Need advice: White smoke and "knocking"
 

It started yesterday when I wnet to deliver some X-mas presents. White smoke out of the exhaust and knocking under the hood. My first thought is a bad valve, hopeully just sticky, or possibly a lifter? I'm not really a mechanic and I don't know the inner workings of this engine so does anyone have a clue?

BTW I have no loss of power, the oil is not creamy, and it does the knocking on and off. The somke is pretty much constant, just worse at certain times. '97 4Runner with the 3.4L and around 167,000 miles.

Please help me! :cry: :mad2:

um, oil changes done on a regular basis? You've got major engine problems per what you've described here. I'd stop driving it before your send a rod through the block...

The white smoke has to be coolant so maybe a head gasket or cracked head.

Yes on the oil changes. And I haven't drove it since It started all of this. Just a quick drive around the block to try to figure out exactly what was going on.

And the knocking noise is weird, it's not constant and almost sounds like a bolt ratteling around in the block. It only lasts like 1 second at the most at a time.

I'm no mechanic, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once and you got a problem. Seek professional help before engine go boom.

Keep us updated.

:guitar:

Anyone know a good mechanic in Utah? Would the stealership totally take me for a ride on this? I don't even know where to begin!!

Um, any one with me on that sounding like pinging?

The white smoke, I'm not sure, but any one think it's possible for the timing to be off?

I don't think so because there is no loss of power, and no hesitation.

Well, running lean doesn't really give you a loss of power, that I remember, and it doesn't give you any hesitation.

The "sounding like a loose bolt" reminds me exactly of pinging, and it could be that you're running so hot that either the head gasket is leaking, or you're burning some oil.

Funny you should mention the heating up. Now that I think of it just last week I thought that my heater was not getting as hot as it should so I checked the coolant and added a little. It solved the heat problem, but now this happens. According to my thermometer I'm sitting right at normal.

sounds like you have multiple problems. Have your truck checked at a shop. When a veh comes through our shop white smoke is indicative of sludge built up and any knocking related to smoke coming from your tailpipe is not a good omen. Just rather be safe than sorry, I don't know any good techs in Utah, sorry...

All of this talk makes me very :cry: :cry2: . Thanks for all of the help so far. I'll try to find a good mechanic this week some time and get it in. Man this is gonna cost me big time!

What month was your '97 built?. There was a factory recall for headgaskets on '96, and early '97 3.4 engines.

My '97 4Runner, which was built in July '97, didn't fall into the range of dates affected. I don't recall what the cut-off date is, but any Toyota dealer should be able to tell you.

There are several possibilities as to what exactly could be wrong. But white smoke, and losing coolant internally, indicates a bad headgasket.

Good luck.

That sounds like the beginning of a bad headgasket...the coolant may have made its way into the combustion chamber hence the white smoke. Also needing to add coolant is another good indicator but it should be investigated further to properly diagnose the problem.

Does the exhaust have a sweet smell or does it smell more like burning oil?

Um, thinking about your problem if the knocking is coming from the motor, your probably looking at lifter or rod bearing noise... As for the X01 campaign (headgaskets) that was a LSC, meaning it expired last Nov. I got mine done prior to the expiration. If ya are around and get my your VIN before say 5pm MST I can check to see if you were open for the X01. Although the V06 was the one that truly focused on vehs (3VZ trucks and Runners) that already had existing problems. The X01 was more of a precautionary measure taken by Toyota. A few early 5VZ motors had the head gaskets installed upside down, although if your veh was open for this campaign and they found out the headgaskets are on right thats were the repair ends... sorry

blown4runner96 you have a PM! Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!

As I PMed you glad I could help with the little bit of info that I provided... I hope it is just head work, let me know =)

Thanks for the help! Like I said, I'm leaning towards something in the head because of the noise and the smell of the smoke. I am really hoping it is only going to cost somewhere around your estimate, but will plan on much more. That way when it's more I'm not too disapointed! But again, I really do appreciate the help. I love this place!!!

Well, I took it in tonight and the mechanic will look at it tomorrow morning. Last night my dad bought some "Miracle in a can" crap and told me to run it through. I poured it in and let it idle for about 20 mins. Well, the smoke and the noise went away but now it's missing like a beast! My best guess is that the spark plug is sooo fouled up that now I'm only running on 5 cylinders. Well, I guess we'll see what the mechanic has to say. BTW it did finally throw a CEL last night after it started missing. Thanks for all of the help to this point, I'll let you know what he says tomorrow!