Hi all, I am new to this forum.....I just bought a used 2002 Camry (4 cylinder) with a blown head gasket (got a really good deal).....I have been googling around & have seen a few blogs about loose head bolts. Is it possible that the head gasket has blown without loose head bolts ?

Any idea what causes this to happen ?

I also saw a discussion about doing a heliocoil to fix the problem.

Any info or insights, references, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks !

Brian

 

I too, have a blown gasket, it was fun removing the intake and the coolant saturated foam,to even see where it was leaking, sure enough all wet around #3 @ the headgasket (coolant), I am soooo hoping that the headbolts are fine, the last thing I want to do is drill,tap and helicoil the head.
Its bad enough I have to remove the timing chain, fun fun fun.

FYI if your doing this job yourself I can email the R/R instructions, if not lmk how much it costs.

I'll post what I find on mine, should have the head off Monday.

mine is a 03 w/115K

Thanks,

 

In addition to Helicoil check out Timeserts.

 

confirmed 2 of the 10 head bolts are stripped, 2 bolts the intake side right where it was leaking coolant, rest are tight.

i'll be ordering this tonight to fix the holes
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/hel1130.html
plus the headset and bolts. it'll set me back about $500, guess its good I can fix it myself.

 

Much cheaper then a new block plus the labor of replacing it.

Apparently pulled bolts on these engines are not uncommon.

Please post back on your experience as others have this issue. Toyota's fix to dates is to replace the block, yak.

 

toyomoho, first of all thank you for your insite here.

I am doing this without removing the timing cover itself( I did remove the 3 bolts holding it to the head), I will unbolt the head (once parts arrive) and pull it straight up, this will be ok right, I'll use fipg(rtv) to seal it when going back on.

all in all I have 4 hours in it total and I just have to get out the head bolts and take it off, probally about 10 or so by the time i'm done.

whats book pay for r/r head? 9 hours?

I ordered the coolling system pressure tester for the car (special 9.5mm one)so I can check it when complete.

parts and heli coil kit eta 3 days.

I take it toyota has no TSB on this or acknowlages this is a problem?

 

Thought Toyota listed around 8 hours for a head gasket on the older 5S-FE.

Someone who worked at a dealer implied this was a worse problem then has been advertised. It is showing up more frequently on auto websites.

This appears to be is a design defect, supprised Toyota is not responding with at least a fix. Have not seen any TSB on this subject.

I have responded to a least treads on this problem, thus the problem is now showing up more.

See link below for some info:

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Arti...e_engines.aspx

Read the one below from Toyotanation.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh....php?p=2570388

RTV should be fine to seal the timing cover, the cover is just to keep water and debris out.

 

well I got 9 of the 10 out using a 10mm allen,most intake ones were loose, all exhaust ones very very tight,the one under the #2 camshaft bearing I couldn't get to, my socketwasn't deep enough, so I got Autozone 12mm 12 point spline, it kept slipping as if rounded, I tapped on it with a hammer and finally got a good grip, then my 3" extension broke, got impact extension, now my Autozone socket broke, I feel that if I can get a good strong quality 12mm 12 point I can get it out, since the reason I lost grip was a weak (autozone) socket.

any idea where I can get a good one, my google skills my be broken I can find one, preferebly an impact quality, the lasy this I want to do is drill it out. Me, drills and presision don't seem to mix.

 

http://www.usatoolwarehouse.com/usat...PC-11124S.html

found one! 12 point impact grey pnematic, $30 shipped 2 day air. lot better than drilling , I am sooooooooooo hoping this works.

Like I said before the only reason I slipped is the socket broke, I had a good grip.

 

Sears has tools, suggest a 1/2 inch drive impact socket.

Worst case they sell a set of sockets that can be driven onto various size bolt heads. The sockets have teeth to grip the head for removal.