Well my 1994 toyota pickup with the 22re popped a pinhole in the cylinder head. It has happened before, but this time I notice a couple more pinholes around the original hole. In the past I just cleaned out the pinhole and filled it with JB weld and reseated it, which is what I'll do this time again in lieu of pulling the head and having it welded. The longest this repair lasts is 1-2years so if it blows again in that period I'm going to replace the cylinder head, these 30$ exhaust manifold gaskets and blowing 15$ in coolant is getting expensive.
It is weird because when the cylinder head pinhole leaks it leaks onto the exhaust manifold gasket which makes it seam that the exhaust manifold gasket is leaking coolant though the real cause is the hole in the head leaking coolant onto the exhaust manifold gasket which kills it in short order. I guess the 22re cylinder head has thin coolant passages and if the coolant is weak the cylinder head is prone to electrolysis.
My question is that I see a used cylinder head locally for 100$ and was curious of the best way to check it. The seller says it was replaced with a "performance" head, which makes me a little nervous because I don't know if you can add any "performance" parts to a car in the PR of california. Is there anything to look out for when buying a used cylinder head? The price of a new/rebuilt head is only like 200-300$ so it might be worth just buying new, but I was curious what the intelligent people here have to say. The used head has been for sale for around a month so I'd bet 75$ would take it.
Thank you folks, I do appreciate it!
