barkeywayne

Greetings all, just stumbled upon this great forum over the weekend. From looking through some threads it appears there is some serious Toyota brainpower here. I will probably do a lot more "listening" than talking but am looking forward to contributing one way or the other. I am a multiple, long time Toyota owner (presently 84 2WD shortbed, 84 2WD XCab, 86 2WD shortbed and 86 4WD XCab). I have also owned a couple of early 70's FJ40's that I put smallblock Chevys in.

My question concerns my 84 2WD XCab. I just purchased it a couple of weeks ago for a parts truck, it had water in the oil so I assumed the worst (cracked head). Just for kicks I decided I would try to get it running so I put some fresh oil in it and was able to start and run it, no problem, it idles and runs fairly smoothly, no overheating (ran it for 30-40 minutes), but it did seem to take on some more water in the oil. I was wondering if there is a good way to determine if the problem is caused by a blown head gasket, or if it is a cracked head...without tearing it down? The truck is basically complete and driveable, I would probably put a head gasket on if that is all it needed....but if it needs a head I'll probably put it in my boneyard. Thanks!

Firefyter-Emt

The best way is to do a compression test.. Pull all the plugs, and the ground the coil wire.. The insert tester into plug hole and crank her over a few times, let us know what the reading are..

Also, leave thetester in for maybe 5 minutes and see if it leaks down a lot..

loosehead

I don't have anything to add to Lee's response to your question. I just wanted to say hello and welcome to the forum!

FattyCBR

I disagree, doing a compression test will not tell you anything you don't already know because it will not isolate whether your problem is the HG, a cracked head, or worn rings (and for that matter neither will a leak down test because a bad HG and cracked head could produce the same symptoms). If you're interested in using the motor eventually I'd stop running it and pull the head. Water in the oil will kill your crank bearings.

Cebby

Nothing to add, just a big warm welcome!!

Todd E

The only other thing it may be is a timing cover with a hole worn through.
Pull the valve cover and shine a light down there to see if the timing chain guides are still there.
Todd

barkeywayne

Thanks to all for the replies and welcomes!

I'm thinking this motor/truck might be heading to my boneyard, I really don't need this motor for another one of my "fleet" at this time. I will definitely not run it any more, I hear you on the effect watery oil has on the crank bearings. I think the timing chain guides are still in place just because it is so quiet at start-up and when running, but I will pull the valve cover and give it a look. If, in the future, I discovered I needed to swap out the head, who is a good source for rebuilt heads? I haven't bought one for a 22R/RE for 3-4 years, I think the last one I bought was around $350 exch, still driving it today.