It seems that my head gasket has caved between cylinders 1 & 3. Does anybody have any advice on DIY head gasket replacement for the 2006 GS300 model? I have never done a head gasket replacement, and I do not have the equipment for dropping the engine to work on it, so I would have to work on the engine in the car. Does anybody have any experience with this? Trying to decide whether to scrap my car or if I can fix this myself. This car isn't worth $3000 for a professional to replace the head gasket.

 

Here's what is involved in replacing the HG. Many, many steps and this is with the engine out of the car doing it in place is much harder.

 

My model is a 3.0L V6 engine. would the fact that it's a V6 make it easier or harder than an inline 6?

 

I was thinking 2JZ for some reason sorry. But the general steps are the same. What makes you think your HG is bad? GR engines are not known to have HG issues.

I strongly recommend you don't attempt doing the job with the engine in place. You'll be bending over the car for many hours chances of making mistakes is much higher. It is possible though if you want to attempt it then take your time.

 

The car starts rough, rough idle, misfire codes for cylinders 1 and 3, white smoke from the tailpipe, overheating, there was coolant in the misfiring cylinders when I stuck a boroscope into the spark plug holes, and both of the misfiring cylinders have less than 80psi compression while the other four have 205 psi.

 

Does sounds like a blown HG, or burnt valves. Another possibility is sticky piston rings which over time seize at that point combustion blow-by burns away the ring lands. If possible do a leak down test, compress each cylinder (via tube and compressor) see where it escapes. You can adapt your compression gauge. Leak down definitively tells you were the problem is.

 

careful about starting it up again if there is coolant in the cylinders- always a chance to hydro-lock it and bend or break the rods.

 

Did you confirm theres a breach in the head gasket? Did you atleast remove the spark plug and see if theres coolant inside? You can rent one of those coolant pressurizers that pump air into the coolant. If the system is sealed the pressure wouldnt drop, if the psi drops you should be able to hear or see the leaks, if its head gasket by removing the spark plug you should see coolant spray out. Also another test is to test for carbon inside the coolant, they sell tests that sample the coolant. I would confirm this before trying to tackle a headgasket. The job is a pain in the butt, majority of mechanics will not touch it, they would rather swap the engine instead. Its a lot of labour! Many will say its easier to drop the engine/transmission/subframe/ all as one unit and work on it out side of the car. I think the front timing cover will be a pain to remove in the car. If you do the job, make sure to sillicone that front cover good. More likely you will need to have a machine shop deck the heads. I would call to see how much that would cost, and how much would a head gasket kit costs and factor is it better to fix it or just buy a used engine. I just checked in florida theres a used engine with 50 or 60k miles for under $1,000.00 on www.car-part.com maybe you find something similiar in your area.

Personally I would just swap the engine out. Im all for trying to save money, and fix only whats broken, but whats to confirm if you did the repair that it would be 100%? Imagine spending $150-200 to resurface each head, plus head gasket kit, and other little stuff which adds up. To find out the engine has other issues. What you can do, buy a used low mileage engine, swap it out in a day or two. Tear apart your old engine and sell the parts off of it, this way you get a low mileage engine and you recoup some money back. You never know, you may make money selling small pieces off the engine