bryonb

1985 4Runner 22RE

Rebuilt about 35,000 miles ago

Went to start my truck to go home from work today and it would not turn over. It would just start to turn over and stop like something was binding it up. After three attempts to start it it finally turned over then notice antifreeze coming out my lower exhaust manifold towards the cab. Turned it off about a quart and half low in the radiator. Filled it up with water and started it again. Started up and started noticing white smoke coming out the exhaust. Pulled the dipstick and didn't see any water in the oil. I wonder if there's a small pin hole leak and it filled one of the pistons and thats what bound it up. Any thoughts on what I should look at first? Appreciate any help. It has the original head it was resurfaced upon being rebuilt.

rsidner

I hate to say this but it sounds like you may have a crack in your cylinder wall. I would drain both your coolant and your oil and double check that they are not mixing. If they haven't, then it is possible you have a crack close to the deck of your short block that goes into your combustion chamber.

I do hope for you that it is just a bad head gasket and is also possible. It sounds like you'll have to take your head off no matter what though.

One other thing...it sounds kind of stupid but it is also possible that one of the gasket cylinder rings could have blown out into the combustion chamber and obstructed on of your pistons until a couple of start attempts managed to moosh it out of the way and now you're just leaking coolant into your cylinder.

Let us know what you find!

bryonb

Thanks for the info. I'll let you know what I find. If it's in need of a new head anyone use Engine Builders in Oregon? I had a plugged up cat a piece of the ceramic was blocking a lot of the air flow through my exhaust could this be the cause of my problems? I'm sure it didn't help any.

rsidner

It is possible but I'd think you'd damn near need a kitty cat stuck in your cat to impede the motor from turning over. I mean, this would need to be one hell of a clogged cat. Just think of it this way, a motor technically "clogs" itself every time it goes to do a compression stroke and that's pressure building in a much smaller area. A motor would care a lot less if it was pressure spread across the volume of a cylinder plus the volume of the down pipe plus the volume of part of the intermittent pipe.

Run like crap and be hard to start? Likely. Keep the motor from turning over? Doubt it.

Engine Builder is wonderful. Bought a cam, set of head bolts, oil pump, and dual row timing set from him. Extremely helpful guy and knows his stuff for sure with 22re's etc. Hell, if you're taking your head off because of this, you may as well toss a cam in it. They're only like $100 for whatever profile you want. I went with either RV or Torquer to flush out my low end torque...been a year since I bought it so I can't remember. I also suggest you pick up a new set of head bolts from them since you are pulling your head. Always a good idea to replace them when you remove the head. They have a nice "Build a kit" option that can save you a bunch of money too!

Good luck and remember, if you replace the cam just think of it like you're upgrading your truck instead of just fixing it!

bryonb

Thanks again. Has anyone used Oregon Engine Rebuilders? They have a lifetime unlimited milage warranty on there engines to the original buyer. Engines starting at $1000. If my block has a crack I'm assuming theres no fixing it. This will be a new experience for me I've only done oil changes, brakes stuff like that. As far as cams go would a RV or a Torquer be better for a daily driver?

rsidner

For a daily driver I would probably maximize low end torque like I did. That way you don't need to get into upper RPM's to make power. The idea in my mind was pretty much that this should save on gas mileage since the motor doesn't need to work as hard to get up to speed. I would call them and see which cam yields the most low end torque and go with that. After all, that's what the 22re is best at is low end. It has amazing throttle response too.

And don't worry if you haven't done anything like this before! Download the FSM and make sure you have things like a good socket set and torque wrench. It is a lot easier than you think to take an engine apart and put it back together. You will end up spending a decent amount of money on things like seals and gaskets if you strip your entire motor down and it is time consuming but again, it is not difficult.