1990 V6 2VZ-FE Bad Head Gasket

[allwcl]

Am I lucky or what? My friend gave me his 1990 Camry LE, with the V6 and 140k miles of mostly freeway driving. Interior looks and feel like new. Exterior has the usual parking lot dents and the paint is in great shape.


He told me one day white smoke came out of the exhaust so he stopped and had it towed home. There it sat for over 2 years till he offered it to me. The oil looked clean and anti-freeze in the radiator also looked clean. Battery was bad from sitting connected so long. Got another battery and tried to start it up. Didn't start so checked the plugs and they were all wet with fuel. Cleaned and dried them and this time started right up. Bad news is white smoke came out the exhaust. I had the radiator cap off and water shoot out too so I shut it down. Bad head gasket for sure ? Removed plugs and the middle one near the firewall was wet.


Is there a problem with these v6s blowing head gaskets or it just happens?
How hard is it to change these head gaskets? Do I have to remove the engine to do the work? That head on the firewall side has me worry because of the way this engine sits. Is there enough room to use a torque wrench with the engine still in the car? I downloaded a service manual and the pictures/drawings sure look like the engine is out of the car.


I haven't figured out what this is gonna cost in parts yet but the head/intake gasket set is $200. Of course my labor is free.

So any help, opinion , or links to other helpful sites greatly appreciated.


Thanks , Al

[allwcl]

Now that garage space is at a premium it’s about time that I answer my own questions and update this tread.

With the engine tilted towards the firewall making it very tight to work on, no wonder there are complaints about working on these 2vzfe cars. That’s one of the reasons why it’s taken me so long to work on it and having never worked on a Toyota too. Once the air intake chamber and intake manifold is removed there is actually more than enough room to work on everything.

Yes, the head gasket replacement can be done with the engine still in the car. I did a cylinder leak down test and confirmed that #3 on the RH head was leaking. Next was to take things apart so that the RH head could be removed. All the information needed is in the Factory service manual so I’ll only mention details I used doing the work of removing difficult parts.

Set cylinder #1 at TDC. The engine RH mounting bracket can be removed by jacking up the engine as high as it would go. Even then it still had barely enough room to maneuver out.

To get the camshaft pulley off, I made a tool to prevent the pulley from rotating as I loosen the camshaft bolts with a long breaker bar. The breaker bar and an extension is a must have tool along with impact sockets as they have thicker walls. The head bolts were removed using a 14mm, 12 pt, 3/8 inch drive socket.

After the RH head was removed you could see on the head gasket where the leak had developed on cyl #3. Cylinder #5 was close to leaking too. I went ahead and removed the LH cylinder head. Upon examining the LH head gasket, cylinder #2 and #6 were slightly deformed. It’s interesting to note that all these defects were on the exhaust side of both heads. The worse was on the RH which receives exhaust gas from the LH thru the crossover pipe. With 145k miles and the age of this car maybe it was time to happen.

Next I’ll be cleaning things up and checking for warpage and or cracks.

Later, Al

[Justin727]

good job. get it back together and get it going!

Once you get the plenum off it's cake, but you already know this!

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Awesome work, I'm glad I'm not the only one willing to work on the 2VZ...it's not really that bad, unless you're used to econo cars like Corollas or Civics.

One point, though: avoid using 12-point sockets on older bolts. You'll round everything off before you know what hit you. Six-point all the way.

--Tim

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by TBayToyotaBoy

Awesome work, I'm glad I'm not the only one willing to work on the 2VZ...it's not really that bad, unless you're used to econo cars like Corollas or Civics.

One point, though: avoid using 12-point sockets on older bolts. You'll round everything off before you know what hit you. Six-point all the way.

--Tim

It sounds like he only used the 12-point socked on the head bolts, where required...

-Charlie