Well he did say that he's seen worse on 7m's and was able to clean them up by using a 1/2 quart of ATF. I cleaned mine up a little today (with a rag), removed the excess gunk and it looks a lot better. I'll use some ATF like he suggested and see what happens. I'd rather do that than pull it off. I'd say around $250 or more to do a head depending on what shop. My friend had his 87 4runner 4cyl head cleaned, pressure checked, resurfaced, and new gasket set for $220.

 

I think those methods should clean up the problem a little. I think I can get the head un-assembled, resurfaced, and assembled for about $225 here. What gaskets should be replaced? Also what about the valve stem seals?

 

I'm not sure about valve stem seals, but I know you can get a complete 1jz gasket set from a guy on supraforums for $138 something like that.

 

I'm pulling the valve covers off mine tomorrow as I suspect there is sludge under there...there was some on the oil cap. Hoping its not nasty under there...

 

A lot of 1JZ's (especially the older models) will have a bit of sludge on the rocker covers and what not as the rocker cover seals are most likely the originals that were brought out with the engine. Simple and cheap fix (new gaskets, some sealant and patience. Since the motor's out you might as well pull it down to check if there are any other problems.

 

Thats good to hear because mine is coming in from jhot.
Also i could have sworn the old V8 chevy guys have some tricks to clean that up without disasebely.
sea foam? or magic mineral oil or some product that can clean that up if you put it throught the system? ill start doing some reasearch.

 

update - so I pulled everything off and I found quite a bit of sludge on the rocker covers, a tad bit of rust on the cams. I also found that behind the throttle plate, there was sludge there as well. I have not inspected the turbos, I haven't really had much time to go through everything on the motor either as I work all the time. Been trying to save money here and there to throw at the motor, but I want to have it done in the spring time.

Where can I buy new valve cover gaskets / rocker cover seals..or even an entire top end gasket set for the 1JZ? I read that most gaskets from the 2JZ wont work on the 1JZ.. is this true? I'm tempted to just pull the head from the 1JZ, have it hot tanked, and bolt it to my GE block and just do a 1.5jz instead..if the bottom end looks as filthy as the top. Lemme know about the gaskets..

thanks in advance

 

You can order complete 1jz gaskets from supraforums.com (champion toyota I think) some you can get individually. The 2jz valve cover gasket will work with a little modification.

 

Wow man I just saw this, I know you said you had a 1J waiting to go in when I talked to you on ARI but I didn't realize this was it till I got to the end. You definetly have a cleaning in your future but one thing to be super careful of is the fast that once you start cleaning you are going to break all this stuff loose. Once this stuff is floating around it gets everywhere, I would make sure they check all the passages for loosened grime and crud. I have had this with a chevy 350 before and an old mechanic told me after I started that its almost better to leave it where it is unless you are really really going to clean it, its been there for years and not moved. I am just glad the one I just got didn't look that bad. I do have the complete head from the one I bought if you turn out to need one (I just needed the block). Its not like new but its nowhere near as dirty as yours.

 

Well, I was able to clean some of it up, especially the valve covers. As we were hoisting the engine up I decided to remove the oil pan to check under there. It looked pretty clean from what I could see. I was also thinking of using Seafoam to clean it up.