Blown Head Gasket & 2 Burnt Valves 93 Camry V6

Id complain about the 3200.

Buying ANY vehicle on reputation does NOT preclude all individual failures. Plus, the car IS eleven years old. Why your particular engine spit a head gasket or two can be fodder for ENDLESS speculation that solves nothing. Luck of the draw, my friend.

~Philip

"Today is Earth Day so ... you golfers ... put back your divots!"

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On this subject, I've heard of pre-mature h-gasket failure, or what appears that way, in low mileage, 'light-service' cars before.

As a theory, it maybe there are forces at work which tend to cause headgasket failure ie stretching headbolts, cyl head warp over time, gasket breakdown....stuff like that. On the other hand, constant higher combustion temperatures encountered in highway driving can over time make some headgaskets really adhere to the block, making removal difficult.

just a theory,....Jason

I had an 83 Tercel that had headgasket leakage at around 70k miles and my father's 88 Camry has about the same mileage and has some headgasket leakage. I sold mine (with notice to the new owner) and my father drives his a few thousand miles a year.

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Was the coolant replaced on a regular basis? It seems like the aluminum engines deplete the corrosion inhibitors in the coolant and allow corrosion of the head gasket leading to failure. This is common in the Cadillacs.

ADVERTISEMENT Hi,

77K is pretty low. $3,200 is outrageous. Even an engine swap will not cost that much. If I remember correctly, Toyota will replace it at no charge with milleage less than 100K even though the power train warranty is 60K or 80k something. But, the failure cause has to be justifiable. Show all the deler service records to service and district manager. The warranty is nationwide. If the cause is justifiable,Toyota HQ in Japan may send out a team to remove the engine and ship it back to Japan for further study and find out why it would fail at this low milleage. I expect quite a few Toyota managers in Japan HQ will fall off their chairs when they hear this kind of failure since they value thir reputation that is more important than anythig. Especially, Camry is over- engineered and reliable car. Los of Camrys reach to 300K and still running. Of course, the failure cause has to be justifiable. Give it a try.

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I saw posted somewhere that the Northstar engine includes coolant sealant from the factory fill.

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I don't know if sealant is still used. I was actually referring to the anti-corrosive additives in the coolant itself. They do deplete over time/mileage. The new orange stuff, Dexcool, is supposed to last 5 years. The other should be changed sooner. Some say 2yrs/24K or 3 yrs/36K. Go here for some real insights about Caddies/Northstars.

HTH

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Everyone: I've heard enough about Camry 6-Cyl head gasket problems to worry me. My

2001 with 80K is fine, BUT should I think about a preventive head re-torquing. Granted, this is not easy as it used to be on my 1970 Dodge Slant-Six, but if it prevents a blown head gasket it is worth it. Anyone heard anything about this preventive measure?

Dick

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The fellow with the problem in this thread has a 93, which is a quite different engine. (iron block/aluminum heads) The newer engine (1MZFE) which started production in 94, is aluminum block/aluminum heads, which make heagasket problems MUCH less likely and is probably one of the reasons they changed the design. In fact the 1MZFE engines have a very low incidence of gasket failures. MDT Tech claims that they have never had a headgasket failure on these engines in the shop he works in, and it is pretty high volume.

So, relax an take a deep breath.

should I think about a preventive head

Head bolts are pre torqued, and then tightened by measuring number of degrees turned - to stretch the bolts by a predetermined amount. Don't touch the head bolts, unless you're replacing them.

The only time the headbolts can be torqued with any sense of accuracy is when they are new ( and unstretched) and the threads both in the block and on the respective bolts are oiled correctly and clean (too much oil can cause hydraulic-lock).

The preferred method of torqueing new bolts is to measure the amount of stretch they have undergone. This is done in incremental steps. Headbolts can not (for obvious reasons) be checked for stretch so a torque wrench or some sort of protractor is used.

As a maintenance measure, new bolts should be used for all tensile applications, tho in older iron engines built like fort-knox, this is rarely done by the home-mechy and they (we :) seemed to get away with it.

Jason

With stretch bolts having the undercut flange, "angle torquing" is used. This is a ONE shot bolt. Once the engine has been brought to operating temperature, these bolts need to be replaced if removed for any reason.

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- Philip @ Maximum Torque RPM