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'96 Tacoma head gasket question

A friend has a '96 Taco with the 5VZ. He says he was driving and the truck started misfiring. He drove it to a shop from there.. *he says* only about 2 miles. The diagnosis was "blown head gasket".... The engine hasn't been taken apart yet... I assume the mechanic just did a compression test.

I checked the oil and it's not soupy... didn't see oil in the radiator either. I didn't see any obvious signs on the engine of leaky fluids except for oil from the driver's-side cam cover gasket

My question is: Does it seem likely it will only need a head gasket? Seems to me that would be getting away too easily....

Reply to
Nza
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reckon i'll find out when i pull it apart..

Reply to
Nza

Nza wrote in news:b55e5cad-3039-464a-81f9- snipped-for-privacy@v46g2000hsv.googlegroups.com:

You don't determine a failed head gasket from a compression test, but a pressure test. And that means shop air fed into the spark plug holes with the valves closed.

Usual signs:

1) Bubbles in the expansion reservoir 2) Overfilled reservoir combined with low coolant in the rad 3) Overheating during prolonged idle that is only solved by revving the engine.

Unrelated.

How did the shop determine it was a failed head gasket?

Reply to
Tegger

My Suby's got BHGs and NONE of those signs appeared!

However, one of the HGs was leaking coolant visibly. No oil in the water, no water in the oil...

Reply to
Hachiroku

At least pull the spark plugs. Do they have coolant on them? You can borrow a leak-down tester at some local parts stores free (with deposit). Use shop air to check for leaks. When my bulletproof Ford

3.8L blew a head gasket from a radiator problem at nearly 300K miles, it ran quite rough. Pull the plugs and there was coolant!!

Reply to
johngdole

Reply to
johngdole

I don't know what they did... the person who owns the truck has no idea about cars beyond putting in gas and turning the key....

I'll pull the plugs after i trailer it to my house..

and yes, I do realise that leaky cam cover gasket is unrelated.

Reply to
Nza

Either way, the cylinder head needs to be removed.

This is my brother's truck now, so I was looking for a way that is more convenient than disconnecting the battery every time you drive some where and step out of the vehicle for 30 seconds. If this is the only way to disable the security system, that is really stupid. The only thing they are good for IMO is running down the battery. I've personally never seen anyone that was helped by a car alarm going off. Most of the time what people automatically think is "turn that damned thing off!"

Reply to
Nza

I agree, which is why I didn't try to discourage you from removing the head ;-)

Sorry, I misunderstood your description. I thought that the security system was being triggered when you re-entered the truck. Most Toyota factory systems will automatically arm passively when the door is locked. If the door is not locked, the security system should not arm itself. If the system is arming even if the door is not locked, then the system is not factory or one of the door lock sensors or lock position sensors is not working properly. The factory security ECU is probably under the driver's seat. Try unplugging the harness connector from it.

Reply to
Ray O

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