Erik Beeman

Ok first off, let me tell you that I know there are a million threads on this, but I have a specific question. I am also not a dumbass, I am just a little confused.


I have a 88 and a 92. I've gone thru 2 head gaskets on the 88, so I know what and how the truck acts when it's got an owwie. But, my problem is with the 92. I think it's got blown head gasket, but I don't know for sure, because some of the signs are telling me yes, but others are telling me no. On my 88, both times it went pooey, it was poor on power, more so the second time tho. Also, both times it smoked quite a bit from the exhaust (the steam). It drank thru the coolant like a dehydrated poor man, but biggg time the second time. It would also idle really rough, you could totally tell that the combustion wasn't smooth. The first time it blew, the oil was mixed with water, it was nasty. But, the second time it blew, the oil was OK. Lastly, it smelled like coolant even while driving. Now, my deal is the 92. The signs I had with the 88 are split with the 92. The 92 smells like coolant when running, but only when it's sitting at a stop light or whatever. I also takes a minutes to build up, it's not instant. The coolant also dissapears just so randomly, but very slowly. I have brand new cooling system all around, and there ARE NO LEAKS (new pump, radiatior, lines, and coolant). It also idles a little rough, but nothing like my 88 did. Now, the part that stumps me, is that the oil was very clean, and was not contaminated with water, and the thing also runs very well, has just as much power as it always has had. It doesn't overheat, and it doesn't smoke and/or spray water from the exhaust.


IS THERE ANY FOR SURE WAY TO TEST FOR A BLOWN HEAD GASKET? I do not have a leak down tester. I have the new head gasket and al the parts to do the job, and I have gotten it down to a 5 hour job, but I don't really want to do it unless I really need to, you know?

JonnyBoy

My '90 was acting a lil like yours, generally ran ok, but not perfect. Unfortunately, I found out because it was leaking enough coolant into the cylinder to hydrolock it one day when I tried to start it. The oil was still clean, though it would've gotten coolant into it eventually, when I checked it for a couple days.

The way I knew what cylinder it blew at was to simply pull all the plugs, look at 'em, and shine a light into the cylinder and look for green. Mine blew on the #1 cylinder, by the way.

Hope that helps, sorry it's not more definitive.

Erik Beeman

Both time my 88 blew, it was the #3 cylinder. My guess is that the first time it went, it was pretty mild, and I know for a fact the the second time it went it was all bad. I have a feeling that the 92 IS blown, but it's very mild. Like I said, I already have the stuff to fix it, and I can get it done tomorrow morning, but it's a boring job and I don't wanna tear into it if I don't gotta. You know how that is

Kiroshu

Is your 92 a 22re or 3VZ-E? Have you looked at the plugs they would tell you for coolant burning. If its burning coolant then i would imgine it would throw a check engine light from faulty o2 readings. Is it miss firing? if so on what cyls? if its only one or 2 track them down. take off each plug and see if the engine runs differently with that plug wire off. if so then that cyls hitting if not then its missing. and the requires compression test. a compression test would tell you if it had a blown head gasket or something more wrong, like a valve stuck open or burnt. If its consuming coolant and its got nothing to do with the head gasket then check your coolant lines going under the throttle body they may be leaking i had the same prob on a 3.0 comsuming coolant and i could not fine it for the longest time then i saw it just bearly spraying out a hose going to the lower throttle body. and it was not dripping on the floor because it was evaporating on the engine before it could. investigate further man. find the missing cyls, get compressions for them all, check for trouble codes.

Erik Beeman

Sorry for the informtion brain fart. It's a 92 22RE. I am doing a compression test as we speak, I will have reading up in a few minutes.

Erik Beeman

PSI is as follow:

1- 200PSI
2- 195PSI
3- 198PSI
4- 198PSI

All 4 plugs look in very good condition, and there is no signs of water in any of the cylinders. This may be a good sign.

CyMoN

my 86 has a leak on the exhaust side that is not made its way to crossing the coolant and oil but it is burning coolant.

your compression numbers are good,I would double check all the coolant system fittings.

advance auto rents out a coolant pressure tester that might help.

are you over heating?

Erik Beeman

No, I am not over heating, but it is loosing coolant very slowly, which just started. I replaced the whole cooling system like I mentioned, and it ran cool and nice for a week or so (hard driving, lots of miles). Then all of a sudden it started running hotter than normal, so I checked the coolant and it was real low. I refilled it, and it's making it's way to being gone again. There is no leaks that I can see, I've pressure washed the whole engine so I could see a leak, and I find nothing anywhere. Which is what is making me think it's a head gasket (burning it)

toyota4x4907

did you check the rear of the engine? I know there is a plate of some sorts that often times leaks and is very over looked.

Lumpy

I would gather to bet that it's leaking into the cylinder/cylinders on the exhaust side, under pressure only. After it heats up and builds pressure it is leaking and burning. That is how mine started and kept getting worse and worse. Mine was in No.3 when it went. I'm sure your will start blowing white in the mornings soon. Get it done quick.

Erik Beeman

I don't know. I'm going to drive the thing until it blows it I guess. I don't want to spend the time fixing something that isn't broke. I was doing donuts it it last night, the thing gets driven hard. This is my little race truck, so if it's going to go, it'll happen sooner or later.

http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i8...rent=002-2.flv

tc

Have you replaced the heater core?

Several things to consider:
- a compression test won't necessarily diagnose a bad head gasket. As long as the hg is good right around the cylinder, it will show ok
- x2 on the coolant system pressure test
- Toyota cooling systems seem notorious for trapping air. The low level you saw may not be a leak at all, just burping the air out

TNRabbit

The only TRUE way to diagnose a HG problem is a leak-down test.

You can get failures between water jacket & oil jacket, between water & combustion chamber, between oil jacket & combustion chamber, etc. Each represents a different symptom.

Erik Beeman

Oh , this bad boy is GONE! :smirk:

I just drove it 2 miles home from lunch with this girl I took out. It looked like I was driving a steam powered truck, pretty embarassing! All I can do is smile tho, it's all good. I'll have it fixed tomorrow