Break in after Head gasket?

[s383mmber1]

Hey guys!

After i finish the vehicle, should i "break in" the engine? Ive heard peopel saying i should untill a go through a few heat cycles and re-torque. How many mile will that be? 1000?

I only drive about that much in a summer......

Thanks guys and gals!

 

[Big Wang Bandit]

O think its like 500 miles if im not mistaken.

 

[suprapower1221]

I just took my head off my car recently and it had about 500 miles with new headgasket and the studs still had the same tq specs as when i put it on?

 

[Mr.PFloyd]

Will, i tend to lean that there is no such thing as a break in period for the headgasket. Reason i am saying this is that the gasket it self is not a moving part, so breaking it in would not benefit it at all. i don't mean to beat the shit out of it and boost maxed out but like if it doesnt seal the first time, its not gonna seal down the road, ya know what i mean? I would say just drive it like you normally would and you should be fine. after the 500 miles or w/e, check torque specs and then you're good to go!

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

^What he said.^
I've been good so far.

 

[adampecush]

you are wasting your time breaking it in (or attempting to anyway) If it makes you feel better, check/adjust the torque on the head bolts/studs after driving the car a couple of times

 

[trydrew]

Yeah, you just need to check torque values after about 10 heat cycles, just to be sure.

 

[s383mmber1]

10 heat cylce is what? Ten times it warms completly up?

 

[rumptis]

yes one heat cycle is....from cold to warm back to cold.

 

[shaeff]

i put brand new ARP headstuds in when i did the headgasket. after 1000 miles, a few of them were more loose than others. i re-torqued to 90ft lbs, and that should be the last time they need to be re-torqued.

yes, even head studs need to be re-torqued if they're brand new.

-shaeff

 

[Wills7MGTE]

Toyota still pisses me off, they build 1 and 2jz's with bulletproof heads basically but the 7M which wasnt much earlier in design than the 1jz gets a POS HG and setup, TOYOTA MADE A MISTAKE WTF!!!!!!!!!! LOL

 

[rumptis]

7m's were never originally intended to be a turbo engine, the jz's where built from the ground up for this purpose. it's still hard to believe they didn't know the head needed torqued higher. Come on even the N/A have problems.

They should have at least had recalls on them and fixed the problem.

older Ford 3.8's are known for blowing gaskets, I don't know if they had recalls but to get a head gasket kit from them is extremely cheap my guess is they sell them at cost. I replaced one for a guy a year or so ago and was shocked by the price.

Toyota has never done anything to remedy this problem...pretty sad really.

 

[shaeff]

Toyota still pisses me off, they build 1 and 2jz's with bulletproof heads basically but the 7M which wasnt much earlier in design than the 1jz gets a POS HG and setup, TOYOTA MADE A MISTAKE WTF!!!!!!!!!! LOL

at least they learned from their mistakes. besides, how would the majority afford MK3's if they didn't buy them in dilapidated condition?

-shaeff

 

[Tanya]

7m's were never originally intended to be a turbo engine, the jz's where built from the ground up for this purpose. it's still hard to believe they didn't know the head needed torqued higher. Come on even the N/A have problems.

They should have at least had recalls on them and fixed the problem.

True dat yo. The 5M-Es have the same issue I've heard. People seem to keep forgetting that the M series engine has been around since the mid/late 1960s, lol. It originally had 3 carbies and produced a whopping 150hp (from an itsy bitsy 2.0). Of course head designs changed a lot over the years, going from DOHC to SOHC and back again several times, and then changed to 24 valve with the 7M. Given Toyotas durability in almost every other aspect, it is surprising that they didn't realize after the 1st model year of the mk3 that the head torque was too low, but it's really not the end of the world to change a head gasket, especially if you're mechanically inclined