drew303

Saturday morning my engine gave the ghost in the very classic, run rough, white smoke ... oh great Head Gasket's blown. My compression tester is 30 minutes away and I had today to do the HG fix. So I never got to do a compression test before tearing it all apart.

HG that came off didnt look blown, I could only speculate that the water jackets on #4 were leaking, the one nearest the inner metal bead. It's Sunday so I had no where to take the head to be pressure tested, so I did a visual inspection and cleaned it up as clean as possible.... Shiny aluminum. I didn't see any cracks or anything abnormal. I dont have a flat bar to check for warpage either.

Got it all back together, fired it up... white smoke. lol It ran great, fine everything was coosh just billowing white smoke. Soo... I decided to let it run for awhile and the smoke died down considerably then when it was gone (or so i think) ... it started to overheat.. Just what a new Head Gasket fricken needs.

so thats where it stands. I'm going to pull the T-stat tomorrow, I think the system just didnt get burped well enough. Dunno, but im done for the night. I'll give an update tomorrow, if its still eating water and not just burning off... i dont know, maybe water found its way into the intake, or the exhaust and its just evaporating it away, who knows.

but if it doesnt stop ill tear it apart and have it pressure checked, worse case scenario I spend money I dont have on a new RV Street head from Ted and engbldr. =)

Ideas? Think the heads cracked, could an internal water passage be cracked and leaking water into the intake and/or exhaust.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

So you pulled the head off, cleaned the surfaces, then reinstalled it?

You need to take it back apart, and do it correctly.

1. Have it pressure tested, and I would suggest new valves/seats. Why not do it right while you have it apart. But a pressure test is #1 most important
2. Have the head checked for warpage and planed if not warped.

Its likely overheating because its not burped, but pulling the thermostat will give you a good baseline on that.

drew303

No time, no money. This isn't my first time doing a Head Gasket on 22r. Took a gamble, only out a day and a gasket.

If I was doing this how I wished to do this, I'd rebuild the carb, and the low end and throw a new head on. But... timing is bad right now.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

If you didn't have time to do it right the first time, how will you have time to do it right the second time?

drew303

sigh...

Im didnt post here to get grief for taking a gamble. The existing Head Gasket didnt appear blown and Im willing to bet, when I tear the head off again, I wont see anything wrong with it. Which is why I suspect maybe a crack.

Obviously a pressure check would tell the truth and probably is in order.

And to answer you last question, I'll have to make time now wont I?

superjoe83

have you started it up since the first time, has it used any water after the job? i did a head gasket on a old Mazda pickup, it was my first truck and i had to do the work on it myself, after i got it all back together and started it up i was in for a surprise, TONS of white smoke, antifreeze coming out of the tail pipe, i had the worst feeling, BUT it was just the left over antifreeze from the blown head gasket in the cat and muffler, once i took it out for a drive it all burned off and it never used a drop of water. This could be what yours is doing

drew303

possibly. Same thing happened when we did the HG on my brothers 85. which I did the "right way" as DeathCougar preaches. We had the head tested and planed etc

The smoke burned off and eventually I didnt see anymore but simultaneously it was over heating. Still coolant in the system but I may have in advertently tossed the T-stat in upside down or like said, may not have been burped all the way. Gonna pull the T-stat cover and see whats goin on there, then fire it up, see what happens.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

I tried to tell you what you need to do, and you didn't listen. Don't sigh because you chose not to do it right.

How is anyone supposed to know if its a cracked head from an online paragraph. Would it have made you feel better if I said "yep, sure is cracked"?

So again, i refer you to my original post. Take the damn head back off, take it to a shop, and have them check to see if its cracked or warped. Thats the ONLY way you can tell. Period. If you are not worried about it being cracked, leave it on, pull the T-stat, and let it run until all the white smoke clears up. Btw, did you check for electrolysis in the water jackets? Common problem with the 22R.

Btw, you cannot put the thermostat in upside down. The water outlet wont allow it to bolt down. It needs to be burped. Best way I have found is to park on a slight incline, then pull the heater line going into the heater control valve. Fill until water is pouring out of that hose (make sure the valve is open, obviously) That allows most/all the air to escape.

drew303

telling me my problems are solved and i won the lottery might of been what I was really looking for nah its just been a long day.

I'm familiar with how to do this properly and Im fully admitting to going an easier route today. Its not written in stone to have the head checked or tested, or anything. Infact ive had friends blow HG's and redneck it to hell n back and have it turn out fine. Situations are unique, like i said, im only out my labor today and a cheap gasket =p

just curious if someone has had a head crack, not visibly on the bottom but internally. I've yet to run the motor long enough to determine if its just old coolant in the exhaust or not. I'm presumptious posting here but it only felt relieving after spending all afternoon tearing my motor apart =)

might note, now that i have two dead toyotas in the driveway. My dads 87 2wd blew its top about 12k miles ago, he had a shop do the repairs. the head was cracked, the block had to be milled. The head gasket apparently had a slwo coolant leak over a loooong period of time, maybe even a OEM defect. Had mineral deposits that had be milled off apparently. Anyway the head was cracked and they welded it. It just blew another gasket 12k later .. currently its junked, we're gonna depart with it. Its not worth a rebuilt head to fix. that crack was on the face of the head tho, the mating surface and visibile.

abecedarian

Nearly anything is possible... cracked head, cracked block, blown intake gasket allowing water in through the intake... who knows without being able to see it?

If the engine is still together, you should be able to pressurize the radiator a bit and look for seepage with a scope down the plug holes and through the intake.

drew303

Turned out to be coolant that got into the exhaust. Same thing, to a lesser extent happened with the HG job I did on my brothers 85.

My engine is running fine, re-burped the coolant system and put about 10 miles on the truck today. It's operating flawlessly. Re-adjusted the valves and it has new NGK Vpower spark plugs. It's doing good.

Estimates on how long this head gaskets last, who knows, maybe a day maybe another 203k. If it lasts longer than a week I'll be happy with that heh.