milky oil and steam out the pipe but didn't over heat

Well i got this van a couple of months ago in california and put over 8000 miles on it since then. There was a few times early on and a couple more recently that there was a lot of bubbling coming from the coolant reservoir. About a week ago it started running really rough on start up and it didn't matter if it was cold or warm as long as it sat for a bit. Then I started to notice some steam out the tailpipe and once i saw that I checked the oil and its looks just like how i take my coffee. a little bummed considering the van is still new to me but I had a great trip bringing it back home to Pittsburgh and sure it would have been nice if i had a bit longer to enjoy it before having to do any serious repairs but I already know I love this thing and am sort of excited to get to to know the inner workings a lot better. Been digging through the forums as much as I can to glean info from other discussions but figured I'd open another discussion and hope to have a helpful dialogue while taking this on. I replaced the head on my 85 diesel vw golf a while back and a lot of other stuff to keep it running so I figure I'll be up to this too.
Removed the seat and the cover today and loved the layout of my new workspace. Being inside in the back or either door give so many options to relieve a sore back. very different than the posture required for my vw. Got as far as removing the ps pump pulley and I couldn't get the nut to loosen up so figured I'd stop for the day and hit the books.
The van never over heated once so hopefully the head isn't in too bad of shape. Gonna call the dealership tomorrow to line up the valve grind kit and start looking around for a decent machine shop too.
Thanks, Niko.

Hi & welcome to the site! In case you haven't already found it, here's a link to an article on the subject: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/c...ng-Head-Gasket. I've linked lots of other threads/information to that article so it should be very helpful. If you get a chance snap some pics and post them here. Everybody loves van porn :). Tim

took me around 7 hrs over 3 days to get the head off. tried my best to label stuff,take pictures and keep noted as I was going along. Most wire connecters fell apart as soon as i started to mess with them. no exhaust studs broke but one is loose. broke the vent hose on the top/back of the valve cover and split a few water and vacuum hoses. all and all not that bad.
the gasket tore when I was pull the head off so not sure if was already damaged before removing it. obviously cylinder 4 was getting all the coolant. What do you all think from the pics?
just hope I can get it all back together right once I get it back from the machine shop.

Thanks, Niko.

In your 1st picture, lower left corner, that looks like the spot to me. #4 definitely had a breach as the piston got steam cleaned by hot coolant vapor (this is typically the case with blown head gaskets). Tim

Im glad you are repairing the van here and posting pictures in the process.

Love the way a freshly steam cleaned cylinder looks lol. Sorry to hear about the headgasket, but it happens to every van owner at least once in their lives. Whether you fix it or move on is what separates us. Glad you're going to work on it.

I have been lucky then 5 vans over 23 Years and never had a BHG. Back in 2001, I overheated 1 time where the alternator seized and snapped the fan belt. The van had 230,000 miles(87 2WD LE fully equipped). The engine temp went into the red in under a minute. I puled over and off the freeway in 2 minutes maybe less.

I just replaced the alternator and belt and changed coolant. Drove van for another 60,000 miles until it was stolen and when it was recovered insurance totalled it and gave me 3600 dolars for it.

I was the original owner and got it with 13 mles on the odometer. Got it November 9th, 1986. 20K out the door

got the head back today. They talked me in to a rebuild for $375. wasn't necessary but figured it was a reasonable price from a reputable shop and i'd like to have the reassurance that it'll be in good shape for a while. also got a bunch of stuff from rock auto (filters, pcv grommet, radiator cap etc.). I most likely wont have time to start trying to put this back together until the end of the month or so. just wanted to give an update and to let you all know that I'm sure i'll be asking a lot of "where does this go?" type questions despite my million pictures.

Also a question i've been meaning to ask, is it ever normal to hear boiling from coming from the overflow reservoir? or is it always a bad sign?
Thanks

The times I've seen the overflow boiling were from blown headgaskets that were over pressurizing the cooling system and blowing everything out of the cap through the res. I could also see it happening the first time up to temp after topping off the system maybe.

Your head gasket had breached between the cooling system & cylinder #4. These kind of breaches are 2 way streets. When the piston is on the intake stroke it sucks coolant into the cylinder. When on the compression stroke it blows cylinder pressure back into the cooling system. When you consider the radiator pressure cap is only rated at around 13psi, and the cylinder creates over 150 psi, it's easy to understand why it would blow bubbles in your overflow tank :wnk:. Tim

but here's the thing, the first time i heard it boiling was 8000 miles ago and on the west coast. its happened inconsistently since then. once I was blowing steam and losing coolant, sure i'd wouldn't be surprised to also hear some bubbling in the reservoir but this happened months before and thousands of miles ago. does this mean the hg was compromised way back then? I drove up the west coast and across the country like that?

I'm just trying to understand so that in the future if I hear bubbles I'll know whether or not it means troubles.
also, I don't think it was ever spilling over just bubbling enough so that you could hear it.
thanks.

Head gasket failures can be funny things. Most I've experienced would "come & go" (at least in the beginning stages). When the head gasket went on my 91 Previa I could hear bubbles gurgling in the heater core under the dash. At times it was bad but other times it wasn't there at all. Every morning when I started it up I could smell coolant in the exhaust & it had a miss. As it warmed up it would usually go away & be fine the rest of the day. Occasionally it would blow bubbles & steam out the recovery tank, but that was rare.

If the previous owner knew there was an issue, he could have put some Bars Leak or similar product in the cooling system (as a temporary repair). These type products actually work but they usually don't last. They also cause problems due to the contaminates they introduced into the cooling system. Typically they work for a while, then fail, then start working again. This is because they "dam" the breach with solids. The material will circulate as liquid then solidify when it contacts air. The seal or dam these solids make is somewhat fragile & will only last a limited time. When the dam breaks a new one begins to form. Depending on several variables the dam may last a long time or may not form at all. Of course the down side is contamination of your cooling system. This contamination can cause your radiator passages to clog & can make your thermostat stick. What did your coolant look like? Was it clean & green or contaminated?

i gave it a flush early on before putting too many miles on it and it was green also replaced the thermostat.The old one was not gummed up at all, it actually was deteriorated so much that it couldn't close.
I remember hearing the bubbles outside of san francisco for the first time and it was when i had pulled off the highway and went straight into traffic. also the temp. gauge was looking fine every time this happened.
I thought of the bars leak scenario.
But the P.O. was such a cool dude, who went out of his way to sell it to a guy from across the country when he had another buyer on the way. I know I know, just what he said. But I'm leaning towards trusting the guy. And I'm not complaining cuz the van is great and I got to have a wonderful trip and some time with it at home before all this.

success!!!! Over all wasn't that bad. I'd say it took me about 20 or so hours. oil is still a tiny bit cloudy so I gotta figure out a way to get every last drop of water out, hopefully without having to drop the pan.any suggestions?
Ran it a couple of times for 10 or 15 mins each. I plan to change the oil again before driving it.
Anyone that is inexperienced at this job and is debating whether or not to do it themselves I'd say go for it. read up on here, follow the manual, take notes, label stuff and take a lot, a lot of pictures and put what # picture it is in your notes to help even more.

Thanks for all the help. I couldn't have done it without this forum.

I'll check in again after putting a few miles on it.

That's awesome! Just change the oil every 100 or so miles until it's clear. I'm guessing one or 2 more changes will do the trick. Until it's clear I'd just put the cheapest stuff in you can find. Glad to hear another van has been saved from the crusher :dance2:. Tim