2002 Camry 4 cylinder blown head gasket

Hi,



I just bought a 2002 Camry LE with 110K miles on it. The head gasket is blown.....is there a problem with the head bolts in these cars ? I have seen some blogs about loose head bolts & blown head gaskets.



The previous owner is an older gentleman who drove it for a while after the gasket blew, but the engine still runs.



Are there any references to other threads on this topic ? Just wanted to start familiarizing myself before I get to work.



Thanks in advance,



Brian (new member)

Reply 1 : 2002 Camry 4 cylinder blown head gasket

The threads in the block can fail the result is loose bolts.



If this is the problem Toyota's answer is a new block. There may be third party methods to repair the treads such as Time-Sert thread inserts. See link below:



http://www.timesert.com/html/toyota.html

Reply 2 : 2002 Camry 4 cylinder blown head gasket

Search...

Reply 3 : 2002 Camry 4 cylinder blown head gasket

Thanks for the reply....what is the best way to identify the loose bolts ? Take off the valve cover & attempt to re-torque them ?

Reply 4 : 2002 Camry 4 cylinder blown head gasket

Well,



When you pull the head to fix the blown gasket, the "loose" bolts just might be the problem....

Reply 5 : 2002 Camry 4 cylinder blown head gasket

I am having a problem with 2003 Solara 125,000 miles, 4 Head bolts supposedly damaged the threads because of overheating (according to the dealership). They do not want to repair, want me to buy used (31,000 miles) engine. Total bill of 5900.00

Car never gave check engine light or stranded me on the highway due to overheating! I am not happy.

Teenarose