Which Headgasket should I use?

ALWAYS use a genuine Toyota head gasket specifically for the Estima.

There are other gaskets which fit the same engine but have the wrong holes in and are intended for applications which have the water outlet from the other end of the cylinder head, such as the Corolla and Picnic.

There are also people selling gaskets for the Estima which are copies of the wrong gasket.

Don't be misled by a Supplier who says their product is definitely a gasket for an Estima unless it is a genuine Toyota one. These third-party "copy/pattern" gaskets alter the flow of coolant through the engine and are a probable cause of a lot of cracked heads.

To illustrate this point, note the variation in the two gaskets (items circled in red):

GENUINE TOYOTA HEADGASKET

THIRD-PARTY "COPY" HEADGASKET

On the Third-party gasket:

• The end holes (to the left of the picture) on the Copy are closed, as opposed to open on the Toyota gasket

• The four holes are the bottom of the gasket are much larger on the Copy

• The middle holes (sub-highlighted by blue dots) increase in size going from left to right on the Copy - and from right to left on the Toyota gasket.

All of which leads to incorrect coolant flow within the head when using a Third-party Gasket.

It might be possible to tell which gasket is fitted to an engine by looking at the edge of the gasket between the head and the block. If anyone can work out exactly what to look for, please let us know as being able to check the gasket on an Estima you're thinking of buying would be very useful.

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