Blog Best Quality Oem Head Gasket for 2.4 L Tacoma

GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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So My head gasket went out, had oil in the coolant, would start to increase temp anytime I stopped for more than 30 seconds at idle.. I was on the way to work, up a small hill and the temp gauge shot up to the edge of the red. I got done at work, coasting down the hill, the temp was normal, as soon as I stopped at the first red light it started to climb.. when I started moving again the temp slowly statted to fall.. SLOWLY.. temp gauge almost hit the red before I decided enough was enough... got it home, parked it, let it cool down and called the shop. Shop told me the head gasket was gone.. so I started tearing it apart.. took the head to the shop for inspection and turns out the valves needed reworked as well.. ($525) got the gasket set from the shop (P/N: HS 9465 PT-1)($280) Got new injector seal kit (o-rings, top seals, cups, bottom seals, and bottom o-rings)($120) pcv, oil/filter, coolant, sparkys, wireset, and more...
Anywho... I am at a loss as to WHERE all these little gaskets,o-rings,steel washers, and metal wrapped paper gasket things go...?

I know the valve cover gasket, valve cover washers, intake/exhaust gaskets, spark seals, EGR, thermostat, water outlet, but all these other ones I am not so sure about.. any help would be VERY Appreciated.. I am moving in 3 days, taking everything I own in the bed of my truck and going on a 1000 mile drive.. finally moving out of my moms house and going to the midwest for employment.

I am fairly fluent with engine work, I went to college for it, just having a difficult time working around an engine thats younger than me, considering I learned on a 1970s Carbureted V-8...

Again, any assistance is greatly appreciated. Cheers!
GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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DrZ Well-Known Member

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The triangular gasket at the top right looks like the water outlet gasket on the back side of the head. The funny shaped rubber one below that looks like the IAC gasket. The 3 round metal washer-type pieces look like fuel rail gasket/seals/crush washers for where the fuel line connects to the fuel rail. The 2 on the bottom left are exhaust gaskets. Since there's 4 of those rubber o-rings (2 sets), I'd guess they are for the injectors. I'm not sure about the 3 bigger rings at the top left or the lower right gasket.

cruiserguy and Wulf like this.
GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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Sweet!!! That should be what I need. Thank you so much for the assistance! Now to see if I can get this all back together by tomorrow.. I dont recall seeing anything with the big wasgers (top left) or the odd pear shaped gasket either (bottom right) but I will be sure to keep my eyes peeled. Thanks again DrZ!! Very Much Appreciated!!
GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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Okay, so I got the engine all put back together, and it started up on the first turn of the key, but it runs like SH!T. It bogs down to about 200 rpm then jumps to over 1300, repeatedly... did I jump a tooth on the timing chain? This is the only thing I can think of as the cams are really the only thing that was disassembled, aside from vacuum lines and plugs, all of which were labeled very precisely... I made sure to follow the service manual for all procedures, checked torques, and double checked.. everything is plugged in, all vacuum lines are hooked up to their respective places, I took pictures from every angle to ensure I wouldn't mess those up. When I was reinstalling the cams I made sure to realign the timing marks between the cams, but..... I believe my crankshaft was at 5° BTDC..... I just got done rebuilding my dads 89 pickup (distributor ignition) and set it to 0° tdc and it showed similar issues on the first fire... so did I do the opposite with my 98 (coil ignition)...? thoughts?
DrZ Well-Known Member

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I'm just guessing that if the timing chain were aligned wrong it wouldn't cause those symptoms. It sounds more like a vacuum leak, not necessarily a vacuum hose. Could be an air leak in the intake tube or throttle body to intake manifold, etc. Any of those leaks would throw off the MAF reading.
GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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Throttle body to intake was never pulled apart, intake manifold was torqued to spec, with a new gasket. If it is in fact a vacuum leak the only thing I can think of would be one of the tube connections between the air filter box and the throttle body. They were all pretty snug though... I need to figure this out asap.. I am supposed to be moving today..
Wsidr1 Well-Known Member

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I just put my top end back together yesterday on a 3.4L. My MAF wire/connector had gotten hidden under airbox and I forgot to plug it in. My engine started right up, would idle smoothly, but reacted same as yours when I tried to give it any fuel.
Not saying you forgot to plug yours in, but any chance the wire harness/connector got damaged?

Also, this might be a got time to try the starting fluid (or carb cleaner) trick spraying around while the engine is running to check for vacuum leaks. Engine will idle up when you spray near a leak.
GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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Wsidr1, I did make sure to plug that in also cleaned it out before starting as the engine threw a code for the MAF shortly before the head gasket blew. I forgot about the starting fluid trick. Will try that in a few minutes.
GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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Made the move! Found a vacuum leak between the intake manifold and the head.. gave the bolts an extra tightening and all was well. Only issue after that was on the road.. for some reason the motor was running warmer than usual, made it half way to my destination and I couldnt drive more than 5 miles before over heating.. granted I was pulling a trailer with about a half ton, and the bed fully loaded.. but even on flat level ground and down hill, the engine would over heat. Stop to let it cool down, 5 miles down the road it would over heat again.. I burped the coolant several times before leaving town, and didnt notice a change in coolant levels during the trip. Could this be contributed to a failed water pump?
DrZ Well-Known Member

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Did you replace the thermostat while you had the engine apart? Water pump belt tight enough? Cooling fan spinning? Radiator shroud installed?
The only way the water pump would fail without leaking is if the impeller corroded or fell off. Possible but not likely. More likely is the thermostat isn't opening.
GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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Replaced therm with failsafe brand. Might need to check belts, they are brand new, could they have stretched a bit after the first hundred miles or so? Shroud is on, and the fan was spinning before I left. Havent check it yet. Will post updates in a few hours.
DrZ Well-Known Member

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The belts could stretch a little in the first 5 minutes of use. The water pump shouldn't be hard to turn. The alternator under load might provide enough resistance to make a loose belt slip, and if they share a belt it could affect the water pump.
You could check if the inside heater is producing heat. This would indicate water pump is circulation coolant even if the thermostat failed to open.

Also check if coolant is flowing to radiator and top hose is hot indicating water pump is working and thermostat is open.

You could also hook up OBD scanner and read live data to get a more accurate coolant temperature reading. Thermostat should be fully open by 200F.
GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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All belts are seperate, heater was functional as I turned it on to attemp driving further.. and the top and bottom hoses were very much on the hotter side of tge scale, hehe.. oh and the fan is rotating as well... is it a possibility that pulling too much weight could have been causing this? After all I was towing/hauling 2500-300 pounds or so during the move..

Last edited: Jun 19, 2019
DrZ Well-Known Member

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Bottom hose should be a lot cooler after going through the radiator. If the radiator is old it may be dirty inside and out and not as efficient as a new radiator. Hauling heavy weight certainly won't help. I don't know the limit at which the cooling system can't keep up. Having the AC on will also send hot air from the condenser to the radiator and it won't cool as much.
And did you put 50/50 coolant/water? Too much coolant and it won't carry as much heat away from the engine.
GingerGiant93 [OP] Member

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Yes it has 50/50, radiator was spittin out shit until about the 6th flush.. delicious milkshake.. with a slight green algae flavor on the top..(no I didnt taste, just the way it looked) didnt use ac, just heat to try an dissipate some heat. Driv8ng the truck right now, let it idle for about 20 minutes with no temp spikes.. I am thinking I just had WAAAYYYY too much of a load on the engine..