some slight mechanical question.. HELP!
 

ok somehow im no longer burning oil at all. i did an oil change last week and checked the oil today after warming it up. ordinarily my oil would be half gone. it was exactly where it was when i put the new oil in! at the full line! i must be doing something right by that thing... its a love/hate relationship... i love the truck but i hate working on it cuz the engine compartment is so small and theres not a lot of room. anyways, although im not burning oil any longer, theres still stuff coming out of the exhaust. it looks like smoke during the day, but at night its white. and at night when i punch it you can see the 'mist' shoot out in a thick cloud of white. also today i noticed some moisture coming out of the exhaust. not a lot, just a very fine little tiny mist of water. i still think the head gasket is leaking a little bit, not enuf to cause the truck to suffer in performance, just enough to let some coolant in. oh, and ive been losing coolant. last weekend i filled up the radiator, and now its half full. the highest temp its gotten in the past week is 103. today the high was 96. (the city, not the truck). so ive ruled out evaporation. im dumbstruck. ive listed all the symptoms that are bothering me. does anyone have any ideas about what is happening in the engine? thanks!

my best guess would be the head gasket... thats what it sounds like and i know 2 people that have had to replace their 22r head gaskets and i think the 22re has the same setup. i donno about the not burning oil thing though thats strange. good luck

compression test?

compression is fine... it was either 115psi or 125-130psi. i cant remember exactly what my mechanic said, but he did say the compression is perfectly fine, in fact better than some newer cars he works on. next question... in autozone today i saw the 'head gasket repair' stuff. you drain the cooling system, pour the HG repair into the radiator, idle it for about 15-20 mins, turn it off, drain the cooling system again, then pour in fresh antifreeze/coolant. does this stuff work or make a minor problem even bigger? thanks

That is a cheap fix. I've seen people do it and have it last for years, but IMO it's a cheap fix. I've always kind of liked doing things "the right way, the first time."

I would fix all your problems at once. I'd buy a re-ring kit, an oil pan gasket, and all the gaskets associated with pulling the head. I'd then pull the head, re-ring the pistons, check the internal condition of the engine and repair accordingly, and then put it all back together. It'll be fairly cheap, seeing as how none of that stuff is super expensive. I'd guess <$500.

then another 500 for installation. remember i mostly do bodywork/electrical and very minor engine work. most in the engine i have done are the nuts on the top of the crankshaft(i believe, the part with 22R-E on the front) that have rubber gaskets on them, alternator, starter, thermostat, and throttle sensor. i have no idea how to do a head gasket, so id be havin my mechanic do it. :(. i should have gone to automotive school instead of ITT-Tech... :(. oh well.

The 22-RE is extremely easy to work on. With time and patience, a FSM manual (theres a copy online) and proper tools, you could do it on your own or with the help of a friend pretty easily.

I'd order all the parts you need through Engnbldr.com Get a headgasket kit (i bought one off ebay from him for 40.00), timing chain with metal guide (might as well do this since you'll be in there and who knows when its been done last). Couple of days and you could have it done.

trust me i would, but i dont have a couple of days. :(. i think i have the tools to do it... sockets, carb/injector cleaner, vice grip, etc. the timing chain was done 2 years ago, before the rollover. its not making chain noises, but should i replace it anyway? and i have a haynes complete teardown/rebuild book that goes into detail on every little thing. i just cannot read the electrical diagrams, they read like stereo instructions. either way i cant do anything until friday anyway (payday). now if someone wants to fly out here like next weekend or the weekend after id be willin to pay for the plane ticket, crash at my place, and pay for food and stuff. i just dunno. :(. all im worried about right now is keeping it running. not that interested in restoring/customizing it too much right now, you know? i really want to keep this for like another 10 years... imagine having your future kids driving the same exact truck that you did when you were in high school... pretty interesting to think about.

a list of stuff to replace/repair while the heads off anyway would be great too. call it the 250,000 mile yota regular maintenance.

I think youve been hit with teh scare factor, that feeling when trying to do something on your vehicle youve never done and you know has to be done right... usually engine issues will cause that. On a 22re, or r.. its not as hard as you think. Thankfully its a blessedly simple engine to work on.. really the key is take your time while you do it.. Id plan on a weekend.. take breaks, grab a beer.. watch a show.. when you go to fast and get in a hurry is when you miss a simple test. The chiltons, or haynes or whatever usually have nice detalied instructions if you have never done it.


AS Im sure you know, the head gasket is right up there on top.. its been awhile since ive worked on a 22r(my first runner had one).. but its not that hard to get to. If you want to do it yourself, seeing what other stuff you have done.. you obviously have the ability. Something like fixing a tranny, that Id say leave to a shop.. but a HG.. just say to yourself.. ITS JUST A GASKET.

