Hi, I've never used a thread in my life. I have an 03 Camry 2AZFE. It has served us well. Have over 300,000 miles on original engine with no issues. I think I may have a blown head gasket. I will tear it apart. My issue is which tool to use, the Time-Sert or the NS300L. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Hey bud did you ever complete this repair? I hope you went with NS300L....

 

Include me. Both my 02 Camry and 06 Highlander with the 2AZFE engine had stripped head bolts.

 

Hi All,
First time posting with the dreaded stripped head bolt disease. I have a 2002 Camry with 130,000 miles and went through all the symptoms.
Loss of coolant leading to overheating. Coolant gurgleing in heater core. I have read tons of posts but could not the answers to a few questions.

The first question is what did all the guys who put inserts in do about the ugly insulator between block and intake. I looked it up and it is $67.52.
Did any of you reuse the liquid soaked original or go without? Or did all buy a new one.

The second question is about the timing chain and sprockets. My chain looks good but all the sprockets are so sharp you can cut yourself on the tips
of the teeth. I have much roller chain experience and have never come across sprockets like these and reused them. If this is normal for this engine please let me know.
If I don't hear from anybody a new set will be ordered. And if any of you have a NS300L tool to rent or sell I'm interested.

On a side note, this was the worst car repair in my 74 years. If someone offers me another of this type Toyota for free or even give me $1,000 to take it. No Thanks!

 

Suppose if the insulator is undamged and you dry it out it should be OK. Ebay list these much cheaper.

If the sprockets are sharp replace them and the chain plus guides. Rockauto and others has kits.

Read up on any VVTi issues as some years had issues and needed replacement.

There are websites that rent a Toyota Time-Sert kit.

 

Wow....I've been reading through this thread and can only say, well, Wow!

I had a '91 pickup I bought new, with the 6 cylinder and one of the head gaskets let go when the motor had well under 100K on it, IIRC. I was driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles on the I-05 late at night and the truck heated up like crazy. I got to a gas\ station put some water in the radiator and left the cap loose and drove another couple of hundred miles to Santa Monica where I Iived. The local independent mechanic replaced the head gasket and (presumably) torqued down the bolts correctly, at great expense to me, (Driving that truck 200 miles down the interstate with contaminated oil in it seemed not to have affected how the motor ran. It ran for another 5 years until I sold it finally.)

A year later Toyota issued a SB on the problem. I wrote to them describing my experience and they sent me a check to reimburse me my expense.

Two years after that, I got a letter from Toyota asking me to take my truck to a dealer for a repair of the head gasket problem, which I did, and yet another new head gasket was installed! I presume that was Toyota reacting to that original SB.

What is it with Toyota and head bolts??? Now I drive a 2015 Camry hybrid. At 75K it's doing fine. Love the mileage!

 

Used the loose cap radiator method a few times when a radiator cracked or hose blew (lots of electrical tape here).

Surprised Toyota was so generous but then things have changed at the company.

Note sure what was causing the bolt thread failure. Not all of the block thread fail.

 

1. REUSE IT.

Supposedly, the insulator is the reason why that area of the engine block is over heated to the point that it actually weakens the aluminum and results in the finely threaded hole to fail.

YES RE USE IT. Step on the insulator gently and squeeze as much coolant out of it as possible. Hit it with some AWESOME cleaner from the dollar store. Clean it and let it dry. REUSE. I placed a paper towel in between the insulator and engine, to serve as an obvious indicator of any possible leakage, after I completed the repair. No leakage whatsoever.

It should be documented that I drive my 2azfe manual transmission camry, VERY HARD.. Burnouts, aggressive shifting and downshifting, and fast speed. Now check this out.

The coolant reservoir actually loses coolant, a small amount, and I dont think its splashing out the top of res. I thought that maybe when I have the motor in high rpm, that the coolant pump might be circulating coolant too much, to the point where it exits from the top overflow hole of the reservior. BUT I NEVER SEE ANY SPLASHOVER IN THAT AREA. This is a small loss. like 4 or 5 cups per year.

I see no indicators to where it might be going. That being said, the temp gauge has never moved past normal, no gurguling, and she just runs great.

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2. Do what you feel is best and what you can afford. I reused everything except the head bolts, head gasket, and crankshaft oil seal on timing cover. Toyota had these priced lower than autozone, which was strange to me.

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3. There was a gentleman who actually blessed me and let me use his ns kit, free of charge. It consists of a jig that allows perpendicular holes to be drilled into the block. (THE COARSE THREADED INSERTS MUST BE PURCHASED FROM THE ACTUAL COMPANY). He was very helpful and his kindness encouraged me to make this repair happen, right in the front driveway, middle of wintertime, in less than 2 weeks work at my own pace time.

Read my posts, you will find him. Please pay shipping both ways and consider leaving a donation. And make sure the kit is returned.

He even included the head bolt fastener tool. What a guy.

I documented my experience and was supposed to edit and upload a video tutorial on youtube. Never did it though. Just might now. This was some years ago. Maybe a decade? No way. Might be trippin on that one.

SEND IT.