4AGTE Head Gasket

[Cuzzo]

Hi,

I need some advice on what to do with my 4agte as it still leaks oil from between the head and block on the oil feed side.

Heres the story so far:

Purchased motor with O-rings block and NO O-ringed head. I used a copper head gasket for the first 20,000kms of its life. It was leaking slightly but i just lived with it. Originally i was using ARP head BOLTS, IE not the factory head bolts.

Now after i rebuilt the whole car for the last wakefield outing, i sorta run a bit low on time and may have cut a few corners on the way.

I had to split the block and head and on re-assembling i added ARP head studs. However i re-used the copper head gasket from before with VHT sealer on it.

Now driving to wakefield it went fine. Minimal oil leak and there was quite a few spirted runs. Get out on the track the next day and i find oil dripping off my crossmember. I torqued the head down very slightly more, cleaned it up and went out again. Came in and it was still leaking. Cleaned it up and went out again and then the turbo decided not to boost. Come in and it was fucked.

Now....what i need to know is should i piss off the old copper head gasket and get a MLS one. Install it over the orings? Or get a new copper head gasket and use a different sealer on it.

I REALLY do not want to remove the block from the car again. I plan to run up to 25-27psi. Or what ever this turbo will allow me to.

What is your suggestion and why?

[YLD-16L]

MLS head gasket, no o-rings, ARP head studs.


Only because I've seen the above combo working well but yet to see a copper headgasket work well in any application over any period of time, they seem fine for sealing combustion chambers but at best always weep coolant or oil not long after assembly. I'm sure some people have had long term success with them though??


I'd just look at what 30psi_4agte is using for reference and go from there, he has plenty of experience with decent boost and has tried plenty of stuff on the 4A. DX20VT would be another one to look at too.

[KARNAGE]

i had the same problem with my copper head gaskit i changed to a MLS and never had a problem with it.

[oldcorollas]

are you actually using the o-rings with the copper gasket? or just plain copper gasket?

you could look at getting bits done to seal aroudn the oil gallery, as the problem is (usually) there is not enough clamping around it.
how thick is gasket? perhaps you could fit a viton o-ring into it to seal the oil gallery?

edit: do you have any pics of the receiver grooves?

[Talasas]

+1 for MLS head gasket with no O-rings. The factory one is very good, I use one on my 4AGTE, has run like that for over a year with 12 psi boost.

[YLD-16L]

+1 for MLS head gasket with no O-rings. The factory one is very good, I use one on my 4AGTE, has run like that for over a year with 12 psi boost.

Ditto, my factory one is 18+ years old and has happily been holding 14 - 20psi the last ~9 years.

I'm impressed to say the least and would probably just go another factory item next time around, I'm not chasing the fame and fortune associated with 25psi like Cuzzo though .

Biggest saviour no doubt though is the fact I don't let it detonate.

[Cuzzo]

Can i just remove the O-rings or do i have to get them machined out?

[fixeruperer]

on my last block i had the top of them machined off and faced the deck and just ran a genuine gze gasket.

only reason i changed was to get a newer 101 block,

[Cuzzo]

Phuck so that mean the block has to come out.

Will it need to be completly stripped for machining? IE pistons and rods out?

[fixeruperer]

yeh becuase other wise youll have machining filings everywhere.

does your head have receiver grooves ?

[Cuzzo]

no it doesnt

[fixeruperer]

that can cause leakage as you cant tighten the head down on the gasket, but with the grooves in the head it can clamp down better around the orings.

you could pick out the orings and try run a mls gasket. maybe give that a shot as its ya next cheapest option.

ask ya machinist.

[Cuzzo]

Well we'll see what happens. Looks like the phucking motor is coming out ...AGAIN! O well better bolt in that 7agte instead.

[fixeruperer]

ok just re read ya first post.
never use mls gasket with o-rings.
get a new copper gasket (your old one will have o-rings bites in it) and see if you can fit a rubber oring in the copper gasket were that main oil feed is, if you have to make the gasket hole bigger to fit the rubber oring in do so. (ive done this and used lock tite 515 around oil and water gallerys and it worked awesome)

use a good oil/heat resitant o-ring.

[IH8TEC]

ok, why not use a std 4agze headgasket? is there some reason you can't? i have run 23-25psi for over 4yrs on a std genuine toyota 4agze 1.2mm headgaskit, and i have NEVER EVER had headgasket issues, just ran ARP headstuds with it.