3VZE V6 Head Gasket/Overheating Issues

[Toyo Truck]

Hey Guys,

You might remember a post I put up a while back about my mate's
V6 4Runner, with the knocking 3VZE?
Well that thing started overheating quite badly on highway runs, plus knocking got
worse, so it got a bullet, and another motor was purchased from a place in QLD
(I'll find out the name) and we swapped in the 2nd hand 3VZE.

To make sure everything was 100% he got the radiator cleaned out and
reco'd at the local Natrad place, bought a new thermostat, water pump, and
temperature sensor.

Engine ran OK for a short while, with no real issues, then started overheating again!!
The car was taken to a local Natrad place and they tested it and found
that one or both of the head gaskets was faulty!!

Firstly, what should my mate do? I would've thought this would be a
warranty issue, covered by the engine place? Where does my mate stand
as he bought the engine for $1400 and doesn't wanna get screwed again.


Secondly,
We have been doing alot of research and it appears that the 3VZE has a
small issue of the alloy heads pulling away from the block or something
which causes premature head gasket failure.

This makes a bit of sense cause if my mate drives it really gently, the
car runs sweet, once you load it up for a while, the heat starts to shoot up.

We have been searching desperately for an answer to this problem as my mate
has had a pretty bad time with this, plus spent a heap of cash and still the problem
is there! He just wants to get it running normally so he can go up to Frasier Island
and a few other places.

Cheers,
Bart

[JetspeedCamry]

As far as warranty's go, it depends on the company..some places give you a 3 month no questions asked warranty, and other give you a inital startup only warranty... Id be ringing them and letting them know that the motor has a BHG...the amount of money involved in fixing a V6 BHG probobly out weighs the cost of the motor...

[airfireman1]

Dont know if this is what has happened to yours but Toyota did a recall many many years ago due to faulty head gaskets. (its too late to pursue that action now). I think you are just going to have to pull the heads and get it done properly. I know it can be big dollars but you dont want to have any of those sort of prblems when you are out four wheel driving.
Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. Get the water pump and Timing beltand tensioners done at the sme time
cheers

[Toyo Truck]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your replies.
We have called Toyota and you are right, they did recall the 3VZE for head gasket
issues. My mate didn't ask about his engine specifically, just wether or not there
was a known issue with the 3VZE.

Apparently there was and Toyota did recall all the original gaskets and redesigned
another one that was replaced into all the motors they serviced for this issue. Aswell as
this all stocks of the old gasket were destroyed and the "new" gasket stocked instead.
My mate is still waiting back on word from Toyota on wether they still have stock of these.

He called the place in QLD where he got the motor from and said to them that Toyota
confirmed a problem with the 3VZE head gaskets. The bloke at the motor place was
unaware of this issue, and ended up saying that he would reco the heads, but we have
to take em off and send them to him, plus my mate has to supply the new head gaskets.
Is this a good outcome, or should we push harder?

If we do go down this path, then is there another aftermarket gasket we could use to stop
this from happening again in the future? was thinking a HKS type copper/metal composite?

Cheers,
Bart

[airfireman1]

If you buy the replacements from toyota now it should not be a problem as all the suspect ones have been discarded. The toyota gasket kits are quite expensive but you should not have that problem again. You can buy after market sets and I think ACL make them if you dont want to go genuine. You can try this place as they are pretty good
http://www.gimmecarparts.com.au/ and tend to use ACL products.
I think it not too bad an outcome if they are prepared to service the heads for you as they can add up to many hundreds of dollars to just do the heads.If you are not mechanically minded get a service place to remove and refit the heads,all you will have to do is get them sent away and I think you may be able to push them for the feight and the price of the gasket set.
Cheers

[Vios-GT_07]

If you buy the replacements from toyota now it should not be a problem as all the suspect ones have been discarded. The toyota gasket kits are quite expensive but you should not have that problem again. You can buy after market sets and I think ACL make them if you dont want to go genuine. You can try this place as they are pretty good
http://www.gimmecarparts.com.au/ and tend to use ACL products.
I think it not too bad an outcome if they are prepared to service the heads for you as they can add up to many hundreds of dollars to just do the heads.If you are not mechanically minded get a service place to remove and refit the heads,all you will have to do is get them sent away and I think you may be able to push them for the feight and the price of the gasket set.
Cheers

i concur... it's not the best solution, but it is better than nothing.. a lot of wreckers i've dealt with refuse do hold onto their warranty for dumb reasons.. cars are the dodgiest industry coz there's so many ways around things.. of course they could get the head cheaply done and all that so i'd still make sure they skim the head and pressure test it, as well as check the valve clearances and everything..

[Toysrme]

There are compounding reasons why the 3vze blows up:
1) The head gaskets are crap. The US mandate to remove asbestos from gasket material made everyone's head gaskets in the late 80's-mid 90's weak. Including the 3vze
2) The horrible crossover pipe superheats the #6 cylinder's valves & head area, causing the gasket to fail quickly & generally head warping
3) The block is iron, and the head is aluminum. While many people & mechanics blame head gasket problems on that directly, that has NOTHING to do with it. The differance in metals only has a direct impact once the engine has already heated. At which case... You would have blown the head gasket regardless because they're weak. (If it were iron/iron, alu/alu it would still have the same problems due to the head gasket. See other Toyota engine's of the era that have the same problem.)

