Ok so, I just bought a 1988 yota pick up its got the 3.0 in it. When i bought it the owner told me that it had a blown head gasket and would not start. So i brought it home and was fiddling around inside it today and noticed that 1 of th spark pluggs was not even in. So i cleaned up the spark plugs (which according to his maintenance book are pretty much brand new) and put it in as well as used a new battery cuz the other was completely dead. At first the starter sounded kinda like a machine gun. I looked it up found on forums it may be that the battery is low so i jumped my car to this new batter and vrrrrroom starts up. (This truck sat without moving on the guys driveway for atleast 1 year.) But after starting it there was no smoke the oil was not milky looking and there was no whitish froth on the oil cap. Then i heard this ticking sound from what sounds like in the valve area. Any ways i let the truck run for about 10 min. and shut off when i shut off and checked oil still looked fine cap still had no milkyness on it. And still no smoke. Also i did clean the airfilter which was absolutely disgusting and plugged.

So my first question is...Since the truck sat so long is that maybe why the oil was not milky and no froth on the oil cap? should i have let it run longer?

My second question would be what is possibly causing the tapping and how do i fix it?

Keep in mind i am completely new to working on cars so any help is appreciated. And it was my buddy who is good with trucks that said it sounds like its a valve.

 

when you hear the tapping, put your finger on the valve cover see if you feel anything along with the tapping.

Also, if you don't think you will do any more damage to the motor, I would let it run longer to give it some more time for the oil and coolant to mix if it is indeed a bad head gasket. watch the temp gauge to.

The A/F being dirty along with an unplugged spark plug could definitely make someone think there was something seriously wrong their motor

 

it also couldn't hurt to drain all the oil, so then you could be 100 percent sure that its not milky instead of just what you can see on the dip stick. other than that, i don't have to much knowledge to offer. good luck!

 

thanks a lot, i will definately try puttin a finger one the valve cover. I was already considering draining all the oil completely to, thanks for confirming that for me.