Headgasket job I know the answer already..

Afternoon, I dragged on in my intro that I got to do my head gasket. Didn't pressure test it just saw a little vapor coming out of tailpipe and milky residue in oil fill cap after i just cleaned it so i knew.

Takes a while just to get the heads off but there it was as many of you can predict..cylinder 6 was leaking.
Cleaned it up real good with razor blades, blue towels and pb blaster with a little carb cleaning doing my best to not let stuff fall in the holes and cylinders.

You can't even use a regular valve spring tool with these. Got to get the c clamp style. Got the valves off, exhaust valves looked good but intake were pitted and the stems worn. I don't know why I put the head back on with the worn intake valves because the stems were worn. But I lapped them and cleaned the carbon and rust off and put them in with new seals.

Is there any way this was not a bad idea? The valve faces and seats cleaned up it's the stems that were about a mm worn in diameter.

Pictures not relevant, just everyone likes pictures. I'll have to take some of the valves in the other side

 

And I broke off that bimetallic vacuum sensor switch hose inlet- green plastic sensor with 2x 1/8th inch hose connections. Had to get a new one and new knock sensor connector as recommended by others

 

That exhaust was a pain in the ass too, some say to remove both heads together but I took the manifold off the right (passenger side USA) and unbolted that collector? I think it might be called? - from the next section of pipe underneath the car so as to be able to wiggle it out of my way and got to drill and tap out one of the manifold studs that snapped off. No way would an easy out get it.

 

I just did that to mine! I was doing the valve covers though. My heads are still good, knock on wood. Toyota put a new engine in it a long time ago, and that engine is on it's second set of head gaskets.

 

Yup cylinders # 1 and # 6 share the same geometry were the water gallery is the closest to the sealing ring in the gasket at the outside ends of the head and block. Number 6 is also next to the junction were the 1, 3 and 5 cylinders feed into the DS side of the manifold. So added heat load externally at this cylinder #6. Mine let go a few months after I got it on # 1 at 235K and had Feld Pros so they were not OEM, and I had no idea how or when they had been done as PO had no idea and his ownership was not very long.

Thorley headers with MLS head gaskets after a complete teardown and rebuild make servicing the heads a dream. With hand lapped surfaces on the block and heads and with ARP head studs this seemed to me to be good insurance, time will tell. Certainly a lot more work but the composite gaskets are finite in life time from what I have observed and read in the forums for the 3VZ-E.

Also when they let go and overheat the cast pistons and wrist pin clearance will go to hell and the dreaded knocking sound is the piston augering in the bore because it cannot rotate on the wrist pin because they are a semi floating design were the pin is pressed through the connecting rod but is sized to pivot in the piston. So no "c" clips are needed. But as the pistons are cast and not forged they are less rugged in maintaining form when they get over done from an overheating of the coolant system. I had three of mine frozen on pistons when I tore it down and this was with the temp gage in the red with my radiator cap shreking before I realized what had happened!... When number one goes it will fill the EGR with coolant and send it into the plenum. Ask me how I know this!