I've got myself into a situation. I've been having consistent coolant loss in my 1986 4runner with a 22re and W56. I've been setting aside time in the near future to start tearing into the engine to see the culprit; headgasket, water pump, timing chain damage etc. Got the truck from the original owner July '07 needing a new radiator (hairline crack) and some other non-mechanical odds and ends. Replaced the radiator, cap, thermostat, gasket, heater bypass valve and heater hoses. He had the motor rebuilt back in '98 and it only accumulated 20,000 miles in 9 years, no telling if he drove a while with the radiator damaged failing to monitor the temp guage. He was a nice guy and took care of the car, but definitely lack mechanical skill and maybe even some common sense. So I thought that the coolant loss was my error by not burping the system completely, but it became more evident that after many times clearing the system it was more than just air trapped from new coolant. Was losing along the lines of overflow+down to the top of the core inside the radiator every week. I don't have the typical milky oil or evident water in the coolant. After work the night before last, I pulled the plugs right after pulling in the driveway to see which plug was wet or significantly different than the others and found nothing wrong or out of the ordinary. Bolted everything back up and it fired first key turn. Also fired the following morning and drove fine to work. Go to leave work yesterday and it won't fire...engine turns over, but won't fire up. I thought it might be the fuel pump, so I used the "scan tool" and jumped the fuel pump...nothing. I'm getting rapid pressurization of the cooling system from one turn of the key, so much that the upper hose is bubbling from the clamping area and a large burst of air from the cap when I open the radiator and there is smoke coming from the radiator! Leads me to believe that the head gasket is far gone , but this went from drivable to catastrophic while the car was sitting there in the parking lot (fine on the way to work, and then won't fire up). Once again, I don't have the milky oil or white smoke from the exhaust...only from the opened radiator after cranking it. I pulled the plugs while waiting for my wife to pick me up, and they were all wet but smelled like fuel not coolant. Thought this could be from jumping the fuel pump, so I wiped them off with a rag and put them back in. Cranked it, pulled cyl. #1 and same thing. Checked the coil and I am getting spark to the dist. wire and also getting spark to at least the first cylinder plug (didn't have time to check the other three). Could the gasket have just failed leading to no compression and the inability to create ignition? Any help would be appreciated, it will be a interesting weekend spent in the parking lot if my insurance won't cover the tow home. Oh yeah, sorry if any of my rambling is incoherent or hard to understand.

 

Sorry, didn't realize how much I typed without breaking it into paragraphs. Might be hard on the eyes.

 

check the compression. so its getting fuel, (obviously, since the plugs are getting soaked in it), spark to at least the 1st cylinder. when it was drivable, did you notice mist or steam out of the exhaust? any at all? and you said you dont have milky oil... what about chocolate milk in the radiator?

 

The compression was the big thing I failed to do when I was trying to diagnose the problem at home or when it was still driveable. Didn't notice any steam or mist coming from the exhaust. There is a lot of carbon/black stuff built up on the tail pipe. I noticed it this week when I was down there looking for steam or smoke. It's a fresh tailpipe, recently cut off the rusted portion on the end. No chocolate milk in the radiator, but it has become a little cloudy and somewhat dirty for new coolant. I did flush the system, although not as well I probably should have.