Blown head gasket?
 

Hello, I have a 89 Supra N/T. I got it from an auction. The guy said there was nothing wrong with it but there is. It misses really bad. When I pulled the plug wires off the valley where the plugs screw into the head was full of oil. I have never worked on one of there straight sixes before. What does this mean? I hear it could be a blown head gasket or a craked head. How mush is a rebuld kit for these? Thanks in advance.

Rebuild kit is much money. But its probably just the valve cover gaskets. Replace those and then go from there.

Ok I never thought about that. I ordered some and the grommets. Do I need anything else? Is there a diffrent process with these cars than others?

Other than taking the stuff off that is on top of the valve covers, you have to get the oil out of the sparkplug holes before you put new ones in. Otherwise a bunch of stuff goes into the cylinder when you pull the plug. A new set of plug wires and plugs and the valve cover gaskets are all you should really need.


Russ

I figured that but I havent figured out how I am going to do that yet. lol. What do you suggest?

the screws holding down the valve covers suck big time . look into replacing them when you do the job

How much is the stock horsepower on these things? How much are the bolts?

hp for a n/a is around 200 i believe. also you may want to retorque the head while you got the valve covers off. mk3 supras are notorious for blown head gaskets. retourqe to about 76 lb/sq in. also dont let the oil get low, these supras get mad when that happens.

I think I might have a worse problem. I pulled the dipstick and It had water in the oil. To me this means either blown head gasket or cracked head. I hear these supras are notorious for cracking heads. What do you guys think?

head gasket
 

Probably just a head gasket but you won't know till it comes off and gets checked. A good machine shop can check the head for warpage and cracks.
The biggest thing is that it wasn't you driving the car when this happened
so you don't know the situation when the damage occured and how long it was driven like that.
One of my previous engines lost the number 6 piston when the gasket blew
which meant used engine for me.

Ok well my girlfriend actually got it at auction and she drove it back she said it ran great and stuff. Then her son ran into a cement bench with it so they got the crossmember fixed and then it sat. the mechanic said it needed valve cover gaskets. I didnt know her at the time. So I hope thats all it is but then again how could water get in the oil. Unless its got a blown head gasket. What all do I need to replace the head gasket?

Parts
 

Minimum would be a gasket set for a head job which you can get from toyota
but I'd go a metal gasket for the head scince it has to come off and ARP head bolts scince they can be torqued more than the standard toyo ones, new plugs (iridiums), wires timing belt scince it also has to come off, new hoses for the rad, new heater hoses, check the plug on the back of the block,
if that goes your water goes out in a few seconds and the temp guage probably won't catch it,(no water or steam left to make the guage go up),
clean all your intake manifold parts including the ISV and while the manifold is apart check all the mating surfaces for warpage(TSRM shows you how to do this), clean the injectors, change oil and filter and again within a week cause of the water, flush and clean cooling system, clean the valves and piston tops and probably other stuff that I missed. The gasket set should have every gasket for the upper half of the engine and a water pump gasket. For sure change the injector seals which are also in the kit.
Its complicated and best left to pros who have Supra experience unless your a good mechanic yourself and have the time and the tools.

i will have to do it myself. I couldnt even imagine how much it would cost to have a mechanic do it. I have a lot of experience but mostly with old domestics. I had a 89 accord that i put a head gasket on and changed out the tranny and a few other minor things and I rebuilt the izusu motor in my LUV but other than that I havent worked on any imports. I will probably be on here a lot during this process. I just took the intake and valve covers off. The bolts wernt even tight on the valve covers. There is white gunk (water) all in there. not good. How much do you guys usually see the head gasket kit for? Plus bolts. I priced them at autozone, kragen and rebies and they ran from 150-350 i almost shit my pants. Thanks again for the help.

Ok I have it all torn apart except the head. For the head bolts is there a certain socket I need? None of mine will fit down in there. Also what about the cams. How do they come out? I took the timing belt off (the hard way) not thinking about trying to take off the cam gear. Does it hurt the motor to turn one cam and not the other? First time I have worked on a DOHC motor. Have I got in over my head? Well im there now so i ask for your help. Also in the middle of the head there are allen style bolts i have the wrench for them but what are they? Thanks again guys for helpin me out. I cant wait to get this thing on the road. I have never even got to drive it yet.

