MWBOB

My '88 22R p/u has 96,000 miles and runs fine, but smokes a lot in stop and go traffic with extended idling. The smoke clears up once it is running on the road. I suspect valve stem seals. It is using a quart of oil about every 700 miles or so. I have checked for leaks and replaced the valve cover gasket. It never leaves even a drop of oil on the driveway.
Is it typical to lose that much oil just from leaking seals? The engine has never had problems and has never been abused. I can't imagine ring/piston problems with less than 100,000 miles, but I'm not familiar with the this engine.
Can the seals be replaced without removing the head? If I do have to remove the head should I check into a rebuilt head or maybe have this one rebuilt?
Thanks

yayfortrees

It's hard to say what's allowing the oil to get past and burn. If you want to diagnose it first, you could start with a compression and leakdown test. That might help rule out the rings.

IMHO, with a quart of oil every 700 miles, my bet is that it is a combination of everything: rings, valves, guides, seals, etc. Personally, I hate just rebuilding the head, or just rebuilding the bottom end (which is rare). This is kind of like doing half the job you needed to, and it's asking for problems down the road. If a bottom end is worn, or even starting to get worn out, and you throw a rebuilt head on top of it, now it is dealing with higher compression because the valves are sealing close to 100% again. This puts extra stress on the bottom end components, and can cause them to go ahead and fail sooner.

However, if you are looking to do only the minimum, i.e. valve seals, you do have to pull the head. As far as going with a rebuilt head or having it rebuilt, I would shop around and see what you can find. I've seen some pretty good deals on E-bay. As long as they have a good feedback rating, I would feel comfortable with them. They probably do nothing but rebuild heads all day long, so they are probably good at it.

The only other issue I can think of is if you have it rebuilt, you know it's the right head for the motor, no question. If you purchase a rebuilt head, you don't know where it came from, or what it went through before being rebuilt. I would say this is a minor issue though.

I would start with the diagnosis before anything though. Hope this helped a little.

MWBOB

yayfortrees- Yeah, I figured I'd have some tests run on the engine if I couldn't replace the seals w/o pulling the head. We have a shop here in Waxahachie that's been specializing in Toyotas for two generations. I'll let them have it.
I would be disappointed if I had ring or valve issues with less than 100k, though.
Thanks for the advice!

yayfortrees

I would be disappointed too, but it all depends on what it's gone through. Are you the only owner? If you got it used, who knows what the PO did. Some people don't think changing the oil is important. I hate getting vehicles after people like that.

Good luck!

MWBOB

Actually, it's my mother's truck and I've pretty much kept it maintained since it was new. The oil was mostly changed due to age rather than miles as it was never driven that much. The thing looked brand new for 15 years! I think that a lot of the problem was it sitting idle for long periods.

snobdds

If it sat for long periods of time, the rubber seals dry out...I bet it's your valve seals as well.

I would just pull the head, put in new seals, new head gasket, and timing set/water pump and call it good for another 100K miles. Your at the point to do the timing chain anyways, so might as well freshen it up a bit.

Oh yea, you do have to pull the head to put in new valve seals.

MWBOB

Snobdds- Wow, I planned on changing out the water pump, but I figured the timing chain would be good for 150-200K. What do you think about having a valve job done on it? If I'm going to replace the chain and pump it might be worth it to go ahead and do the valves, too.

snobdds

On the 22RE, the timing chain is recommend to change every 90K to 100K miles. If your doing everything else, might as well do the valves and get the head checked out. These engines are really simple to work on. Call up Ted at engblder or visit his website and get your parts there, they have good prices and good parts. The only thing I would recommed is to get your Head Gasket from the Dealer. Toyota OEM Head Gaskets are the best.

MWBOB

Snobdds- Thanks for the advice and the info.

SloPoke

Leaking valve seals cause smoke at start up as the oil on the top of the head will run down the valve stems and enter the combustion chamber. Bad rings will cause smoke in stop and go driving as well as when shifting.