Hello all! I am new to the board and new to the 22r. I just picked up an 85 pickup that the PO said was a "perfect" work truck. Well, less than a month later it is blowing out sweet steam from the exhaust and there is oil in the coolant and the coolant system is pressurized. It has been sitting for a day waiting for the weekend. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or advice? I am totally bummed. It has 180XXX miles and everything looks original. Any helpful words are appreciated.

Ben

 

Sounds like a head gasket. Do a compression/leak down test.

 

I'd say head gasket also. It's pretty common on the 22re's and it isn't a hard job to do. Fixing it yourself will be a good way to learn about your engine.

 

Headgasket.

 

and a timing chain set is a good idea. if it's never been done, 180k is definitely pushing your luck.

 

I decided to dig in and get my hands dirty, real dirty. I started taking everything apart this morning and it is going okay. I have everything on the exhaust side taken off, bagged and tagged. The intake side looks way more involved and kind of scary. Does anyone have a scanned FSM or a bunch of pics for the 22r? I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Any help is definitely appreciated and if anyone from the New Orleans area, who knows what they are doing, could holler at me that would be awesome too.

Ben

 

really aint that much to it...all you gotta do is unbolt the exhaust manifold..and unbolt the intake manifold..after that its all simple...just remember where everything goes...make sure you check for cracks on the head..and if the head is bad..then you can get a new one for around $260 from Attarco...but make sure you check, double check, triple check the cam...then check it again..also after you get it all bolted back up..pull the valve cover at about 2000 miles..and check the cam for wear..i pulled my valve cover at about 5000miles..(was check out another problem) and noticed my cam was worn down about 1/4in...which is ALOT..and the #3 cylinder exhaust lobe..was not even there..it had worn down so much..lol

 

I was successful in getting all of the external components off of the head today. I took a butt load of pictures for the reassembly process. I briefly inspected the rocker arms and camshaft and they appear to be in good shape. I will look into this more upon further disassembly. I also looked at the timing chain and felt it for play. It seems to have plenty of tension and the guides look like they are still there. It may have been serviced prior to me owning the truck but who knows. I can tell someone already changed the head gasket out before due to the shoddy permatex job. Does anyone have any advice for what gaskets to use? If I remember correctly I need intake, exhaust, head, head rear plate, and a gasket for the tube that is attached to the exhaust manifold. I may be forgetting something.
Since I have the motor broken down this far I am contemplating fixing a rear main seal leak. I have oil of some sort(ATF I think) coming from where the tranny hooks up to the driveshaft. How involved is that project? I figure that if I need to do all of this other work that I should go all the way. I appreciate all the replies and helpful words.

Ben

 

I was going to say watch out for the allen head bolt for the intake near the thermostat, but if you got the intake off no prob. I think you may replace the head bolts w/new. I think there's a measurement to see if a timing chain is bad in the FSM. I had to helicoil three exaust man studs on my 85 22re.If you can do without the use of the truck you should fix everything you can afford. They say metal Tchain gudes are better.