Where the #*@! is My Coolant Going??

Some good info here. Mine actually sucked the overflow jug dry though and the radiator was very low. As for a year before it blows after it starts leaking, I just want to clarify for anyone reading--that's a year before it fails completely, not a year before you should get it fixed! The entire time it's leaking it's washing away the oil on the cylinder wall, NOT GOOD. Also I did some shopping around online and got all my parts for about $700 including water pump and thermostat which weren't necessary, just preventative. All my quotes from *reputable* independent shops were in the $2800-$3200 range, and specified around $2000-$2200 just for labor.

 

well that's a bummer...
anything we can do to "prolong the inevitable"? aside from changing coolant every like 40000 miles?

best of luck on your repairs, and thanks for updating

 

that may actually make it worse, every coolant change 'sloughs' off a certain amount of material. Heard of this sort of thing kind of often on sport bikes.

If I had an '05 (just basing off what's been said here, I had never heard of this) and wanted to cross country I think I'd change them b4 they started leaking.

On the other hand my boss has a '05 with ????quite a few 100K miles (I think he told me close to 4)... drives about 250 miles a day and hasn't had a head problem.....Knowing him it has the factory coolant though and may just be full of gum. I know he doesn't believe in maintaining it. Just fixes things when they break.

 

Update: Progress! I officially have the heads off. And it sucked. I mean it really sucked. I've easily sunk 20 hours into this thing already, and had to order some oddball tools half way through. For one, the head bolts require a 12mm triple-square bit, and the front diff mount requires a 12mm allen bit socket. I also managed to damage the SK triple-square bit getting the heads off. I used a 2 foot breaker bar and gave it all I had. I even had to wear a kidney belt to stabilize my back. Those were the most stubborn head bolts I have ever dealt with, and sure enough, there was coolant in the #6 cylinder when I pulled the heads off. It must have leaked in there while I was waiting for the tools to get here in the mail.

 

Good work so far!

 

Congrats. These type of jobs sucked when we were young and suck even more now..gotta try to hang on to that 2000 bux though and glad you know your not just taking a chance that was the problem.
measure that cylinder pretty good before going back together. See what your going to be dealing with for the future.

Some jobs tear down easy and go back hard.....hoping this goes back easy for ya.

 

Op - I just had to do my head gasket a few months ago at 140k on my 06'. I saw that you mentioned replacing your water pump too which is smart, mine was toast. I would also check your radiator really good, mine was incredibly crusty inside and needed to be replaced as well. Also while you have everything apart it would be smart to go ahead and replace all of your idler pulleys and tensioner because those are ticking time bombs over 100k as well and they are really easy to do while you have it apart now.

 

I have an 06 too, but I cant find a thing about when Toyota changed the head gasket part #

 

I'm curious about this now. I didn't find anything official, just word of mouth. The gaskets in my Toyota kit look a lot like the gaskets I pulled off the engine. I'm wondering if I should order some aftermarket gaskets...

 

I hope so too.

I'll measure the cylinder next weekend when I unwrap the engine. I saw some slight scoring in it, but it was pretty minor and nothing I could feel with my nail. One of the cam bearings and some of the aluminum bearing caps had some wear marks/very slight scoring, but nothing that made me think coolant got to them. For having nearly 170k on them, they are probably in pretty good shape. I say probably because I've never torn open an engine with this many miles without the intent of overhauling and stroking/boring it, so I've always replaced or machined the wearable parts in the past without giving them much thought.

 

Sorry for the bad news. Good luck with the repairs. I have a well maintained 05 with 138,000 and my HG leaking too. Had all of those same symptoms & used a scope to see the leaks in the cylinders. Waiting to take it in, so it is just sitting.
I've heard the 4.0 from 03-06 has this issue which is why Toyota changed the gasket part number.

 

Searching the WEB(online dealer sites) I looked for head gaskets for a first year(2005) and last year(2015) 2nd Gen 4.0L 1GR-FE engine.

A number of sites showed 2005 -> 1111531030 - Head Gasket
1111631010 - Head Gasket #2

A number of sites showed 2015 -> 1111531031 - Head Gasket
1111631011 - Head Gasket #2

More digging revealed that the part numbers for 2015 replaced the part numbers for 2005.

I do not know what year the replacement parts surfaced.

 

The correct tool for the head bolts is a 10mm bi hexagonal socket..

https://store.snapon.com/Double-Hex...etric-Lexus-Toyota-10-Double-Hex-P646038.aspx

the triple square 12mm is close... but it is not right.. it makes it easy to damage the headbolt..

I just finished head gaskets on my cousin's 05 4runner v6... its a pain

 

Do really all 05 tacomas have head gasket issues? I've got almost 180k on mine and don't seem to see any coolant loss? Got me really concerned folks

 

just keep an eye out for the signs...water out of tail pipe, coolant loss, swishing sound from under the dash when first started, missfire on cylinder 5 or 6, water in engine oil. and yes they all have same defective head gasket, early 2006 also

 

Update: I checked the heads with a straight edge and they are perfectly flat. I couldn't even get my .0015" feeler gauge to slip under the straight edge anywhere. I'll still clean them up and replace the valve seals, but I guess they don't need to be machined.

I checked the bearing caps and the bearings on the front of the heads again, and everything is in really good shape except for the one bearing that sits over the #1 head bolt on the front of the passenger side head. That one bearing is in sorry shape, and I'm thinking I'm going to replace it. The cylinders all looked really good except for #6 which just looked pretty good, so I'm guessing that one cam bearing was just a fluke.

edit: I just realized that the timing chain connects where the worn cam bearing is, and the same spot on the other head has more wear there too though not as bad. I think that one bearing just gets hammered because of where it is. New ones are $5 each so I just ordered some.

 

Thanks! I just ordered it. I had already bought new head bolts from Felpro at least, but I feel kind of silly now...

 

Thanks! That's good info. The gasket kit I ordered is part number 041110P071, and I did a search and it looks like 041110P070 is listed for the same application but lots of sites say it's no longer available. I have a feeling 041110P070 has the old head gaskets and 041110P071, which I'm about to install, has the new ones.

 

If the leak is only while its hot, it will steam off and not make a puddle. Look for a dried up looking film of coolant.

 

all autos have water dripping out tailpipe. it's part of what gets created during
combustion...but if it is sweet, it's headgasket. [severe issues smell sweet don't need to taste it]

and in this thread and op issue...once again the hobo method is faultless