Might be a headgasket. Check your plugs.

 

I have same problem on our '02 5vz. How much did you pay to replace the guides?

 

Are you guys sure it's not just condensation? My truck does this in cold temperatures on start up. It blows white smoke until the engine is slightly warm and then it goes away. I personally think it's just condensation. No milky oil, no coolant loss for me. Done it for the 3 years I've owned if the temps dip say below 50 F.

Remember a little bit of condensation can turn into a lot of steam - water expands to 1700 times it's volume when it is converted to steam. That is why those hot water tanks explode so well when you remove their safety (T & P) valve & high limit switch.

 

Mine is definately not condensation. Valve guide wear seems to be pretty common on the 5vze.

 

Does that mean we shoudln't do 3.4 swaps?

 

Wait a minute...not beatin on the 3.4 but I have noticed alot of talk about them smoking occasionally on startup. When mine did it a week after paying a TON of $ for it ('02 Runner) I almost crapped my pants. Since then, its done it a handfull of times without much rhyme or reason. this with between 60,000 - 80,000mi. That said, I would love to swap out my 3.0 in the '94 Runner I just picked up..

 

What should I be looking for? I am a suspension guy, not a motor guy.

The white smoke I get is always at random times, I cant really pin point any particular time it happens. Sometimes when I start it, it barely smokes, sometimes it blows out clouds. By the time I am on the freeway it is always gone.

Any suggestions?

 

Another thing the white smoke could be is moisture trapped in your exhaust from the last time you turned your truck off. When started the following morning the moisture is vaporized and there is your white smoke. This is the cause of most of my white smoke because i have a crappy muffler on my rig.
Just another thought!

 

bump for the plug inspection help

 

Look for white tips on the plug(s). Also try pulling the plugs, removing the ignition coil wire and see if it spurts coolant out of the plug holes. Try starting the truck with the rad cap off, if there is a hg problem coolant will probibly come rushing out.

 

When I blew my headgasket went the white smoke blown until the engine warmed up and the gasket expanded was ridiculous. Like the normal cold weather white smoke x5. That along with loss of coolant = sad day

 

am I the only one that cant understand that^^^ at all?

 

i can.
translation-

my headgasket blew
i knew it b/c white smoke poured out .
the engine temperature went up, and got hot (so the deadly gasket failure became worse)
as normal startup clouds seem bad, this is (by comparison) crazy bad.
and if you were behind me, you would need fog lights, and they wouldn't be enough.

------------------------------------end of translation*********************&
(sad day i agree, as this happened to me yesturday)

i drove my great toy 4x to work.
came within 1 mile, and slowed to a stoplight.

==noticed a bit of cloud behind me, and thought "hmmm. someones car sure is smokin"
-as i drove off under the green light, i noticed no one fallowed me, b/c it was SOOOOO CLOUDY that all i saw was a huge plume of white smoke.


i drove to work, and from the air, it must have looked ridiculous (as above mentions).
i drove home, and had to keep shutting down to prevent engine seizing from heat.
sad day x2

 

actually, oil smoke is BLUE, fuel IS black, and condensation is white. mine blows white smoke in the morning until it fully warms up, then its fine. i say its normal, since my stepdads BRAND NEW pontiac solstice does it too. (less than 2000 miles on it)

 

my 84 toyota 4x4 blows white smoke out the tail pipe when i start it up and it doesnt go away, i also filled my motor up with oil and it goes down fast, also my coolant goes down fast to i dont know why?