Blown Head gasket rebuild....@297k

Guys and Gals, checked my head and deck with straight edge and they are both perfectly flat, have cleaned up mostly everything but need to get the mating surfaces nice so wondering what method do you use for cleaning head, deck and timing cover surfaces before refitting new gasket? .. watched a lot of videos but everyone has a different idea, so how to do?

Those plastic/ nylon cup wheels seem to be a popular suggestion, some say (carefully) use 400/800 abrasive paper or scotch pad soaked with brake cleaner? what is the best method here..

 

A new razor blade....

 

I would strongly suggest you to use a Felpro Head Gasket. I lost count on how many head gasket jobs that I have personally done from the ‘revised’ version including the Gen 4

 

.. Thanks Doggie! will give that a go first if it looks nice I will leave it at that

too late unfortunately have already bought the OEM revised gasket would have liked a felpro kit but not easily obtainable in Australia without ordering from US

 

Hi peeps

Are you guys soaking the rings with anything while the head is off? also I'm trying to resist the urge to clean the one dirty piston top! Other three have been steam cleaned!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Clean the piston top.... Clean them all so they match.
Some people pour different things between the piston and cylinder wall.
I don't really think it does anything to help. You would have to leave it soaking
for a very long time and continue to pour more when it eventully leaked through.
And once it leaked through in one spot, it would just leak through in that spot.

The only proper way to clean the rings is to remove the pistons and the rings.
If you are going to do that, you might as well replace them. But they you have to measure
the cylinder walls fto see if they are out of round.

 

Thanks again dogman

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Its a polymer coating for a little extra seal

 

The OEM head gasket vs Fel-Pro…big difference in the material & how it feels in my hand. I went w/ the Fel-Pro.

 

That one apparently has been revised. Not sure if there's a new part number. The Toyota USA parts site is no help; it's impossible to navigate, find anything, since about a year back. Dealership parts departments hopefully a better interface, to check on that.

There is a Toyota gasket kit, has head gasket and pretty much everything else that could be replaced.

All that said, "any" brand-new head gasket is going to look a lot better, than one that's endured 150k miles, with the last 50K under "duress".

 

what are you finding is the ratio of failures between Fel-Pro and OEM revised replacements?

 

Pic for an example:




As you can see with the revised Headgasket that we are still getting issues later down the line. The Felpro Headgasket is designed to seal better and is way superior than OEM.

Our Shop primary rebuilds a large amount of Prius / Lexus CT200h engines and that is are go to Headgasket including replacing the Head-bolts with Felpro.




As for failure ratio, we had one engine come back to us. This was due to the previous Owner using a vast amount of my favorite stuff ‘Blue devil’ to perform a temporary fix before the swap was done. Customer used so much of that wonderful stuff that it clogged up the radiator / heater core and affected the cooling system (Sarcasm)

View attachment 257446

 

So it is just the same crappy coating?!!

I was wondering about this a while ago and fully came to the conclusion that the updated OEM was more like the Fel-Pro gasket, with no rubbery coating, just multi layer steel... I ended up going with Fel-Pro anyways.

I'm honestly shocked. Why the heck is everyone recommending the updated OEM (myself included)?!

Is that what's in 4th gen?

 

In light of @RightOnTime’s opinion, I’m starting to think Toyota gasket kit but sub FelPro head gasket.

 

Here's two pictures from both kits (yes, I'm that crazy - purchased two of them since Fel-Pro gasket alone wasn't available for a quick ship)

Toyota Headgasket Kit 04111-37316

Fel-Pro Gasket Kit HS 26515 PT-1

EGR gaskets and exhaust gasket are much nicer in Toyota kit.

But I can't identify half of the gaskets that came with it, any idea what these are for?

 

Head gaskets missing?

definitely some generic equivalent in FelPro kit, and this missing:



It’s just under the valve cover IIRC.

 

I'm in the middle of engine assembly back after the headgasket job - does oil pump timing matters in relation to the main chain timing?

I noticed two yellow marks on the oil pump chain - they aren't particularly aligned with anything atm. However, the main chain timing is set correctly.

I turned pistons few times when I was there doing cleaning but unfortunately failed to snap a picture before.

 

To report my progress: finished the headgasket job last week. Replaced the headgasket, water pump, thermostat, EGR valve, EGR cooler, updated the engine with most up to date calibration file.

Still getting the greenish block test liquid. Tested the liquid from exhaust - turns to yellow instantly.

Am I right that the only possibility left if the slightly cracked block/head somewhere?

No codes, car runs great - the only manifestation is the test color liquid change from blue to green.

There was no eye-detected mixture of oil & coolant when I drained it, no noticeable coolant leaks / pressure test looked good before the job, pressure tested all four cylinders - all were good.

Info - Block Tester

 

Forgot to mention - the head was cleaned and looked good. No valves were leaking (checked with carb cleaner both exhaust and intake side).

2010 cleaned

 

I had to change the head gasket [and several more in the process] last week. It took a lot of time and a LOT of praying was involved! I wish I had put in new rings. I cleaned the EGR heat exchanger which was nearly blocked. The timing chain seemed hardly worn when compared with the new one but I did not want to bother the vender with a return, so I used the new one. I think the $999.00 E-bay used engine is a better way to go --- next time.