I noticed I was getting the white smoke on startup, but I chalked it up the heavy condensation with all the rain lately. I had left my truck sitting for a week or 2 due a short burning my headlights on the way home for christmas. Took a while for my Hella E-Codes to get here with christmas and all.
2 days ago the idle started going all crazy on my way to the DMV, so I started searching yotatech for answers. Sure enough my coolant was low and was cause of that. The next day I checked my radiator and it was low again, I was hoping that more air had found its way out of the lines, so I filled it up and prayed. This morning it was low again, so I am certain that it a head gasket or timing chain. I've been hearing the rattle, but I had the timing chain replaced about 20k miles ago. I'm thinking that the mechanic ripped me off and just cleaning the timing chain cover and didn't replace anything. Bear with me, I am new to working on anything except plug n play parts.
I decided to drive it home to my parents to exchange it for my first gen before everything else went wrong, no chocolate milkshake yet, but I can smell the sweet exhaust in the morning. On the way to trade trucks I started getting what felt like intermittent momentary (less than a second) loss of power at highway speeds, which is what makes me think it is the timing chain, not just a head gasket. I read somewhere here that was a clue to a timing chain issues.
So the truck is a 95 22re 4x4 with 192k miles
Here is where I need advice, I'm broke at the moment and based on my last experience with a mechanic, I'm going to do the work myself. Inspired by 92 Toy's thread. Don't have the money for parts and tools yet, but what should I do to store the truck for a few months while I save some money. I was considering running the truck one last time to clear the coolant out of the cylinders an then draining the coolant. Change the oil and leave it like that, but wasn't really sure what would be best.
Secondly, would you suggest just replacing both the head gasket and timing chain to be sure to not have to tear it down again for a while? Can't afford a full rebuild right now, so hopefully this would get me down the road until I have the time and money for that.
Thanks for any input

 

how sure are u that u don't have a leak somewhere?? in the mornings u can get some smoke out the exhaust but not a bad head gasket. have u looked at the oil to see if water is getting in there. will be a little white in color. if u are sure then i would put a battery tender on it and change oil, drain water and run for a few mins to make sure there is no water in bearings or the cylinders that will cause it to rust. what will help with money is if u decide to have the heads done u take them apart and then just have them surface them and cut the valves and u put everything back together. u can rent tools from auto parts store when putting back together.

 

I haven't been able to find any leaks and it smokes for a few minutes with a lot of white smoke that smells sweet. Think I would find drips with the loss of about 1/4 of a gallon of coolant over night.

 

yeah it sounds like a head gasket. now questions for you... do u have leaks on the bottom end (oil) or anything else? might want to pull motor and do it a little at a time and just rebuild the whole thing rather then put out 500 now to just dump another 1000 in a couple months for rebuilding the bottom end. since u are pulling the head look at doing all gaskets at least on the motor, so u dont have to do things twice.

 

The oil pan leaks a little, but I can do that with the motor pretty easily while I'm at it.

 

yea save your self the trouble and just rebuild it now i know its sounds like alot but it will be more if you dont.

 

hmmm, sounds like I'll be waiting until summer then. Any other storage tips to prevent further damage?

 

what engine do you have?

 

So the truck is a 95 22re 4x4 with 192k miles

 

i dont have any storage tips but i agree with the others saying that rebuild it now would be the route to go. thats a simple engine to rebuild

 

I would say it sounds like you have a plan already with the oil change etc.

Preliminary diagnosis is likely head gasket given what you say about the sweet smell and loss of coolant.

Buy a compression tester (about $25 or so) and check that out. I'm not so smart with that stuff but that is ONE way of making a final diagnosis for yourself.

Other clues are the escaping coolant. You may have a small enough leak that the coolant is getting in and getting steamed right off. pull each spark plug one at at time and rotate the engine by hand until each piston is at the top (a long breaker-bar style wrench and a ??19mm socket...a good one...a 6 point IMPACT socket 19mm) and when each piston is at it's top , see if you can see a glimpse of it through the spark plug hole........if you can see it and it's shiney, it's been getting a steam bath for a while, should be dark and covered with some carbon....not shiney.

that technique, I've never done, I saw someone write that once and it made sense.

easiest is to pop off your valve cover and see if your timing guides are still there, particularly the driver's side one.....and if it's not, look for the railroad tracks-type indentations from your chain scraping uninhibited against the inside of your timing cover like I had.

all in all, you've got your work cut out for ya.

if you read my write-up(s), I may have mentioned I bought all new stuff.......RADIATOR / TIMING CHAIN COVER / OIL PUMP / WATER PUMP / HEAD GASKET / HEAD BOLTS / ALL GASKETS / HOSES and BELTS.

none of this is cheap and you are easily in the over $500 area for doing this repair.

please note, that in retrospect, I would highly recommend pulling the motor out......when doing it while it's still in the engine compartment, there are soooooooo many pain in the butt portions that, from me to you, would have been eliminated by just pulling the motor.

it CAN be done. It CAN be done by a novice newbie with almost ZERO mechanical experience and I am proof of that.

get yourself a Factory service manual, downloadable here as well ( see IAMSUPERBLEEDER's profile and he has it in his sig)....you are gonna need it, not only for a clue as far as the order in which you should disassemble and reassemble, but for all the torque specs as well.

have a plan, be organized and downright obsessive compulsive like I was and you won't get lost. paper sandwich bags, sandwich baggies and a black marker and a digital camera are you best friends.....so is YOTATECH.

if you have the luxury of having this thing parked for a while like I did while you accumulate parts and money, that's the best.

 

Thanks 92 Toy, I will do all of those things next weekend, finally going back to work tomorrow, so I'll have some money and time to throw at it. Had to get my first gen into daily driveable condition this weekend. Still annoyed I only got to enjoy me E-codes/Osrams for a few days.