ibellue

I've got an 86 pickup with the 22re with about 50k on the rebuilt motor. Well I was driving yesterday I had a significant loss of power when going up a hill. I pulled off at a gas station and my motor died immediately, and I realized I was running pretty warm. I checked my coolant and it was pretty low, so I threw in some water and waited for it to cool down, but once it did it wouldn't stay running with out giving it a lot of gas, and it ran really rough. I eventually drove it about a mile by keeping the rpms up, and when I finally decided to call it quits I noticed white smoke from tail pipe.

I left on the side of the road for the night, and when I came back the next day I tried pulling plug wires and when I got to #3, it didn't change how it was running at all, while it wouldn't even come close to starting with any of the other wires pulled. I hoped to death that it was a bad plug, but I swapped it with no results. I checked on the google and it looks as if it could be my head/headgasket? Can any verify this, or tell me what else it might be? I also have a cracked manifold, but I'm not sure it that would cause these symptoms. Let me know if you guys need anymore info!

Thanks in advance!

okamikai

Do a compression test on the cylinders, it may well prove if your head gasket teory is right, also, could the missing coolant be caused by a leak, if not check if the coolant bottle has overflowed as both the missing coolant and coolant tank overflow are clear signs of head gasket rupture.

Gamefreakgc

Just had this happened to my brother's 4Runner, it turned out he ran it about 400 miles with virtually no coolant. Luckily, the gasket was fine (was a 95 after the recall so better construction quality) and turned out it was a complete blockage in one of the major hoses.

Compression checks can be done for $50 or so at a shop, best to start there. If compression comes back good, check for blockages. Easiest way is when the engine warms up, feel the hoses for temperature. Cold after the thermostat opens means there could be a blockage. Bad compression test means you're out of luck and time to rip that sucker open.

scope103

"White smoke" from the tailpipe is usually coolant being pushed through the system. Was the removed plug "really clean"? I assume the cracked manifold of which you speak is the exhaust manifold, which contains no water, so won't be your problem. While a cracked head could admit coolant into #3, the head is pretty tough so it is most likely a blown head gasket.

No matter what, low compression on that cylinder is call for a tear-down. Might as well get on it.