well, had my mechanic check it out. he hooked it up to the smog machine hes got to see exactly whats coming out of the exhaust. he said its what typically comes out of the exhaust, but in large quantities - i need a new exhaust system and cat. about the head gasket, he said no coolant is coming out of the exhaust. he checked my coolant, and turns out it was all water, no coolant period. he said thats probably what caused it to burn up, since it was made for coolant and not straight water. and he also checked the little drops of water coming out of the exhaust, he says thats normal for an engine that isnt warmed up all the way. whew! im relieved. i still will be keeping an eye on that head gasket though.. thanks to everyone who responded. you are deeply appreciated!

 

ok i used the smog machine myself today, on both the radiator and the exhaust... nothing but coolant in the radiator.. no exhaust gasses, and slightly below normal emmissions out of the exhaust. im good. . and i flushed the coolant and replaced it with 50/50 coolant... runnin much better, we'll see if it keeps leaving the radiator, if so, then i gotta pressurize the cooling system and see where it leaks...

 

Just so you know, the minimum compression for the cylinders on that beast is 142psi. If those figures you've given are close at all to what the mechanic found, they're low. In which case, it'd be a good idea for you to to know exactly what he did find. One of you is mistaken.

 

How did you prep the surfaces? I really, really like that color.

Oh...and did you use some white in there, or is it just light reflecting?

 

its like 132 across the cylinders. i was disturbed too, ya. thats why i went to the stealership. they told me that was a little low, but nothing to really worry about as long as it keeps that pressure across all the cylinders. if one drops even 2 psi, then i could have a BIG problem. according to the dealership. maybe time to start thinking about an engine rebuild?

 

one of these days i plan on doing another compression test myself and seein wut i find. will repost. i DO know its even across all the cylinders

 

That's fine, but it'd be a good idea to know now what he did find....don't you think? Might help you a bit trying to figure everything out.

 

exactly. im gonna have to have the other mechanic at work do it, hes much better plus has been a mechanic for the past 45 years. the one who did the original check quit cuz he got a paycheck of 500 bucks or somethin and was sick of getting 20% commision and no hourly. will repost what i find

 

Prep wise, just cleaned it, let it dry. Then laid a coat of white primer down. Couple coats of the blue. The valve cover caps and the throttle linkage holder is painted white. Couple coats of clear and good to go. For the TOYOTA part and the EFI section, we just took a razor blade to it and took the paint off for the metal look.