Hi guys, I have a 1997 Toyota 4 runner, 4cyl, manual transmission, with 217k miles. I have a blown head gasket. How do i know its a blown head gasket? I see a super high level on the dip stick telling me coolant is mixing with oil, I see the coolant dripping down the front of my engine, and the coolant is splashing my belts making them squeak. Also i've seen the sweet white some out my tail pipe once when I left it idling a long time.


I never fixed one of these before but there are a lot of how to videos out there. Looks like your just stripping parts out of your car basically until you hit where you need to be.


I am posting because I was wondering what is a good brand head gasket set for my car. After all the only thing worse than fixing a blown head gasket, is having to fix it again because you used bad parts. Also I was wondering how I can get the torque specs for everything... assuming its even necessary to use a torque wrench. Any other tips would be much appreciated as well. Thanks!!