10,000th head gasket question on 3VZ-E
 

I tried searching, and I might just be burnt out from school, but big question.

I just had my head gaskets/timing belt/water pump/plugs done and things are running pretty smoothly, just have to tweak the idle a bit.

Last night I was driving my truck and when I parked, I noticed a smell of coolant and then some steam/smoke started coming out from under my hood. I opened it up and heard a sizzling sound (almost like if you were frying eggs) by the rear of the engine on the passengers side.

Is this a possible leak in the gasket? or is it something else I should be worried about?

I wouldn't expect headgasket right away. Given it could be, but I wouldn't immediately suspect it. I'd first check the heater hoses and their connections, cause they are the easiest (and cheapest) to check.

have you looked at your coolant and oil.

have you looked at your coolant hoses.

start up the truck, open your hood, let it idle and warm up, and see what it does...

Thanks, I'll give this a shot when I get home. I haven't looked at my coolant yet because every time I think about it, I've just driven it and it's hot. I started it up and let it idle this morning and it worked fine, so I'll have to look at the other stuff.

did you let someone cook eggs on your engine and there might just be some left over?:lof:

Yeah, we got pretty hungry when the power was out last week lol :booty:

I'd guess the upside-down u-shaped hose first. It's the primary cause of coolant on the crossover pipe.

It's passenger side, directly behind/underneath the plenum. REMOVE THE HOOD to get at it or you'll be sorry. SERIOUSLY--the hood is a snap to get off/on.

Thanks guys.

I had limited time this afternoon, so I decided to deal with my CEL instead. I should have some time to get at this possibly tuesday. Hopefully I have enough tools to get the hood off and check things out.

To take the hood off, all you need is a 12mm socket and another person. Its the first step when doing anything major on the motor.

It's more than likely the J hose between the intake and the firewall. As stated above looks like an upside down U. Real easy to change if you have a real long pair of needlenost pliers (I have pairs with a 45 degree bent nose I like to use for the clamps, and then some hose pliers to break the hose free off of the nipple). With the right tools, will take like 5 minutes to replace it. Without the right stuff, you're gonna be cussin for a while.

Before condemning anything though, I'd highly recommend drive it for a while until it's good and hot so you can hear it sizzling and dripping. Get a good bright flashlight and look back there. Whatever is leaking will be wet ;) It's probably just a pinhole somewhere in one of the hoses. It's also very possible it's the heater core hose that's up on the top.

Any of those hoses have a real high probability to leak, especially after someone was just in there doing all that work. Old rubber gets hard, brittle and cracks very easily. After I redid my motor I was chasing down little pinhole coolant leaks all over the place.