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Is it safe if I drive my car with a blown head gasket? until I have sometime to fix it myself?


Ted

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Dear All,

After a long time I am again asking your valuable experience and knowledge on auto mechanics.. My engine head gasket is blown ( 5A-FE). Seems it's affected to an air passage, since air bubbles are coming out when RPM reaches 2500. Also no oil is visible. Problem is I want some time to get it fixed myself. Usually I am not used to give any kind of a bass for repair since almost all had done damages rather than repairing my car.... I am expecting to finish this on this Saturday. It is around 1 month now after I came to know that the gasket is blow. Radiator was replaced by a new one and working well. 

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No.....a few dozen kms is okay..but if you know that the gasket is blown driving it for prolonged periods of time/distance is not recommended.

For now it might be the air passages that show visible leakage, but the fluid passages can very well have slight seepage. The last think you want is fluids like coolant running in to your piston chambers, etc....

So don't....I can respect you wanting to do the repair yourself....but if you cannot doing asap you might as well give it to a reputable garage to get the job moving.

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No offence, but what's the point in asking if you've waited one month already, and now worried if it'll last just two more days? 

If you're doing the repair on Saturday, don't drive the car for the next two days. 

If this was a general question about waiting on a blown head gasket, then I have to agree with iRage. 

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Hi, Thanks all, finally today I disassembled the engine and checked for repairs. The piston nearest to the gearbox has a play. No cavities in the head, however I gave head to Lal & Nihal for head facing ( 3700.00). For the moment I can only repair head. Later  thought of replacing the engine block without repairing.. What is your suggestion? If I repair engine block pistons, rings and other things are not in same japanese quality. If I replace the full engine block with a known low milage then I get original japan parts... these are my thoughts.. could you please share your views on this? 

Edited by Ted
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1 hour ago, iRage said:

Uhh...if you are going to get a known low mileae engine then might as well use the entire engine instead of just the block. Why can't you get the actual Toyota parts ?

yeah low mileage 5A or 90's Toyota engines are so easy to find?

 

Oh & don't forget to update the CR when the engine swap is done!

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14 hours ago, iRage said:

Uhh...if you are going to get a known low mileae engine then might as well use the entire engine instead of just the block. Why can't you get the actual Toyota parts ?

Actual Toyota part are too much high in price... reconditioned engine would provide all of them one tenth or lesser than that...

 

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7 minutes ago, Ted said:

Actual Toyota part are too much high in price... reconditioned engine would provide all of them one tenth or lesser than that...

 

Well...that is the result of the market being flooded with cheap, substandard parts from China and other areas and as a result the agents not selling enough volume in parts. Good OEM parts are not that much cheaper than original Toyota parts. If you look at markets that are more controlled...it is quite evident. 

Your belief/assumption is accurate as long as you know where the engine came from. By that I mean not just a story of a parts shop salesman, but have seen the actual donor car and have verification of its actual condition and verifiable records that the engine came out of the said car. If not..you are just basing it all on a sales talk and for you to be fully comfortable with the engine you would have to do some overhauling to it anyway..

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1 hour ago, iRage said:

Well...that is the result of the market being flooded with cheap, substandard parts from China and other areas and as a result the agents not selling enough volume in parts. Good OEM parts are not that much cheaper than original Toyota parts. If you look at markets that are more controlled...it is quite evident. 

Your belief/assumption is accurate as long as you know where the engine came from. By that I mean not just a story of a parts shop salesman, but have seen the actual donor car and have verification of its actual condition and verifiable records that the engine came out of the said car. If not..you are just basing it all on a sales talk and for you to be fully comfortable with the engine you would have to do some overhauling to it anyway..

If this is your daily why risk it @Ted

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Okay friends... I decided to make the engine overhaul on my own. Could you please help me to find following details ?

1) I found 3 japan ( only origin is japan, manufacturing may in overseas plants) piston ring brands. They are RIK, NPR and TP. Could you please help me to select the best one?

