Head gasket out at 489,000 miles, repair or replace engine??

ALL DONE!!!
New engine with supercharger runs incredible. All types of new power!!!

 

now your good for another 500k miles!

hmmm, I wonder if you will hit the 999,999 mark with it ??????????????????????

if well cared for, I suppose its very possible

 

Mmmm, I bought it new in 1997 almost 20 years ago when I was 35, It might out live me,

 

get an extra comfy seat and take the scenic route absolutely everywhere!

 

Beautiful truck, brother.

Great to see you found a replacement motor and took the time to do it all right - really encouraging to see.

I hope that my 2nd Gen can come close to your longevity!

 

My only real question is how is that 5-speed going to hold up going forward for OP

Otherwise, sick job done here!

 

No trolling needed.

I have a 1994 Honda Prelude vtec that snapped the timing belt at 280k and that was after 7 years of ridiculous abuse. I was a kid with his Honda. Red line shifting all day long just to hear that vtec crack, music to my ears lol. My point is after the engine was gone I was like fk it just get a new one. If Hondas are any way like Toyotas, they have the same smog laws in Japan that require an engine swap at 70-100k miles give or take Toyota, super mass produced that engine just like my Honda engine. So those low milage engines get bought and shipped to the US by the container and sold for next to nothing. Got my 80k imported motor for $800 and I would do it again all day long. I was able to find a shop within 2 days, got a complete swap and back on the road within a week. Buy a used motor. It's for sure the way to go

 

Haha, I bought a 5 speed transmission with 60,000 on it 5 years ago thinking the original transmission
would have blowen up, so that transmission is sitting in storage for that day, I sent out the supercharger
last week to have it rebuilt from top to bottom, and have the screw rotors thermal coated, figured Im keeping the truck now, so may as well do the stuff I was on the fence about.

 

I'd do a head gasket and carry on. That shits the bed, new motor/rebuild with boost!

 

2 min of searching on craigslist. I know this is in l.a. but I'm sure you can find a jdm import shop or somthing. Of they might ship to you on your dime.
Best of luck to you. Don't sell the truck its bad ass man! Get her back on the road asap

 

You people need to look at page 3. Lol. OP has a bad ass new engine and rebuilt supercharger.

 

Supercharger rebuild again, haha, every 150,000 miles, painted it black,
Finally got a boost guage and pillar pod,
Now I know I'm pushing 9 pounds of boost and no pinging,
LIFE IS GOOD

 

Just an update, the 2004 motor with 100,000 some miles was the best choice for sure.
This way I was able to reseal the motor all gaskets, main seals front and back, valve cover,
all timing bearings, belts, water pump,thermostat, all vacuum lines etc. replaced and replace all the clutch parts and bearings since the engine
was out, did all those things that would need to be replaced instead of waiting for them to break.
Also now have new injectors and not an oil leak any were on this motor to be found.

I did have some hiccups, both the knock sensors went out and the throttle body
crashed on me along with the clutch fan about a month or so after the swap. All fixed. Should have replaced the knock sensors when the engine was apart and saved me the headache later.
At 505,000 miles now and running like a champ all settled in.

 

Love threads like this. Good job OP for not just scraping the truck.

 

Next project will be getting a 2000 4Runner hood scoop and getting it cut into my Tacoma hood. Will make it functional, working scoop, to cool off the charger in summer and close it off for winter

 

With a truck lasting over 500,000 miles you sound like the last person to not keep their frame protected, but that would be my own concern with a truck over 20 years old. I hope you are using some type of protection given the known frame rot problems over the years with the Tacoma. If every Tacoma owner was like you, Toyota wouldn't be having as much repeat business, because more Tacoma's would outlive their buyers......hahaha.

 

Haha, yep, and my frame is fine, has NO rust issues, It was sprayed when I bought the truck

 

505,000 miles almost a year later, with 16,000 more miles with a new engine, rebuilt supercharger, life is good.

 

I want to do something like this as well, my supercharger sometimes causes my engine to overheat when I'm crawling in 4lo for extended periods of time on hot days. A little bit of extra airflow right on top could help

 

Some thing you might want to check out is you radiator, It might look clean if you eyeball the radiator,
But if you have AC there is a very good chance the radiator is plugged up between the AC condenser and the radiator In between the parts.
This happened to my truck. The radiator looked fine until I took it out of the truck because the truck was running a little hot and I could not figure out why. The area behind the condenser on the front side of the radiator was all PLUGED up with mud, dirt, leaves. I guess the sweating from the condenser when the AC is on goes to the radiator fins and ends up gumming up the radiator and over time gets plugged.
You can't see that section because it's covered by the condenser,
I will let you know how the hood scoop comes along and yes I think a working
hood scoop will help instead of an sealed oven type situation.
On the highway it should make a big difference as the air would be rushing right over the charger