Blown Head Gasket?

Thanks, Joe. After reading both articles I'm beginning to wonder if the head had been blown for a while but wasn't obvious well before I stopped driving the truck, because:

-it wouldn't come up to operating temperature at all
-would skip around while idling
-started leaking fluids seemingly from everywhere (not true, but a lot from places that were leaking)
-had poor gas mileage that went from about 12mpg to 14.5mpg after I changed and tested darn near everything (including deep cleaning and sealing the tank with POR-15, buying all new OEM fuel injectors, OEM spark plug wires, a new distributor, 2-stage Thermostat, fuel filter, vacuum lines, motor mounts, etc).

The truck wasn't running while welding work was being done, just while up on a lift as we searched for a possible leak area from the exhaust. Good thing to point out though, I wouldn't have thought of it at all.

Do you think I should take the head in to be re-decked and professionally checked for cracks? Or just do a really good visual check? I'd dislike needing to take everything apart for the 4th time but also don't want to spend money unnecessarily.

Thanks! Happy Friday!

The last compression test I did was on May 22, 2014, with the following results:

DRY @ C1 - 145, C2 -120, C3 -140, C4 -140
WET @ C1 - 150, C2 - 140, C3 - 145, C4 - 148

It'll be interesting to see what the results are now.

Regarding the intake and exhaust manifold gaskets, should I replace those again as well? And I installed brand new fuel injectors and a fuel strainer about two months before I stopped driving the vehicle. Should the injectors be sent out to be tested and cleaned and the strainer replaced? This is after I spent about a week deep cleaning and sealing the gas tank.

Thanks.

Okay, I got everything done in preparation of doing the compression test. Pulled the gas tank, cleaned it out well (the sealant still looks pretty good, thankfully), annealed a copper crush washer and stuck it on the bottom of the drain plug. So far, no more gas smell since I pulled the tank a couple of years ago to POR-15 the inside of it. Cool.

Yesterday I put the battery on a trickle charger, cleaned up the marine terminals, put those anti-corrosion washer and goop on, put it back together, crossed my fingers and turned the key to two clicks so that just the accessories run. The check engine, gas, and oil lights came on. Great!

Today I reinstalled the spark plugs, poured in new oil, and went back to turn the key to ACC but nothing happened. Huh? Weird. I turned it back to OFF then tried again and nothing. The last time I went from a full battery to a dead one overnight it was due to a parasitic drain from my alternator. Arg. So, I went back to check the battery and kept getting varied readings from 0.00 to 12.60 at different points on the battery post tops and marine terminals. I could touch two spots gets 0.00, remove the multiple testers, put them right back and get 12. XX. Very weird. I got back in the truck and tried the key at ACC and again the engine, gas and oil lights came on.

I tried turning the engine over and it just clicked and went dead. Back to no lights (like a dead battery) whatsoever.

I rechecked the battery again - more various readings. I'm not sure what's happening in that the starter would click and try to start, then immediately stop like the battery died. I thought maybe the battery posts weren't clean enough so I sanded them and wiped each off with brake cleaner and tried again, but the same thing is happening, so I pulled it out to put it back on the charger. Maybe the battery is not, in fact, fully charged from the starter trying to kick over? Then I checked it again before attaching the trickle charger a second time and it's reading 12.60 when I lay my meter leads flat against the battery's posts. When I use the leads' tips, I get much lower readings.

The batter is around 5 years old but was used for around.2 years of that time. I charged it fully after not using it for the past two years (it read as full almost immediately) then added a little distilled water and re-charged it. That took another 36 hours.

What am I missing? Why suddenly seeming to go dead after trying to start the engine? Why are the readings all over the place?

Here is a video of me taking battery readings. The multimeter's screen might be upside down when viewing.

Also, Happy 4th of July!

Hi Joe,

I was finally able to get the battery fully charged again and tested over at AutoZone & they say the battery is good. I'm getting about 12.65 - 12.69v from it.

I removed, cleaned, sanded and reattached the ends of both the (+) and (-) battery cables to ensure good connections.

I then checked for the voltage from the battery-side (+) end to the connection on the starter & that is 12.63v. I also put the (+) lead from my multimeter on the (+) connection of the starter and the (-) lead of the multimeter on the starter body and got about 12. 60 - 12.65v.

I've already had a "hot shot" installed on the truck due to the well-known issue of needing 12+ volts running through the ignition switch in order to engage the starter & the consequential voltage drop that occurs from having to go through so many points. Also, it wears out the ignition switch. That's not it. I never had a strong, solid start consistently (sometimes yes, sometimes no) but after the hot shot installation the intermittent no-start went away.

I tried turning the engine once and heard a click immediately followed by the starter engaging. For about a half second before shutting off and everything went dead. I then immediately turned the key to ACC and still got dash lights.