2) Today I got the faced head and noticed there are few cavities. Is the JB weld in following video link will help me to fill it? 

 

 

Edited by Ted
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3 hours ago, Ted said:

Is the JB weld in following video link will help me to fill it? 

 

Yah. It will fill. Even some cataloy paste putty would do. Will it hold up is the question. If that starts expanding when the engine is running, it will crack the head or warp it. 

The three brands you mentioned are OEM manufactures making good products. But the problem is the market is flooded with counterfeit OEM parts. What you buy thinking as OEM NPR can be a fake Chinese one. 

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varotone,

I have used JB Weld USA product many times never gave me any trouble for years.When I removed the Engine head I did a refacing till the spots go away and raised the head to get correct compression.

Sylvester Wijesinghe

Sylvi.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Guys I did the gasket replacement myself. These are the main points,

1) There are no steel gaskets since the OEM is also an elite gasket.

2) OEM too closes some of the water or air passages through both head and block.

3) Bought FUJI gasket exactly similar to the original ( 100% confirmed).

4) Resurfaced the head.

5) Cleaned the block.

6) Checked for warpage and cracks. Nothing found as such.

7) Did the gasket replacement.

? Tightned the 10 bolts passing through head and block without a torque wrench.

9) Started the engine.

10) Radiator cap showed air bubbles. These are not like soap bubbles but one bubble coming out periodically.

11) Seems my gasket replacement has failed.

12) Any advise for what next???????????

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1 hour ago, Ted said:

Guys I did the gasket replacement myself. These are the main points,

1) There are no steel gaskets since the OEM is also an elite gasket.

2) OEM too closes some of the water or air passages through both head and block.

3) Bought FUJI gasket exactly similar to the original ( 100% confirmed).

4) Resurfaced the head.

5) Cleaned the block.

6) Checked for warpage and cracks. Nothing found as such.

7) Did the gasket replacement.

? Tightned the 10 bolts passing through head and block without a torque wrench.

9) Started the engine.

10) Radiator cap showed air bubbles. These are not like soap bubbles but one bubble coming out periodically.

11) Seems my gasket replacement has failed.

12) Any advise for what next???????????

You tightened the head without a torque wrench???

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3 hours ago, Ted said:

Yes... Is it a must?

If you love your engine..yes. Even the maka baases I know of use a torque wrench for that.....because

1. The tightening needs to be balanced...so the entire head needs to have a consistent level of tightening from one side to the other and back and forth.

2. You do not want the head to be over tight..that is bad as it creates unnecessary pressure. You do not want it to be loose either.

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13 hours ago, kadsa98 said:

You tightened the head without a torque wrench???

@Ted is there some reason that you are doing this to yourself??

 

It is admirable that you wan't to do this yourself, but why would you risk tinkering with an asset worth so much money with I assume little to no experience of your own?

If it's involvement or learning that you wanted, surely there would have been some mechanic out there who would have let you work alongside them or at the very least observe how they worked but this comes across as being a little cavalier 

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12 hours ago, Devinda_Z said:

@Ted is there some reason that you are doing this to yourself??

 

It is admirable that you wan't to do this yourself, but why would you risk tinkering with an asset worth so much money with I assume little to no experience of your own?

If it's involvement or learning that you wanted, surely there would have been some mechanic out there who would have let you work alongside them or at the very least observe how they worked but this comes across as being a little cavalier 

Mistakes happen and initially I calculated the risk factor.. I carefully followed toyota engine repair video and manual.. only the problem is expensive tools such as a torque wrench. I too am gona buy it soon.. so I have no fear of doing it.. though I haven't touched engine inside before I have some experience on other stuff of my vehicle..

 

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It's great that you're doing a gasket replacement by yourself.

I believe you can rent a torque wrench from a hardware store. Just check if you can because that would be a lot easier. Also, make sure whatever torque wrench you get has been calibrated recently.

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