removing head, 3sgte gt4

[Andrew162]

danny I had a full ST205 setup on my RAV4 and I was lucky enough to find it when I did... just not lucky with it's condition. since RAV4's and GT-Four's share the same drivetrain setup, it was a bit of a double-edged sword with putting in a GT-Four engine. It mounted up beautifully with engine mounts and gearbox, but if you ever had to work on it, get ready to rip stuff out, undo the exhaust, crossmembers and engine mounts from the chassis, and drop the bitch right out. it was WAY easier to work on everything with the engine completely out of the bay, albeit the gearbox came for the ride too. that's a big disadvantage with the GT-Four... if anything happens in the guts of the engine, it's ALL gotta come out.

[danny2]

went to see my trusted engine rebuild shop today and i was told that bhg is very common with these engines and to leave the car overnight and crank it over with the plugs out and some cardboard over the holes to see if there is any water in the cylinders.. told me number 1 or 4 are likely to go because of the water galleries corroding.. also he sai d that i was better off leaving the engine in when i take the head off.. quite a contrast to you guys, i doubt he has done it before lately..

i was also wondering how you would retension the head as you have to pull the cams off to get the the head bolts

also thinking about the possibility of putting in a gen 3, but from what iv'e read wiring is quite a lot different to gen 2.. anyone done this before ??

[Andrew162]

you don't retension the head bolts on this engine. do it once to the required spec and then leave it. people will say that you have to retension them after a rebuild, but if you have decent stuff in there like ARP or similar, you won't need to worry about it. this has been mentioned on a few other threads as well.

not 100% sure on the wiring between gen's 2 & 3.

[Jorrs]

thats true ^ if you do it right you wont need to retension them, i had my HG and head done on my old 3sgte, didnt require a retension and was fine.
i found when mine was done, i bought a VRS kit from toyota, and a stainless steel HG for it and it loved it ! also its best to remove it all at once take the head out and get it machined.. just while your at it, its a Kent doing it all, the 3sgte is such a jam packed motor.
thats one thing i dont miss about them, is how much of a PITA they are.

[ToDa30/4]

went to see my trusted engine rebuild shop today and i was told that bhg is very common with these engines and to leave the car overnight and crank it over with the plugs out and some cardboard over the holes to see if there is any water in the cylinders.. told me number 1 or 4 are likely to go because of the water galleries corroding.. also he sai d that i was better off leaving the engine in when i take the head off.. quite a contrast to you guys, i doubt he has done it before lately..

i was also wondering how you would retension the head as you have to pull the cams off to get the the head bolts

also thinking about the possibility of putting in a gen 3, but from what iv'e read wiring is quite a lot different to gen 2.. anyone done this before ??

danny drop it out to work on it if needed ,most of the answers you seek are in the GT4 thread m8 . you have some very learned GT4 folks in the ACT that use the forum .they could give you advice on the spot if u ask nice

[tooch]

Actually, I'm gonna disagree with you guys sorry, but it's highly recommended that ARP bolts are retensioned after a couple thousand km's. I cant remember exactly why, but I've read from many sources that you should do it.

As for removing the cams, I'm fairly certain you can get to the Gen 2 3S's head bolts without removing the cams, as long as your hex driver thing is low profile enough to fit. From memory (a little fuzzy ), there is a 'notch' on the cams to allow you to get to a couple of the bolts.

[EldarO]

I read your other thread and all I can say is I certainly wouldn't rush into removing the head right away - as said they'd be ridiculously hard to do with the engine in the bay, the lean the motor is on doesn't assist either. Get a TK test done to see if your HG is gone

If it comes to having to do the head gasket, pulling the lot out isn't overly hard, make sure you drain the diff oil as well as the gearbox oil else you'll get a nice surprise when you pull the tailshaft out if it's all coming out just a tip that the gearboxes in these are real fucking big and heavy, there was 5 people once all helping out when we refitted one to the engine

TK tests are poo

if you fail, you have BHG
if you pass, you may still have BHG.

mine passed 5 different testings (by 3 different mechanics) and the HG turned out to be leaking in 11 places.

Elmo.

[Jorrs]

Actually, I'm gonna disagree with you guys sorry, but it's highly recommended that ARP bolts are retensioned after a couple thousand km's. I cant remember exactly why, but I've read from many sources that you should do it.

As for removing the cams, I'm fairly certain you can get to the Gen 2 3S's head bolts without removing the cams, as long as your hex driver thing is low profile enough to fit. From memory (a little fuzzy ), there is a 'notch' on the cams to allow you to get to a couple of the bolts.

i only had the standard head bolts ?
do you no if that applys to all bolts or just ARP ?

[GriZZly]

Is a TK test the same as a CO2 test? thats what confirmed my BHG..

ARP recommends "retentioning where necessary", no idea what toyota recommends for stock bolts.

Also i took my head off 3 weeks ago, theres no need to take the cams out while the head is on the block you can access all the bolts with cams still in..

As tooch said the intake manifold supports can be a pain in the ass but fortuneately theres only 2 with 1 bolt each ratchet spanner would help out alot there..

Timing belt took 3 hours or so to come off..

Havent put it all back on yet so cant help you there.. will keep you posted if want, wont be going on for another 10 days or so though..

[Squid]

danny - pm me and I'll see if I can help, I don't know it all, by any means, but I have pulled out a couple of motors...

[ToDa30/4]

Tooch ,id like to see the threads regarding head bolts ,Miltons said my ARP studs did not need re tensioning on the 3s gte when i had the big rebuild , followed by worry . squid all rep to u for helpen out

[GriZZly]

toda i can email you a pic of the instructions.. basically just says retighten where necessary..

guess it cant hurt to take off the cam cover to check..