I havnt drove my 89 3.0 truck in inabout 3 or 4 days. I went to start it up and it was blowing white smoke everywhere. after a minute or so it had disapeared. I have started it up a few times going to work and what not and nothing happened. any input?

 

head gasket going I would bet. Does it smell sweet like burning coolant? and how does it run when first startup? Welcome to the 3.0 and all its greatness!

 

it actually has a rough start up. and performs a lil sluggish for a few mintues when I hit the road.

 

Uh, maybe someone put in some seafoam when you were not looking? Holy crap does it smoke when you use it!

I would do a compression test to make sure! For starters

 

nope no smoke at all when Im driving it around town. just the initial startup if I have not driven it for a full day. I just hadnt driven it in a few days, and the smoke multiplied 20x.

 

Search 3.0 and head gaskets! youll find it trust me. Few topics a day about this type of issue. loads of info on it here thats for sure!

Good luck and welcome

 

Is it a really white colored smoke or does it seem to have a tint to it, like a darker white? I'm wondering if it's oil leaking past your valve seals. When you let it sit for a few days it could have leaked down into the cylinders, this would also cause a rough idle on start up untill everything was burned out.

 

Check your fluid levels, are you low on anything, oil, coolant?

 

Or oil in the coolant?

 

you can also pull the plugs to see if they are fouled.

 

sounds like the early stages of a headgasket failure. It will burn coolant when the engine is cold then when it heats up, the gaskets and heads expand and block off the leak.

Check your oil for coolant and vice-versa. You don't want to be running your engine with coolant in the oil. Great way to lose a bottom end quick.

 

Sorry for the mini-necro, but I'd rather ask here than start a new thread. I start my truck about once a week, it's not registered while I work on it, but I've noticed this very thing happening to my '89 4Runner, lots of off-white smoke for about 5 minutes, then it stops and looks fine. I know you guys are saying head gasket, but the previous owner told my he just replaced the head gasket. Would it be the valve seals, or could the previous owner have done the HG installation wrong (I'm not suggesting he was above lying about it, either). Also, its a 22re, not a 3.0.

 

I've heard of people doing HG's wrong. I can't remeber for sure, but something about the torque you need, or the way you bolt it up has to be in a certain order.

Pretty common screw up from what I understand.

Search Head Gasket and I'm sure you'll get a ton of results! But I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it is.

 

The 3.0 likes to eat hg's and it shouldn't be looked looked over, run a compression and leakdown test, and watch for "chocolate milk" oil.

That Said, it sounds to me like normal condensation start up. My truck tends to smoke more if I let it sit than if i drive it daily, same with my jeep. And I am 100, well 99% sure the head gaskets are fine. Not saying its not a HG, just saying don't jump to conclusions too soon.

 

Thats why i recommended compression test a while ago!

 

my 3.0 has been smoking alot today. it does it from time to time. like a few days in a row and then it quits for a while. my heads were pulled and refinished about 50k miles ago and new gaskets were installed. i dont know why it smokes.