Mill the heads flat (That's not expencive), clean the block & replace the head gaskets. Here in the US, I recommend Victor's Nitroseal headgaskets (Napa/Carquest) over the OEM Toyota gaskets.

[Toyo Truck]

toysrme,

you always come up with the goods dude!
I just tried to give ya +rep, but it says I have to share the love before repping you again.
But I will.

I have printed this all off and given it to my mate, he will be stoked to finally have a
decent bit of info on this problem.

I'll try and find an aussie distributor, but failing this
Could you maybe buy one of these nitroseal gaskets for me and send it over?
I'd swing you a bit of extra cash for your efforts
Plus Rep you muchly.

Cheers,
Bart

[Toyo Truck]

Also,

Do you have any information on, or any links to making up something to
move or eliminate the crossover pipe over #6 cylinder?

Thanks again,
Bart

[ToyMota 4Runner]

Also,

Do you have any information on, or any links to making up something to
move or eliminate the crossover pipe over #6 cylinder?

Thanks again,
Bart

are you talking about the exhaust crossover that runs behind the engine from one exhaust manifold to the other ?

[Toyo Truck]

Yeah I think that is the one Toysrme is talking about.

My mate priced up a set of headers for his, around the $450 mark,
BUT due to the uber cramped engine bay, you need to pretty much take the engine
half out or remove the heads slot in the headers, bolt the heads back on, and then bolt
it all up...at least thats what the exhaust dude rekons.

Cheers,
Bart

[ToyMota 4Runner]

I got rid of mine when I had the gearbox out so wasnt too hard at all. I was going to install headers but from what have been told they are not that much better for what we get here in Aus. The yank ones are heaps better but cost a fortune to import and dont fit too well as we have the brakes etc on the right and they arent designed for that ..
One exhaust shop told me that if you unbold the 2 exhaust manifolds and then cut the ends off the crossover pipe then it will come out with a little work.Getting the manifolds off is best done by going in throught the rubber flaps on the 2 front inner guards.The flaps go over the brake lines and electrical etc .
I replaced mine with 2 custom pipes that run from the existing maifolds and then drop down the back of the engine bay. Heat is a major killer here so be careful where you run your pipes and then wrap them with heat wrap to save burning anything.The pipe from the drivers side then crosses between the front drive shaft and the gearbox and joins to the passenger side pipe . All in all a bit tricky but seemed to make a differance and didnt cost me the $1000 I was quoted for headers to be fitted . The advice I was given from a major exhaust shop here in Canberra was save the money on the headers and make the pipes as I have and I reckon all up total cost was 2 days work and $500 for parts ( mandrel bends, pipe, hi flow cat,hi flow muffler, etc). Totally up to you but if you can do a decent job of cut and welding pipe then it might be best way

[Toysrme]

Sure, I don't mind. They cost the same as the revised Toyota gaskets, but have alittle ebtter construction & they're rated out to a 12:1 CR.
That's it on the headers. Just remember, shorty headers are easier to fit, but don't really do much more than what a hacked up stock manifold & a properly built y-pipe would. A pair of well engineered long tube step headers, or just normal long tube headers will give a heap more power.

No real links Toyo Truck. Everyone here just buys one of two sets of headers. Whatever's avalible. Sucks to hear how bad they are to install for you guys. They're not easy to put on LHD to begin with.

Can ya weld?

[ToyMota 4Runner]

Sure, I don't mind. They cost the same as the revised Toyota gaskets, but have alittle ebtter construction & they're rated out to a 12:1 CR.
That's it on the headers. Just remember, shorty headers are easier to fit, but don't really do much more than what a hacked up stock manifold & a properly built y-pipe would. A pair of well engineered long tube step headers, or just normal long tube headers will give a heap more power.

No real links Toyo Truck. Everyone here just buys one of two sets of headers. Whatever's avalible. Sucks to hear how bad they are to install for you guys. They're not easy to put on LHD to begin with.

Can ya weld?

Biggest problem we have here is that we can really only get the one brand of headers and they are average in my opinion to say the least. The left bank is decent length primaries and the collector from memory is down under the truck. The right bank on the other hand is a differant design all together. The collector is basically just at the back of the head and the last primary is meer inches in length so torque isnt going to do well from that side. The main diff between the headers we get here and the ones you get overseas is that we have the clutch and brakes and all other sorts of stuff tucked away down the right side ( the drivers side for us downunder folks ) so trying to get 3 pipes down that tiny little space is near on not going to happen. I have seen it done however but the mods were extensive to get it all to work without fear of turning everything into crispy critters.I have run a single 2" pipe down that side and I think from memory there is something like 20 welds in that one pipe to get all the bends n bits to flow properly.Its not headers by a long shot but its better than some tiny assed crossover pipe running the wrong way back into the other manifold.

[Toysrme]

Buy a cheap powder coating gun, some used heat lamps frmo a restraunt, and some high-temp ceramic coating powder. Then buy some heat-wrap.
Payed an extra $150usd, but problem = solved.

Ah man don't count "whitey bends" where to make corners you just cut a piece of straight pipe at a 7.5* angle & weld those to make a bend! Come on, that aint fair! Buy some weld-els & mandrel bends!