Well, i had an earlier problem i put in a post here, i haven't fixed that problem yet but some more quirks have arisen.

For those who haven't seen my older thread, its an 89 4X4 3VZE pickup

For starters, i think that it might be time for a trans fluid change,( GL-4 of course) in the morning, if i go start the truck up and leave right away, the truck will violently (and i really mean violently) shake through first and second gear, and sometimes when i first shift into third. Sychros wearing? i'm not sure any input on that?

Another cause for the shaking i could hypothesize, I don't believe the fuel pump has ever been changed. Maybe it keeps losing pressure over night, which could be a cause for the next problem, which is,

When cranking in the morning it'll take 5-6 seconds before it starts to stumble and then soon it'll start to idle very roughly, like it's recieving too much fuel, and it will start pumping white smoke. If i let it sit for 5-15 minutes warming up the smoke goes away, and the idle evens out. strange strange indeed.

Well i'd be very happy to hear any ideas on the matter

 

check your coolant level. I had those exact symptoms and it was the head gasket.

 

Alright, i'll check it today, i did notice it was low when i got it so i topped it off, but i haven't checked it since then.

 

Well I didn't get to checking coolant today, its cold as hell outside, but a few minutes ago when i tried to start it after it sat for quite sometime, it wont start. so this sucks

 

white smoke coming out the exhaust is oil burning not fuel, fuel smoke is black, sounds like you have a cylinder or 2 getting oil in them and now you may have fouled plugs, the oil could be from a blown head gasket, cracked head or valve stem seals, the violent shaking could be engine running rough whilst cold too, could be from fuel pump as engine demands more fuel whilst cold and the pump may be struggling to deliver

 

Great...my 93 3vze is doing that...

 

Tell me about it.
Just spent roughly an hour in the bad part of town in front of a seedy looking pawn shop because the truck decided to take a dump. It died so violently i seriously thought it threw a rod or something

 

when you try starting, does it sound like its choking, and all of the sudden rpms jump up? Like its going to die?
Also have you ever noticed how long it takes for your truck to warm up?
its averaging 33 degrees F where i am..it takes about 5 min for my truck to get to normal operating temp, and im not quite sure if that is good or bad

 

White smoke is actually steam (coolant burning) and usually indicates a blown headgasket because the coolant is getting into the cylinder from the water jacket. Burning oil makes a bluish colored smoke.

 

It starts very strangely, not necessarily choking I would say but it definitely doesnt sound good. It always sounds like it's going to die or not start but somehow it keeps on chugging.

That sounds good to me, but where I am it's been averaging like 0-5* F, and its often been below 0 in the mornings. It takes my truck 10-20 minutes to get up to "normal operating temp" 10 minutes driving or like 20 minutes idleing.

 

You can diagnose the smoke source with your hand.

Stick your hand under the pipe till it's warm or wet, stick it to your face and sniff.
No smell = condensation in the pipes, aka water
Sweet = coolant
Fuel or oil are self explaining.

Regarding the fuel presssure, just turn the key on an wait a moment or two for the pressure to build.

Consult the owners manual for "cold start" proceedure, someone actually possted a picture not too long ago of it.

Not a bad idea to verify the throttle opener is functioning, it's job is to crack the throttle plate open when the motor isn't running so it starts easier(eg without having to push the pedal)

Boggin when it's cold indicates worn bearings, not enough oil or too light weight.

No excuse for not checking the radiator, you can do it without even using the hood prop. Of course if you're adding coolant you'll need more hands than we come with Make sure you're filling the radiator and topping the overflow (Sounds obvious but some people don't)

 

Those are good ideas too. It's finally starting to get warmer here so i'll be working on the truck more actively now.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I read somewhere that the fuel pump isn't on when the key is in the on position unless you have Fp and B+ jumped.

Ill look for the cold start procedure.

The plate is open just a smidgen when the motor isn't running, I checked that the other day while doing plugs.

I know I need to change the oil too. I don't know what weight is in there right now i would guess 10-30, should i go to a different weight because of how cold it gets here or should i just stick with good old 10-30?

I'm going to go check the radiator right now, and ill check the overflow too (i topped it off when i first got it but forgot to check it the last time i added coolant)

 

Your right, I forgot about the circuit opening relay (Eg2-202). Controlled by the dtarter relay(STA) and/or the afm(FC)

Loosing fuel pressure while sitting = the fuel pump check valve or pressure regulator (fuel return) are leaking.

Well 5-30 is the recommended cold weight, but it's hard to say if your problem is low, volume/flow or pressure.

 

Starting to think maybe the head is cracked or something.

The coolant was low again when I checked it about an hour ago, and the smoke smells like coolant more than anything else.

So that really sucks.

And on top of that I found a broken vacuum line, looks like it goes to the power steering pump. Must have broke it while doing plugs. It seems to drop the idle when i push the broken pieces back together if that makes any sense.

 

Yep makes sense, that line brings the idle up when the wheel is fully turned. If it's leaking it's sucking air when it's not supposed to.

Bummer about the gasket, get it changed before it does something evil.

 

Started thinking about it, wouldn't the plugs have shown a failed head gasket? I just did them a couple of days ago, so it still had the same problems, but when I pulled them, they all showed really consistent carbon build up and soot, a few smelled like fuel too.

I dunno, I might try to get a second opinion on the smoke smell, I smelled it again today and it smelled more like fuel to me now.

Maybe one of the plugs isn't set right, I did hurry through them (its been consistently below 15* F and I don't have a shop to work in at the moment), Maybe I crossthreaded one or two of them and they're still missing?

I dunno, I just dont know if i can bring myself to invest in a whole new head gasket job without being certain thats what's wrong...

 

Well, today the truck ran out of gas, I called my better half asking her to bring me some gas, she did and when i fueled it up with about a gallon so I could get to a station. It started right back up, idling perfectly, revs up well, I dunno what else to say about it really, its back to normal (except the pesky distributor issue).

Might have been predetonation, last time i filled up with 85 crap gas, this time I made sure I got the good 87 octane.

In any event, I also added in some fuel system treatment and put some marvel mystery oil in my oil today