Camus

So I'm either at the homestretch or more likely: an exciting new beginning.

Couple weeks ago truck started belching a nice white cloud of coolant. A couple days before this happened, the engine would occasionally stutter at idle and kinda-sorta threaten to die, I assumed it was related, but am not sure.

So I bought a gasket set from engnbldr and took the head in to a machine shop. The gasket was trashed and the machinist caught at least one low spot with the naked eye.

I used the 1993 FSM and the occasional question to the shop mechanic at my work to go through the process, slow and steady.

Today I got everything back together and the engine is fine, but I'm getting whitesmoke out my tailpipe again. This time I'm not as sure if it's coolant as it smells more crappy and burnt (lungs hurt slightly and I didn't get that close). In either case, I'm not getting the massive plume I had been before, but after running it maybe 1-2min, it wasn't stopping.

So I assuming I will have to repeat the process over again, but I'm just wondering where I screwed up or maybe what I should do differently. Any sticking points that might suggest this problem? I consulted a few older threads from the forum as well, especially the big 7 page one.

Anyway, I'm lost for answers, any advice would be appreciated.

I'm hoping the smoke is simply from the degreaser I was using inside all the parts, but I know that isn't very realistic.

randito

I wouldn't take the head off just yet. You could always take it to a shop and have them check to see if there are any exhaust gases or oil in the coolant if it's not obvious to the eye.

Did you reuse the head bolts or buy new ones? I've heard that they stretch and unless you have installed studs, you should replace the head bolts with the gasket. You're also supposed to retorque the head bolts after 100 miles, I think? Could be wrong on the figure, but I know that you are supposed to retorque so you could try doing that.

Camus

I reused the headbolts, I don't know why, but I got the impression that it was more or less OK to reuse them. I could always order some new ones though.

I was also very careful to torque them to factory specs (58lbf I think) as detailed in the FSM and I haven't driven it anywhere yet.

wardriver

Lots of people say to replace them - I spoke with the Toyota dealer on this when I asked about the HG service campaign. He said they didn't swap them out and to reuse them would be fine. So I reused mine and I'm 650 miles in and no issues yet.

Jay351

The 22re Studs are re-usable, its the 3vze has has TTY headbolts (never re-use!!!!!).

Are you sure your cat wasnt full of coolant and it was just burning that out?

Camus

How long would you expect it to take the coolant in the cat to burn off? I've run the engine for a grand total of maybe 4-5 minutes so far, in three short bursts.

Jay351

If it was filled up I would amaging it couldt take awhile.

I would unbolt the cat and see if it got filled up with coolant, if this is the case. Test your o2 sensor with a ohm meter, might need to be replaced aswell.

Pistonman

The same thing happened to the last 22RE I built for my brother. It blew massive steam for 25 minutes, then quit. It had me worried till I found out it is common when your exhaust is loaded. As long as you are not losing coolant, or mixing with oil, do the break in and when it is hot enough to burn it out it should quit. Good luck.

toyminator2000

As long as it's not overheating and the fluids are not mixing you should be fine.

Camus

So I tried to take the truck for a little drive, but after a few minutes it started belching out the tailpipe just like it did two weeks ago and there's coolant in the oil again.

I don't mind so much tearing it down again, but I don't know what to look for at this point. It seemed pretty clear it was the headgasket, but assuming I didn't totally botch the installation, it must be something else and I'm not sure what.

colsoncj

Well, I'd make sure that head is good... I know you said you took it to a machine shop, did they mill it? (standard practice for me, anytime its head gasket time, the head gets milled or replaced just to be sure... so far so good!)

sorry to hear about your bad luck.

cdextreme

Um, not to sound too harsh but what about the timing cover?

Pistonman

Look for chain wear/cracks on the drivers side of the timing cover, pull the valve cover and look in with a light. Did the shop vacuum bag the head? I had one that corroded through the #4 exhaust port roof.

Camus

Put this project on hold due the usual junk that comes up in life. Gonna throw myself at it again this weekend.

I didn't pull the timing cover, but the guides are still in place and look fine. I rotated the chain and it also shows little to no sign of wear.

As for the shop job, just a quick cheapie grind, probably a mistake. Any recommendations for a good machine shop in the San Diego area? The place I went was alright, but maybe I was mistaken.

To compound this problem, a buddy of mine, who feels very bad right now, made the biggest -up of this whole operation (which went smoothly until the whole problem-didn't-go-away part) at the very end when he stripped the threads on the #2 cylinder spark plug. It still went in and sealed up tight, but as for removing it: I tremble in fear.

Again, any recommendations for a skilled machine shop in SD would be great. Since I've got to tear into it again, I might as will be three times as thorough as last time.

Thanks again for the help, I haven't spent much money yet and my time is worth almost nothing (College student, make $16 an hour), but I'm afraid that if I screw up this second time, my bank is going to be broken.

Pistonman

Find 400 bucks and get an engnbldr head.

YoterUp

22re is a fairly simple motor to work on you can look up a mill shop in the phone book or its as easy as calling your local mechanic shop and asking who they recommend, using the same head bolt shouldn't affect anything on the 22re if you didnt put the gaskit on straight or tweaked it just a little while putting it back on it could ruin it all so hopefully for you it was just a small mistake. at least you dont have to redo a head gaskit on a 3.0 its not as easy!

Pistonman

I always use new head bolts.