Just damaged valve cover gaskets. Mine has the same problem. As for the missing, try changing the plugs while you're changing the gaskets. Worked for me! (Should be $20 for the gaskets, $15 for the plugs, just about) Note, a mechanic should be able to do this for $120, parts included.

I already have it stripped down to the head. I might as well just replace the head gasket. and everything else lol.

Allen bolts
 

The allen bolts Are your head bolts, they are 10mm so you will need a 10mm 3/8 drive and maybe two short extentions or one at least 6" to go with the torque wrench. The procedures for taking the head off can be found here.
http://groundsky.co.nz/techinfo/TSRM/03_EM.pdf
page EM-32.
I re-torqued my head bolts last week and had to hook my battery back up and crank the engine a couple of times because the cams were interfering with some of the bolts.
The 7M engines are supposed to be non interfering engines so turning one cam at a time shouldn't be a problem.

I cant open that. I got the haynes manual. But i didnt see any specific instructions for taking them off. I have the allen wrench but what about the bolts down below the cams. I think they are holding the cams to the head. Do i need to take those off? Not the caps.

Hah! i just did that 2 months ago, have all the parts it took! You in the bay? 1 crtitcal thing you need to to do is.......replace every hose you take off, it wont even cost that much, and it good you good piece of mind. I didnt do this and now, 2 months later i've replace about 6 coolant lines that have decided to leak or blow. *head is very very heavy*(theres also a coolant line right in the rear of the exhaust side, hard to spot specially if your eager to get it off). To loosen the timing belt, theres a pully below centered between the gears, 14mm will kill it nicely.

the cams can come off with the head just loosen the timing belt

here is a basic "how to "

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/S.../1636/bhg.html

you shouldn't have any problems just keep track of every part

plan on a few hundred bucks to have the head looked at to be sure it's square and not warped

on the very rear of the head there are little tiny plastic dots they are indicators of severe heat
severe heat would cause warp

Thanks guys you have been a big help. I cant get the head bolts loose and I am afraid I will strip out the head of the bolts. Is there a trick? Do all the lines have names? lol. They seem to be specific angles and everything.

It takes a lot of muscle to get them out. You wont strip them. Just use the 10mm hex head and make sure its in there good and start loosening. You'll be tired by the 5th or 6th one. By the 3rd one I was dripping sweat. But thats only because i didnt have a breaker bar. And use craftsman tools to get them out so if u mess it up u can take it back and get another one. I broke the ratcheting mechanism on one trying to get them off.

Ok the hex bolts on the top of the head in the middle right? I only saw like 4. This car is confusing the crap out of me.

They are all over the place. Lol. Just run a flashlight by the cams on the inside part of both cams. You'll need to rotate the cams to get to 1 on each side. Just take an adjustable wrench and look for the part that is squared off a little and turn it a bit.

Ok im confused. This is what im talking about.


http://i3.tinypic.com/11axwro.jpg

Yes those are the head bolts im talking about. And no the big hex ones arent head bolts.

Can't open link?
 

Install adobe acrobat reader on your puter and then you can open the earlier link.

There are 14 head bolts with the 10mm hex holes. The larger aluminum ones, (4) hold the plate for the spark plug boots, the others in the head go into the water jackets, leave them alone. You can take off the ones that hold the spark plug boots, I think they are 12 mm, but it isn't necessary to remove them, but cleaning under them is easier. Just get a good 1/2 in breaker bar, about a 6 inch 1/2" extension and the I use hardened reducer to 3/8" and then the 10mm allen socket. They are on at least 55 to 60 lbs of torque. And like was mentioned earlier, make sure the inside of the head bolt is clean so you can fit the allen socket all the way in the bolt.

Let us know how it goes.

Russ

No wonder I couldnt get them off. Anyway I couldnt tell that the head bolts were allen heads I was trying to fit a socket down in there. haha. Wondering why it wouldnt fit. Talking about torque one time i helped my friend put some race heads on his 71 Dart and they had to be torqued to 180 pounds. That was fun lol.

Updated!
 

Well I got the head off today and torn apart except the valves. How often do these things crack or warp heads?