The Series 1 and 2 3S-GTE has been rumored to have a common problem of blowing ring lands and melting pistons in the #3, #4 and sometimes #2 cylinders(#3 being the most common). For years, the common prescribed treatment has been to add a Dual Feed Fuel Rail, Supra Fuel Pump, and Supra 550cc Injectors. Still, even motors with these fuel mods have been seen to blow the same cylinders. A new "rumor" to spring up is that this is due to uneven air distribution by the intake manifold, feeding too much air to #3, thus causing a hotter cylinder.

After looking at evidence from blown engines, there is also a good chance that the heat build up is caused by boiling of coolant in the exhaust side of the head.

This page contains a collection of pictures of 3S-GTE Headgaskets from different manufacturers, and info about the 3S-GTE coolant system. Looking at the coolant passages in the headgaskets, there are some interesting differences. Especially the HKS Special near the bottom.

We are interested in looking at alternative solutions to cooling the exhaust side of the cylinder heads.

If you have any pictures or info regarding any of these issues, please send me an e-mail at patsignorino@hotmail.com

- TRD 3S-GE

- HKS 3S-GTE

- HKSvsTTE

- HKS Special Stopper Type Head Gasket

- Adds stoppers around the cylinder holes to provide better sealing with higher bearing pressures

- thickness 1.0 - 1.6mm

- price in Yen

- no mention of which type/generation engine but SW20 is specified.

- from Hyper Rev 50

- Gen 2 vs Gen 3, and the mystery of the HKS Special maybe close to be getting solved, it closer in style to a Jspec Gen 3 than the US engine.

- Carboy Magazine Head Intake Coolant Path Restriction Modification :
Here you can see a Series 1 Head that has been modified by plugging up half of the coolant passages on the intake side, thus forcing more coolant through the exhaust side. Note: The example car was a 10 second Series 1 Engine.

Rough Translation from the Magazine

1. Piston damage is the weak link in the 3SGTE engine and they recommend moding the head as shown to prevent damage.

2. It is very important to reduce the gasket hole area by 50% to restrict waterflow thru the holes shown. This leads to better cooling efficiency and reduces the chance of piston damage.

It is also mentioned that the best solution is ditching the Series 1 Head altogether :(

Click here for pics of this mod done on a Series 1 3S-GTE

- Block Coolant Path Pictures