Topic: 22RE Head Gasket

[kllangeland]

I've been having trouble with my 22re overheating since last fall and I finally took the head off after trying/checking basically everything I could think of.  There were no break thru's or tears in the gasket but parts of it were just baked.  Even had some bubble up of material in places where it fried.  Also when I pulled the head bolts out the majority of them made a nice suction/slurpy noise & were covered in water/ watery oil.  Any Idea what may have caused this / what happened?  When it started overheating it just happened out of what seemed like nowhere.  The previous owner re-did the head & gasket before he sold it to me and thinks that after a bit of break-in time the head bolts should have been tightened again, but weren't, and that caused the problem.

I plan to get the head looked at & re-surfaced if need be then put it back together with a new gasket. 

Thanks

[toyodaaddict]

my guess is the po took short cuts when doing the head gasket and likely used a crap gasket like a felpro. have the head/block checked to be sure nothing is warped. Use a factory toyota HG and new head bolts. re torqueing the head bolts after letting the gasket break in isnt a bad idea.

[kllangeland [OP]]

Could be, although I know he's built good stuff and done good work. 

Is Felpro really a bad gasket?  That's actually what I have ... it's the only one the local auto shop had.  Cost me $20. 

Also the head bolts were brand new before this (probably have a couple hundred miles on them or something) and show no sign of being stretched or messed up threads.  Still think I need new ones regardless?

[1985CRAWLER]

toyota oem head gaskets are the only way to go on the 22re's,especially 3.0s as well.. some have had luck with other brands but i wouldnt chance it, you only wanna do it once, not make a habit out replacing it.

when i recently did my rebuild the old head and gasket and bolts only had like 1000 miles on them.
i still replaced them, because if you are already in there might as well. its going strong still about a year later with a couple thousand miles on everything.

re-torquing the head bolts usually isnt necessary which is why they are torqued in a pattern. but in your case wouldnt be a bad idea to re do it after lets say 500 miles.