from Toyota-4Runner.org
It's the same reason there's not reports of blown head gasket's on the FJ cruiser forums. There's a troll here who registers many aliases that is responsible for many of the blown head gasket claims. I'm not saying there hasn't ever been a blown head gasket on a 1gr-fe because if it overheats it certainly can warp the head or something. But the vast majority of the claims here are done by this troll.
A few of his usernames have been banned because he can't control himself. He's got this thing where he thinks the 2uz engine is the best engine ever built and he has to find ways to make the 1gr seem like an inferior engine. He's obviously got some kind of personal issues and uses this board as a way to act out. Here are some of his banned usernames:
Toyota 4Runner Forum - View Profile: eskimochaos
Toyota 4Runner Forum - View Profile: eskim0chaos
Toyota 4Runner Forum - View Profile: PrepareYourAnus
Toyota 4Runner Forum - View Profile: V8 Brah
Toyota 4Runner Forum - View Profile: ClockWork
Toyota 4Runner Forum - View Profile: Lexus LX
Toyota 4Runner Forum - View Profile: 2UZ
Those are just the ones that I remember off hand. There are no doubt more. And, like I said, I'm quite sure he's responsible for the majority of these blown head gasket reports. There's a pattern to most of the reports - they're almost always a poster with just a few posts under they're belt and then there's a head gasket failure. Again, some of them may be legit but I bet this loser is behind most of them.
It's funny that you quoted that from T4R.org, which I read a few months ago. My take on that is that it was posted by some immature fanboy of the 4.0L motor trying to defend his V6 against the other forum members who own the V8. Those crybabies have a V6 vs. V8 thing going on there that I couldn't care less about....
If you look a bit further than that one post, you will find that there are other websites where the head gasket issue is laid out in detail, including pictures of repair invoices from dealers. Also, my local mechanic is the person who told me to be aware of it after I took the vehicle in with a CEL. He has seen it before.
I had a misfire in the number 4 cylinder (it's always 4 or 6) with a rough idle at start up. After replacing the coil and plugs, the CEL and misfire returned late this spring when ambient temps were cool in the morning, maybe causing contracting aluminum heads and allowing coolant to seep through the gasket. After a second CEL and misfire in #4 cylinder, I moved the new coil to another cylinder and reset the CEL, and so far it's been okay. However, since that time, the ambient temps have been much more stable (i.e. warm mornings and warm/hot days), thereby probably resulting in less contraction of the aluminum head. However, I am still very slowly using/losing coolant. It's not leaking from the radiator or water pump, and so it's going somewhere. My guess is that it's slipping past the head gasket and burning up, which is what originally caused the rough idle and misfire at start up.
My mechanic bore scoped the cylinder and pressure tested the cooling system, but he is not yet convinced that the gasket needs to be replaced. I guess I will know for sure when the temperatures start to cool down in the morning.
If you think that I am going through this trouble and aggravation so that I can pose as a V6 fanboy on the T4R website, perhaps you wouldn't mind donating some cash if/when my head gasket needs to be replaced....
By the way, Toyota changed the part number for the 1GR-FE head gasket sometime around 2007. As a result, there is a good chance that the head gasket was redesigned and upgraded. I doubt whether Toyota did this for no good reason. Hopefully, the later 4.0L motors produced with the new gasket won't have this issue.
