Pay for head gasket or replace engine

There are many factors.
Such as Gasket Material type, Block and Head Material, Surface area between Combustion Chamber and Water Passages, etc...

It is frustrating but it’s part of any new design.
You have to use it to see what breaks.
Sometimes it happens fast, other times not so fast (I.e. Consumer end)

Although that could be true.
In this case, there was a new gasket design.
Not sure exactly what the differences are, but there is a whole new part# and gasket for replacement.
@Torspd may know?

Here are some pics to see the differences. OP, I hope you get it back up and going.
I don’t like not having my truck.
Best of luck to you man.

 

My 2006 has a built date of 12/05

 

You could find a low mileage engine in a junk yard for around 1k

 

I say go with whatever gives you the best warranty. I have two friends that bought a used motor. It came with a 1yr warranty. I know another guy that did a head gasket replacement only, but it given similar warranty. It's a toss up really.

 

do a Re-build with the toyota OEM overhaul kit .. get new piston Rings and Bearings, polish the journals, should be 3k with engine instal / removal,, youll have a BRAND NEW ENGINE... Go ahead change out the water pump, oil pump, thermostat , Might as well go all the way down the drive train with New U-joints, Bushings youll have a new truck..

 

I doubt very much you'll get a rebuild installed with OE parts for $3k with new pistons, redone heads... Maybe if you pull the engine yourself, use aftermarket parts, and do everything but the machine work.

 

head gasket failures are an issue we shouldn't have anymore- it's not 1960 and this should have been figured out long ago. Especially in normally aspirated vehicles. Some companies seem better than others at this. Mitsubishi can't do much right but they didn't have head gasket issues on their turbocharged cars, which see much higher cylinder pressures than normally aspirated.

 

You have to remember the manufacturer doesn’t make most of there own parts, they assume the vendors are sticking the specs they asked for. Then you get a supplier who wants save a penny per unit, cause it adds up to millions and you get bad head gaskets, airbags killing people etc.

 

At the Texas plant there at literally something like 100 different suppliers on site, none of which Toyota owns they just provide the parts.

 

I have the same problem with my 2005 (200,000+ miles). I've been looking at Gearhead Engines. I'm waiting for a quote. They rebuild Tacoma 4.0 motors. They offer a 3 year unlimited warranty. Has anyone had a bad experience with them? I've been told that some places replace OEM parts with Chinese parts. I'm not a mechanic and it's hard to sort through the what's true. Just bought a new canopy and leather interior. I'm keeping it...

 

Yes, I worked in automotive a long time ago and know what you're saying. But, the bottom line is that the manufacturer of the vehicle is responsible in the end for what they buy from vendors. They need to do their own quality control inspections and testing. Obviously there are one in a million failures that you cannot eliminate, but you also need to try. There is where the Toyota quality system became famous, and the standard for industry- but they dropped the ball in the 2000s. Toyota obviously didn't demand any rigorous salt testing of the frames from Dana. And they certainly didn't do any of their own to verify after it had been a problem on the previous generation. As far as Takata, again, I put a lot of the blame on the auto makers. All the other airbag makers were using sodium azide- for a good reason. And Takata says, hey, I have a cheaper way using ammonium nitrate and it works just as well. Well, the auto manufacturers should have been very, very skeptical, because the other airbag vendors knew it was NG, and Honda, etc, should have done their own accelerated humidity testing - and not trusted a vendor selling them bombs.

 

Watching 1GR head gasket threads with interest. My buddy's 06 4Runner has likely blown one and my wife's 06 Tacoma is steadily approaching 200k.

 

If the 05 motor is a problem why not find a different year rebuilt motor and replace yours .

 

I had the head gaskets replaced, heads rebuilt, new water pump, just to end up with an engine with a rebuilt top end and a cracked engine block. Then I bought a used engine with a warranty and a mileage guarantee and had the rebuilt heads and new water pump installed on the "new to me" engine.

$4,300 Later I had a great running engine with 60K miles and a rebuilt top end that had a warranty.

Get the used engine.

I've read that some people like to burn money, I would rather buy something to burn with my money. Lol