How common is the head gasket issue on the 05's

I just picked up a 2005 dcsb sport and so far love it. It has 143k on it and all seems pretty good. My question comes up bc a friend of mine who bought an 05 about 6 months ago started getting a cylinder 6 misfire and upon further investigation it sounds like a head gasket and also sounds like it's not uncommon? I only bring this up bc I bought this to drive and put a lot of miles on. I don't wan to worry about an issue like this so if it's fairly common I'll probably put it up for sale and find another.

 

what makes it sound like it's a common issue? These trucks are known for reliability, that wouldn't happen if a head gasket issue was common. I wouldn't worry too much.

Change your fluids (as you should with all used vehicle purchases), and take good care of the truck and you should be fine. Head gasket issues on any vehicle are often related to overheating issues that go unresolved.

 

I wouldn't have thought it to be a common issue either until I did some research. After all I have an 06 that's been abused pretty good most of its life with no issues and still running strong. But after researching, what I found was that it is common for 2005 and earlier 4.0's to have head gasket issue in the tacomas and 4Runner. Idk how common but it definitely wasn't an uncommon issue and apparently, from what I've been reading, they even changed the part for the head gasket after 05.

 

sounds like they corrected it after 05 in that case? Keep in mind, its easy for things to get blown out of proportion online. People are more prone to complaining than praising. The few that do have issues will always be the most vocal, especially on forums. Every car forum I've been a part of, you would think it was the worst car ever made by everyone's complaints.

 

There was an issue with the 2005 and I think the early 2006 Tacoma's where the head gasket was defective and they tended to blow out at cylinder #6. It was corrected by a new redesigned gasket. There is no way to tell if this effects you truck or not...

 

Very common..

 

There's zero complaints about it on CarComplaints...

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/Tacoma/2005/

And only one for the 4Runner...

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/4Runner/2005/engine/

 

It doesn't matter. It is a well documented matter.

https://www.google.com/search?q=weak+head+gaskets+on+2005+Tacomas&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

I have heard you can get the oil sampled for antifreeze... among other contaminants. You might have this done and decide from there. If there is no coolant present, you might consider keeping it. Or, get the compression checked.

 

No head gasket issues with mine yet. 132k+

A lot of 2012 owners haven't experienced the major pump issues that others have.

I'd say it's hit or miss I guess and every batch seems to have its own list of issues that you may or may not experience.

 

I was pretty surprised by all of the cases I came across when looking into it. I thought I'd have known about it after all these years of surfing the forums. I just hate the thought of having something like this pop up!

 

Does anyone know of any tell tale signs other than the misfire? Obviously if there is cross contamination of oil and antifreeze then there's an issue, but any other weird things y'all know to look out for?

 

My buddy just bought a 4Runner with this issue. A fairly simple way to check is to open up your radiator cap(carefully obviously) and smell it, if it has a "gasoline" smell to it, most likely a head gasket issue. Also, engine will most likely run a little rough upon start up and smooth out after it warms up.

 

I've read extensively about the 2005 head gasket problems over the past several years. Until recently I had" a 2005 Taco with 111k miles. If a head gasket fails on that engine it's a labor intensive repair. And I live in an area where labor rates at Independents are $150-200 an hour and dealers are even higher. I figured if it did go bad it would cost me close to half the value of the truck to fix it.

So in my case peace of mind was worth the cost of a newer truck. I sold it two weeks ago, and replaced it with a 2015 DCSB with 17k miles. At the rate I drive it should be 6-8 years before I hit 100K

Everyone's comfort levels and resources are different. You just have to decide what yours are.

 

Are you comfortable with the common issues the 2015 has?

 

I worried a lot about this issue with my 2005. If you read the high mileage thread on here you'll see a few with 300-400+k on them without issue. I asked the Toyota teach that replaced my frame and he said he's never seen a 4.0l in with head gasket blown, but knew about the earlier 3.0l v6 issues.
Mine had 225,000 km, so close to 140k miles and runs and starts perfectly.

 

I've heard about that one. I drove my old 3.0 4Runner to ~232k miles before I burnt a valve towing a trailer. That was a fun project to fix

 

Like another poster said, gassy smell from radiator, or white smoke when starting may be telltale signs.