Head Gaskets on 2005 Tacoma

Just got the news that my head gaskets are going out and was quoted 8000 dollars for the job and 2 weeks to a month to work on it. Definitely going to call for different quotes but wanted to know others opinions on the situation and the idea of just doing an engine from a newer year?

 

Ouch, how many miles on the truck. Just read that early 06 and down had problem factory headgaskets?

 

It has around 205,000 miles at the moment. Mechanics even offered to buy it off me to "help me out" so it ain't that bad if they want to buy it.

 

$8,000 is robbery. As is the time for a 'professional'.

Move along and never go back there.

BTW, head gaskets are never 'going out'. While they can get worse when discovered early, they've either failed or they haven't.

If they've failed, at any level, it's time to replace them.

Don't let it overheat, which can cause problems you don't want. And IIRC the replacement Toyota gaskets are a design improvement that solved the problem

 

$8,000 is the "we don't want to do it" price.

And tell the guy that offered to buy it from you, Kicking him the nuts would really help you out.
I can't stand vultures that pray on people in hard times.

 

Sorry to hear about your truck. As a 2005 owner, I think about this scenario. Definitely shop around. $8K sounds at least $2-3K over what I would expect. Independent repair shop may be cheaper, take longer. Dealers suck, but have a one year warranty.

 

At about 170k miles, i had a misfire and confirmed wet spark plug. I had pulled over immediately when the check engine light came on.

I threw in a bottle of copper flakes sealer and continued on my 2,000 mile trip with no more misfire.

when i got to my destination, i drained the coolant, flushed with distilled water, refilled with coolant and sodium silicate permanent sealer.

I am now around 200k miles and several years on the sodium silicate with no misfire.

i assume the sealers worked because the leak was just starting and pinhole sized. I have seen people use sealers on totally blown gaskets and it definitely does not work.

If you are going to try the sodium silicate, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS TO THE T. IF YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE IT, YOU WILL BE Ruining YOUR ENTIRE COOLING SYSTEM AND ENGINE BLOCK...

 

if you use the copper flakes, DO NOT just dump it in your radiator, remove 1 gal of coolant while cold and pre mix the glitter with cold coolant. then add to a cold engine.

how bad is your leak?

maybe flush your cooling system completely an then use the flakes. the glitter does not like being mixed with crud.

but the glitter wont damage or clog anything, if used correctly in a clean cold system. it is not exactly permanent. I have cleared it out of systems from customers that misused it.

the sodiumsilicate can permanently ruin your engine block if you do not understand how it works.