As for the timing chain, you just did it two years ago? Unless your timing is off, why mess with it? Hell, most cars run on the original there entire life. 2 years, hell just broken in.

oh and its never bad having a second set of hands..

yeah i have been hit with the scare factor.... haha. i take it you never want to buy a head gasket from kragen or autozone or something correct... so if i do the head gasket myself, wouldnt i have to keep tension on the timing belt/chain? also my uncle says theres a special tool to keep the timing correct... god yeah im scared of screwing up my only transpo hahaha

Just to let you know, I changed my headgasket 3 weeks ago in a day with a extra set of hands, and had to change out a valve. Unbolted everything, left the timing cover on, just wedged a peice of wood down it to keep the chain from falling down. I'm not mechanically incline, hell, I botched my last oil change and had to have the drain plug rethreaded, lol. But its really not hard.
Going by memory:
Label the vacuum hoses and where they go.
Label the connectors.
Pull off hoses.
Disconnect wires.
Disconnect air intake.
Remove exhaust manifold and exhaust pipe
Remove Valve Cover.
Remove upper and lower intake (you could actually leave that together and just disconnect the lower, 2 less gaskets to replace =) Only tricky part with that is the hidden allen bolt. 6mm I do believe with a 3" extension.
Theres also a pipe that is connected on the bottom of the intake.
Remove distributer.
Remove plugs.
Unbolt the exhaust pipe and intake pipe from behind head (by far the hardest part)
Unbolt Crankshaft pully. Either use a peice of wood to wedge the chain or use a bungee cord attached to pully and hood =)
Remove hidden 12mm bolt in the oil puddle on the top of the timing cover.
Unbolt head bolts.

This is where you need a extra set of hands. You'll need one person to hold the timing chain and one or two to pull the head. Just make sure that you've moved the lower intake over to the left as far as possible to clear the egr from all the wires/hoses.

Once you've got the head off, its just a matter of taking the head down to get machined if its warped a little, and cleaning all the surfaces off.

New headgasket on, place head on, tighten head bolts in proper sequence and in 3 steps (hand tight, 1/2 torque, full torue), then button everything back on. Then its just a matter of setting your timing.

Thats a brief summary and I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but its really really simple.

Where did you get your new head? Im not sure if theres a better aftermarket, but Id say avoid autozone and grab it from your local toyota dealer.. unless anyone knows of some decent aftermarket ones? Since its an older vehicle, Id give your dealer a call tommorrow..they might have to order it. My local dealer always has to order stuff if I need it.. they just dont seem to carry older stuff in stock.. must not need it that often. If your nice they will almost give it away.

Got out with a new fuel pump bracket and stock prefit line for 12 bucks...(shipping).. they said it had been sitting around forever.

ok will do. thanks!

fun, haynes only talks about general engine rebuilds. and it doesnt say anything about the head gasket (cylinder head gasket correct?), just the cylinder head. no where in the general overhaul/rebuild section does it mention a cylinder head gasket. :(. friggin a

For a new head IF needed:
http://engnbldr.com/toyota_heads.htm

When you get your head off, you're gonna want to take it down to a machine shop to get checked for cracks. Figure probably 40.00 or so for that. If the heads good to go, just get it machined, probably another 40.00 and that be it.

If you look online via the Google, you'll find a ton of write ups on head gasket replacements.
Heres one from Pirate: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showp...3&postcount=83

For vacuum lines you can source that off of Autozone.com
http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/g...3d8018907f.gif

Heck, heres even a write up on it:
http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us...rInfoPages.htm

http://www.autozone.com/shopping/repairGuide.htm

and if you don't like the hose mess, and don't have emissions testing, pull some of them off and cap the vacuum plugs with vacuum caps!
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...8&page=2&pp=25

This is my 22RE:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/IMG_0921.jpg

yeah in vegas we have emissions testing, but not as harsh as californias. i really like your camshaft and intake, did you paint them or buy them that way? very informative diagrams. now that i think about it i have a buddy at work who knows how to do head gaskets. heres another question for everybody, sorry to be so demanding, but yeah.. u know.. anyways, if someone knows how to do head gaskets for another type of car... subaru, honda, ford, chevy, etc, would he know how to do it for a toyota? isnt it all the same procedure?

pretty much yeah, its not a hard procedure as long as you don't lose the timing position.

The nice thing about it is that its an inline 4 cyl, so theres only 1 head to deal with. The only way it could be easier is if it was a pushrod engine, instead of an OHC.

Read through the manual better, even though it's talking about doing a full rebuild you're just looking at the removing the head, and reinstalling the head/valvetrain sections of the rebuild.

We painted it ourselves, Rustoleum Metallic Cobalt Blue. Expect to see a bit more on the truck in the near future.