97 4Runner V6 4WD, white smoke from tail pipe
 

Good morning all,
This is my first post online so i will try and keep it to the point.

I recently bought a 4runner and notice that it has white smoke coming out of the tail pipe:shocked:. My fist thought was perhaps oil drip from the valves since the previous oner had the vehicular parked for 2-3 months. But after getting it home and letting it run for 30-40 minutes i still get some puffs of withe smoke, and every time at startup the white smoke is there.

Iv done a new oil change and check the coolant levels and coolant was down, now i'm leaning towards it's a HG. Is their any simple check to see if it's a HG, I was thinking of checking the plugs for sings of whitening. Also

So my question is, do I have to do a HG job right away or can i drag it out some time? Since hunting season if starting and this was suppose to be my hunting truck. Also how long is a HG job I was told 2 day event, now I do have some mechanical skills and the tools for the job.:wrench:

Also was all entailed in changing the HG, any tip? I'v already downloaded the FSM for the motor.

Thank you for your help guys and girls.

Background on the 4runner: 330K Km = 205miles. Timing belt done at 287K Km previous owner, Oil change seem to have been done on regular at 6K intervals. And as i can see everything of the 4runner is stock.

i would do it because if you do alot of driving on a bad head gasket it will warp the head and then you have to get it machined which means more$

I was wondering, do i also have to replace the head bolts when replacing the head gasket?

no you can use the same ones

It is recomended to replace the bolts as they stretch. Its completely up to you. It may not be a head gasket. It could be a cracked sleeve. When the truck is resting it leaks coolant into the chamber. When you start it there is more sitting in there. When driving there is so little that you don't noticed. If you drive this every day you will notcie that more and more white smoke will come out.And this eventually will get so large that you will loose compression and then it will completely stop working. If I were you I would get some of that aluminum powder that fills things like that, put it into you coolant and then let it mix. I haven't personally used it but I heard it works. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info, i'll have to look that up.. just wondering though would the aluminum powder not potentially block any coolant chambers?

From what I hear it travels through the system and finds the cracks and spots you want to fill and then hardens, you would have to read the stuff on the bottle. I had the white smoke come out of my tail pipe on an old toyota that I had, thats why I am saying this cause it lead to bigger problems. And if it doesn't work then you can tear into it and put a new headgasket on it. :hillbill:

much appreciated.

Stop guessing. Do a compression check and or chemical check.