Originally Posted by budhayes3

Hey brother, I'm an ex-Toyota Master Diagnostic Technician...do you have the 6cyl or the 4cyl? (can't remember if they offered the 4 cyl that year). I'm going to assume that you have the 3.4 6cyl and the gasket(s) are leaking externally either in the right rear or left front...this is where they used to leak and we had a recall in reference to this. I would recommend using factory Toyota gaskets, just because we had such problems with them before they were redesigned. Toyota allowed us to reuse the bolts, but we had to put a paint mark on the bolts at 12:00 IIRC, (after torquing them to a spec that I can't remember), then turn them 90* in sequence, then another 90*, and make sure that the paint mark was at 6:00 after they were all torqued, and if not, replace the bolt. Honestly, I never had to replace any bolts, even though some would be tight and hard to turn while others went so easily that I could turn them with one hand.

If you google "Toyota 3.4 Head Gasket SSC" (SSC= Special Service Campaign), you'll probably find all of the info that you need. If not, hit me up in a pm and I'll make some calls and see if I can find some info for you. I currently work for Lexus, but am home from work with a hernia so I don't really have access to our data base right now.

FWIW, we had recalls (or SSC's as Toyota/Lexus prefers to call them) on both our 3.0 V6 head gaskets (which leaked internally), and our 3.4 V6's, which leaked externally where I described before.

It's very important that you get both the head and block surfaces completely clean and flat, and check them with a straight edge and feeler gauge (unless you just want to wing it, which is what I did when I was doing two of these a day on flat rate). 3M makes a plastic yellow bristle type of surface cleaner that adapts to your die grinder, but if you use this, as gentle as it is, be sure to keep moving with it as it will cut into the soft aluminum head. Toyota actually told us not to use pneumatic tools to clean the surfaces and wanted us to use brakleen and sand paper only...but it's hard to make time on the job doing it that way

If you check with the dealer, there may be a possibility that the SSC was not yet performed on your 4Runner...it may be too late, but it worth a shot just to check

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by MARK3406E

Thank you very much for all the info. Sorry to hear about the injury, I remember you had a bad one awhile back to I believe.

I know the little yellow things your talking about. I will use that and Toyota gaskets.

One more question, What is that grey looking wierd sealant they use? Do you recommend I get it or just use normal silicone? Thanks again.