So I got rid of my 94 4runner with a 3.0, auto, in favor of a 1987 4runner 22re 5speed, right away I blew the headgasket. I went ahead and put in a new head gasket, and it smoked a bit more than I thought it should, I took it to pick up some firewood, the other day, which required putting it in 4wd and going up a pretty steep hill to get to where I needed to be, I put it in 4wd and I had to get the rpms up a bit to get going up the hill, and itstarted to smoke a little worse, part of what I may be seeing could be due to the cold weather, but I still think it is smoking more than it should.

I just did a compression and got the following results

cylinder #1 140
cylinder #2 143
cylinder #3 138
cylinder #4 138

I just did a cold test, as I really wanted to see if the results varied much between cylinders, but they seem to be pretty close as far as Im concerned. When I get a bit more time, I am going to do a wet test. I was hoping to do a leak down test but my air compressor wont hold 100psi.

I have a line for a good 22re for $650, but if it is just a head issue, I would rather save some $ and just replace the head.

I don't feel any power loss or diminished performance than before the HG job, but I did blow the HG on the way home from purchasing the truck about 6 hrs away, and I never really got a good feel for how the truck was before I got it. I can say that it does feel a hell of a lot more powerful than my 3vZE auto!!

If anyone has any suggestions I would surely appreciate it!

 

kinda low on cyl pressure. How many miles on the bottom end?

 

Suposedly 20k on the rebuild, done a year and a half ago by the PO, I do know that a cold test could yield lower results. One thing I didn't do was open the throttle body while testing the compression, which I heard could also yield low results, this is the first time I have done a compression test, and I plan on doing it again with the throttle open, warm engine, as well as a wet test.

 

BTW what is a decent psi reading for the 22re?

 

well its just as important to have all cyl around the the same psi so you can eliminate alot from that. it could be just a worn out bottom end. also what color is the smoke?

 

The smoke is blueish white, which would lead me to believe HG failure, and coolant going out the exhaust, but it smells oily, also leading me to believe possible bigger engine issues.

 

blueish smoke is oil.

 

Kinda tough position. Even if it is just the head not all rebuilds are created equal. I had a rebuilt short block last less than 25k was super cheap and I didn't expect it to last. You my not know either way, quality rebuild or not. Could be a coin toss.

 

20k on rebuild and that thing is only getting 140psi? Sounds to me that the rings never seated correctly, which would cause blowby past the rings which would lead to oil burn which would lead to blueish smoke.

When I did my recent compression check about 6,000 miles or so after rebuild. Did it cold and got 170ish all the way around. This is with it 20 over and the block shaved though. So they should cancel each other out as far as compression goes. Boring a motor out I believe tends to lower the compression and shaving the block or head brings the compression up. Brand new head.

Also if a motor is running a little rich it can smoke white as well. If it's running way rich though then it will be black. So maybe it's running slight rich and burning some oil.

But This is only guessing on my part.

 

^^^good post.

 

As far as the rebuild goes, it is any ones guess as to whether it was a decent rebuild or not. It sounding more and more like it may be a bottom end issue. I did notice that when I was in there the cylinder walls were very smooth, but I cant speculate whether the rings were properly seated or not.

So you guys are saying I should be in the neighborhood of 170/180 psi compression cold?

 

If I am running rich what would be a remedy to that problem?

Please forgive me if I'm sounding like a dumb ass, I am pretty mechanically inclined, I have just never come across these kinds of issues before, I just try and learn as much as I can as problems arise, I figure I was able to do all of the repairs on my old Audi A4, I had better be able to work on a Toyota pretty easily!

 

On a side note one thing I did notice when I was doing the head gasket was the pistons slightly protruding higher than the deck of the block, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1-2 mms enough to get caught on the gasket scraper, upon further research, looking for cylinder head pricing, as well as searching yotatech forums, I could swear that my cylinder head had the full cutout for piston clearance, like on the older 22re's (I wish I would have taken a pic) I did notice that my pistons are the dished pistons for sure. I'm just throwing this out there, but could it be that this has either the wrong head, or the wrong pistons were installed during this rebuild?

 

low compression can cause you to run rich at least on a carb'd motor, can't say for sure if an efi system can or cannot compensate for it however. If not, there's probably nothing you can do there. If the cyl walls were smooth after 20K then the rings glazed the walls and did not seat. The cross hatches should still be there at 20K. Heck mine were still somewhat visible after 172,000 miles on a factory motor.

 

do you remember off-hand what shape the exhaust ports were on the head? Your options are pear shaped and round.

Dished pistons are period right for the 87 so those are good.

1-2 mm seems kinda high for quench measurements. But even a few thousandths is enough to get caught on a gasket scraper.

 

I dont recall the shape of the ports, I didnt even dawn on me to look, until after the job was done, and I have done some research, and yes 1-2 mm is probably an exaggeration, but I did notice the were slightly higher than the deck of the block, at least higher than other engines I have done head gaskets on.

 

That's probably nothing to worry about then. Another guess is that the block was shaved like mine was. Probably not as much though. No big deal there.

 

Low compression and dished out pistons sounds like the turbo set up.

 

you would think but.... the 22r and 22re pistons are dished too. Come to think of it, I don't even know what the turbo pistons even look like. haha. google here I come.

 

The Turbo Motor Uses A Bigger Chamber In The Head Not Different Pistons

so I guess its possible they put a turbo head on it. But I am not sure what to look for on the differences.

86-94 22r/22re


81-85 22r/22re