getting to the bottom of head gasket failure?

[User1]

Hey wirewrkr,

If you got anything online, please do share. I'd love to see what it is you're working on or selling. Not easy reinventing yourself after putting in a good amount of your life into a company. I wish you the best in doing so.

Getting back to my question;
I was hoping I would have gotten a response regarding what exactly is the vents on these vans. I'm really not kidding that I don't know where the vent, or "fresh air" is suppose to be coming from. I always drove before on the freeway with windows up and vents open. If I was getting a little too warm on my journey, I'd turn on the fan. Never the AC.

So am I to rearrange my habits? I really don't want to be working on my AC at this time. I got a feeling that the only "fresh air" to be had is an open window. Or is the "fresh air" from the console settings? The only "vents" I could find is one of these on each end of the dash.

[wirewrkr]

My vents don't work either, and here in SOCAL, the older AC systems can be a joke at best probably due to the intense heat and extremely dry air.
I will look into my vents and AC system more as I get more free time.
I hope you didn't clean out the pick a parts, I was heading over tomorrow to go on a hunt. Where did you go and was there anything left of any of handfull of vanwagens I saw in the inventory?
If they're picked clean I don't wanna waste and 80 mile drive.
My website is www.wirewerkes.com.
On Ebay I sell lots of different stuff, whatever I can turn a profit on.
My moniker is lostinspace11
Yeah yeah, heard it before, don't bother

[User1]

I hope you didn't clean out the pick a parts, I was heading over tomorrow to go on a hunt. Where did you go and was there anything left of any of handfull of vanwagens I saw in the inventory?

I'll take a look at your website tomorrow. I just so happened to take a peek at my email and saw there was a notice.

The wreckers are a bit of a hit and miss. The two I've hit and didn't get much out of are as follows.

Pick Your Parts - http://www.pickyourpart.com/locations/ Stanton and Wilmington

Ecology Auto Parts - http://www.ecoparts.com/locations.htm Santa Fe Springs and Wilmington

I wasn't too impressed with any of the them the two times I went. If you have an email you can message me, I can keep you posted on at least the Wilmington spots. The yards change pretty fast. I think I'll go nuts with the first 4x4 I'll see in the yard! Is there anything in particular you are looking for? BTW tomorrow I'm going to be in LA, so I won't be around LB.

[timsrv]

User1, sorry for the late response, but up until your last post I didn't completely understand what you were asking. There are the two vents on each end of the dash and the double one in the center of the dash. There is also one down by your feet and the defrost at the base of the windshield. The bottom left slider controls whether the air is recirculated or brought in fresh. Fresh vented air kind of sucks on the van as the inlet is small and it doesn't get the "ram air" effect. Intake air must also pass through the fan motor squirrel cage before entering the cabin. The outside air intake is behind the passenger side headlight and doesn't really move too good unless you turn on the fan. Even then it's pretty lame. This is one of the reasons why I'll never give up my AC..........at least not without a fight. Tim

[User1]

The outside air intake is behind the passenger side headlight and doesn't really move too good unless you turn on the fan. Even then it's pretty lame. This is one of the reasons why I'll never give up my AC..........at least not without a fight. Tim

I take it I'll be able to figure out how this is turned off and on once I find it? The levers on the center of the dash doesn't really move all that well. I'll have a chance to work on this tomorrow and see if I can get it to work better. As of now it's roll down the driver's window and drive. Got a feeling it's gona be keeping both the driver's and passanger's window down and drive. I also need to get those windows to be able to move freely. Gota suck if I ever lose power on the windows!!

[bigduke6]

I just got a 87 2wd in Sequim Wa 3 weeks ago. It seemed to run good on the 60 mile drive to my friends house. PO told me it would overheat if pushed hard on a long trip. Replaced t stat with OEM, but would sometimes get hot and spew from the overflow. Replaced hg with a felpro kit from napa.( I should know better, but hadn't had time to look at this forum much yet! The passages for the water jacket around the cylinders are seriously restricted-a couple holes about 3mm diameter. FWIW, it looks like there was a felpro in there when I took it out too.) Seemed to work well on a couple trips over the mountains. In Seattle one day and in stop and go traffic got up to about 7/8 on the gauge. Parked it and it spewed a little. Let it cool down and added about a quart of coolant.

A couple questions:
Are the water passages on the Toyota gasket restricted like this?

Was there a shield installed to the bottom of the subframe between the front bumper and the rad to direct flow through the rad? It seems like it would help and there are a couple threaded holes in the subframe.

Not related but the ac belt was removed by po, and there are two open threaded fittings on the lower right of the ac condenser. Anybody know what hooked up to these? I would like to get the ice maker working, since it's the coolest option ever offered on a vehicle as far as I know.

Thanks for a great forum and all the help offered here.

[Previa dude]

99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the headgasket failures are caused by overheating. Don't let your engine overheat and your headgasket will last as long as the engine will. Another cause of failure is using an aftermarket headgasket after your original one blows. So spend the extra money and get your headgasket from the dealer. I had my engine rebuilt by a Toyota Dealer, which was Ulhmann Motors up in Chehalis, WA, and they used an aftermarket headgasket. It lasted, maybe, 10,000 miles. Maybe not even that. I noticed coolant was disappearing and I used some Bars Leak to try to fix it. After that, I noticed I had a little bit more power and less steam from the exhaust. This was fine for another year until I started losing coolant again. I decided to tear it apart myself and noticed the headgasket was blown on cylinders 3 and 4. I changed it myself and it's still holding coolant 35,000 miles later. The engine did run hot a couple times after that. One time was due to a bad thermostat. Had to rely on both heaters to keep the engine cool. The radiator was stone cold since it wasn't getting any flow. So yeah, 70 mile round trip with windows open and heat on full blast on a warm day is fun. Another time was when the hose of death started leaking. I did not even bother changing it when I redid the headgasket. So please change this hose when you change your headgasket. It's a little hose in the back of the cylinder head and a roflroflroflroflrofl to get to. Easiest and most popular way to access it is cut a hole in the back of the engine compartment and make a new access panel. So, there you have it. Don't let your engine overheat and your headgasket will last forever.

WHERE IS THIS HOSE OF DEATH?

[timsrv]

The search feature is your friend http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...ght=hose+death