Then I did the previously mentioned cleaning and reattaching and tried again. Same thing, but this time when I tried the get lights again immediately afterwards it was like the battery was dead again.

So, in short:
-sometimes I get lights, a click, and the starter attempts to engage
-sometimes I get no lights, no click, or engagement from the starter
-sometimes I get lights and a click (this happens most often)

I was able to rotate the engine just fine with the spark plugs out (that's how I discovered the coolant coming out of the #2 plug hole) but couldn't get it to move with the plugs in. Don't think anything is locked up internally.

I also put one lead on the (-) battery terminal and one at the starter relay and get from 12.57 - 12.41v when I turn the key to start.

I guess next would be to remove the starter and attempt to bench test it & make sure it has good ground to the engine block? I'll try tapping the solenoid area before starting the engine again tomorrow.

Thanks, Joe. Where did you find that diagram? I've got a 22RE and the schematics I keep finding are quite complicated for me to read - but that one looks easy.

Hi Joe,

I'll have to remember Alldata manuals. The cab's electrical has never worked on my truck and that's on my To Do list. Having to shine a light to read the speedometer gets old. Lol. Plus, eventually I'd like to be able to install a radio.

Okay, I went back out to the truck today and confessed that the only black wire I saw coming off of the starter that wasn't the battery cable was the black wire with a spade connector that goes onto the s-terminal. I didn't see a black wire with a yellow tracer but that may be because I had the bypass put in. I attached photos of me holding the black wire coming from the s-terminal and another of the ignition bypass. The yellow and orange spliced wires go to my +-battery post, the black grounds to the inside pass wall in the engine compartment. I can't tell what the blue or white wires are for without removing that plastic cover.

How is it Techs find and fix things so efficiently? I realize some are much better at diagnostics than others but geez. I've been working on this truck for years and it's always got a plethora of problems and after rebuilding the engine the underside all the way to the rear differential is covered in oil and grime from various leaks. It looks like none of the seals have ever been changed and it was run without regard. It's gnarly. And obnoxious.

I just thought about this: Do you think I should try to hand turn the engine a couple of complete revolutions and just soak up the coolant that leaks from the #2 plug hole with towels? Maybe I didn't try turning the engine enough to loosen everything up completely?

Hey Joe,

The spade clip at the end of the smaller black wire I'm holding goes directly into the b-terminal on the starter but runs from the relay that is shown in the first picture. I had that put in to attempt to stop the intermittent starting issue that these vehicles are known for due to a wiring problem that requires 12+v to run all over the place in order to start the engine.

This guy talks about it in his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SafjO966WTA

Unlike him I do not have a starter relay mounted to the inside wall of my engine compartment. Apparently, they started doing that in mid-1986 or so and my truck was made in April, 1986.

So, I had something similar to what's shown here installed by a mechanic and they spliced the b-terminal wire, ground, +-battery, fusible link and one other wire into that relay and mounted it like so:
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/119611-final-fix-intermittent-no-crank-22re.html

The truck always started after that though sometimes it was right away and strong and other times a little more lazy and longer.

Is that better? I can find more write-ups on the yotatech andpriate4x4 forums to help if not.

Thanks!

I just wrote a whole reply, and it didn't post. Arg.

Okay, 15 minutes later it happened again so I'm going to wait longer...

Trying this again.

I had a "hot shot" put in to stop the intermittent no-start issue these trucks are known for around due to a wiring problem that requires 12+V to run all over the place before the starter solenoid is engaged.

Here's a site that talks about it in more depth:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f199/rad4runners-1986-4runner-dlx-build-up-252300/index3.html#post51975700

This guy has the problem but unlike him my truck does not have a factory starter relay mounted to the fender wall, so I didn't go the route he did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SafjO966WTA

However, this guy used the help of others to create and install a relay that provides power directly to the starter:

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/119611-final-fix-intermittent-no-crank-22re.html

I had a mechanic install something similar in my truck and it never did not start again. Sometimes it was immediate and strong other times less so, but it always started.

Hooray! They showed up. LOL.

Hi Joe, did my response explaining the hot shot show up for you? I can see them now but I kept posting them for a while because they weren't showing at all.

Are you still there?

I posted about this and was in a conversation with someone that suddenly disappeared so now I'm trying to get all of this concluded.

He last recommended I check to see if power was going to a particular wire on the starter. I've had a "hot shot" put in (professionally) on my truck to bypass the very well known intermittent starting problem so I want to make sure that a) I'm checking the correct wires and, b) I know where to put the (+) and (-) leads of my multimeter so nothing becomes scary.

Any additional information required should be on the thread (link posted above) but if not, please don't hesitate to ask. I have no idea where Joe went.

Thanks.