Head Gasket or Engine Replacement?

Hi All,

New to the forum and new to Toyotas, so I'll give you the story and look forward to your opinions. A buddy of mine has a '07 Access Cab 2wd 4cyl (2TR-FE) A/T with 260000 miles on it. He bought the truck new and has maintained it faithfully at the Toyota dealer.

He brought it in for coolant loss, turns out coolant is leaking into the #1 cylinder. Dealer told him if he wanted to buy a new engine, the labor would be discounted because he was eligible for a frame replacement, and they could do it at the same time. He declined the engine replacement, but had the frame replacement done. It's been in the dealer for a few months, and is finally ready. Lots of stuff was replaced in addition to the frame (suspension & steering parts, brake lines, etc). He ended up buying a new Tacoma and I'm going to buy the '07 for my son to drive.

So, the question is: Should I just replace the head gasket and drive it or find a junkyard engine? Aside from the coolant leak, the truck is in very nice condition, no rust or rot on the body and everything on the truck works as it should. I'm retired, so time isn't a major issue. I'm leaning toward a gasket replacement, but is it worth it with 260000 miles (mostly highway) on the rest of the engine?

Thanks in advance!
Gene

 

You pull the engine,have a shop rebuild it,and you put the new rebuilt engine back in.

 

That sounds like a good plan, unless you can find one with under 100k for cheap

 

Assuming the rest of the engine internals are good and well maintained, I would probably have no problem changing the head gasket on a 2TR with 260k highway miles if you can do the labor. I'd definitely make sure the other three cylinders are good and factor the condition of the valvetrain during disassembly into my decision to continue.

 

At 260,000,save your son the trouble down the line and have it rebuilt.

 

How much did you get the truck for?

 

My brother needs to do head gaskets on his '95, it can be done in a weekend if you're efficient, he pulled the motor last Friday and had it torn down in a night, still waiting on the head gaskets. I'd buy everything you'd need, head gasket, water pump, timing belt or chain, front and rear main seals, valve cover seals, spark plugs, etc and do it all at once when you have the motor pulled like the other guys are saying. It's not cheap but I think you'll get more life out of a properly rebuilt engine than a junkyard motor, especially if it was cared for before the rebuild. If you're capable of pulling the motor you're capable of doing everything else. While you've got the motor out of the truck I'd also clean up the bay and paint anything that looks like it's starting to rust.
Edit: also do the clutch if it's a manual for sure