the timing belt, so there's time for things to go wrong yet. Waiting for the SST/Socket to arrive for that one. I see that one of the pulleys has a chip out of it but I may let that ride since it doesn't seem to have been an issue for the last couple years. I'll toss in a pic, so let me know if I'm off base on that one too.

Thanks for the tips. Leaving the manifolds on was super helpful!

Not what I was hoping to hear, but seems like solid advice. I'm not looking for an excuse to repeat this job anytime soon. The heads looked good to me but I dropped them off at the shop for a double check. I decided it's worth the peace of mind to get them tested. And with the price of these gaskets it's not worth missing a crack somewhere.

 

Looks good. I would reuse that chipped pulley, my truck has the same. I cleaned the sharp edges up with a file so it wouldn’t shred a belt. That is an expensive part so worth reusing.

 

Make sure to let us know whats gonna happen. I'm livin through you.

 

The livin just started. I heard from the machine shop and both heads are cracked. Better than putting broken heads back on I suppose.

Anyone have a favorite source for heads? I’m waiting to hear back locally, but it would be nice to have options. Bonus points if the warehouse isn’t in the path of a Hurricane.

 

And make sure to take it back out when you get it bolted back in.

 

You can find them for around 1000 from Toyota. I ordered from Toyota I hear more bad then good from eBay. I’ve also had a bad experience for an eBay head. My second option was a toss up between a junk yard engine pull for 1800(in California) and LCE head. FYI with the Toyota head you have to press in the spark plug tubes. And put studs in.

 

https://parts.toyotaofgreenville.com/p/toyota__Tacoma/Engine-Cylinder-Head/62994731/1110169136.html
Also if I remember correctly I think it was taco critter that had an engine for sale the 3.4l

 

I just got a set from Dover Heads. Putting them on now. They look awesome and are very clean. Completely refurbished, super clean! I think they were 500/Ea + core.

I would get OEM head gaskets and bolts. I was unhappy with the “kits” out there. Make sure you get the multilayer steel version, can get you the numbers if you’d like, I literally just bought all of this, as well as exhaust studs, gaskets, etc.

 

I bought the OEM valve grind gasket kit from Toyota along with the bolts, belt, etc. I see a couple of hits for Dover heads online. Did you get them from the outfit in Charlotte?

 

Yes. They had about a 1 week lead time. Overall good experience so far, you can call up and get a live person.
https://www.doverheads.com/

 

I was thinking it would be easier to pull the heads with the exhaust manifolds on just because it’s so hard to get to those bolts and nuts and half of them are probably frozen.
Is it recommended to do the same thing when installing the heads too. Bolt the exhaust on to the heads 1st and install as one item?

 

I tend to remove the head with the manifold attached but install the head bare with clean studs, then manifold last.

Each their own, but never try to remove rusty manifolds in the engine.

 

I have headers and if possible it would be easier to do them as one piece maybe for installation

 

It seems to me, that this is almost always the case. The 5VZ heads crack over time. It's almost never the gasket on these. Bummer on the news, but at least you made the right call sending the heads in.