I just put in a rebuilt engine. When the engine is warming up it is sluggish and emits steam and water out the tail pipe.

After warm up it runs like a champ (Also no water in oil or oli in water).

Is it possible that I hooked up some of the hoses wrong?

Thanks for your help.

1990 Yota 4X4
3.0 L XTA Cab AT

 

Almost certainly a poorly sealing head/head gasket issue. After it gets warm, head flexes /expands enough to seal it.

You should check torques on head bolts first.

If no good, remove head and check gasket.

If you don't , you are throwing away all the dollars you put into the engine.

David

 

Now be aware that depending on the humidity and temperature you will have condensation and run off of steam out of your tailpipe whenever you start the vehicle up. Until the tailpipe warms up and vaporizes the condensate then you will have it. It is the major cause of corrosion in an exhaust system.

So expect some water to come out when you first start up on a humid cool morning.

 

First question: What is the source of the 'steam and water' your talking about? Is the coolant level in your radiator going down. If its not it may be condensation. Let us know.
thefreq

 

how does it idle? is it hard to start? (rough idle and/or hard to start could also point to headgasket/head sealing/cracked head problems).

if you have a compression gauge, do a compression test when the engine is cold and see if one or two cylinders are lower than the rest.

 

Thanks guys. After that first post I got worried and took it to the dealer to verify if the worst had happeded (head not sealed). it idols good and starts right up. Guess that I will know the damage soon enough. Will post next week when I have an answer.

-phatdawg

 

has the truck been sitting in high humidity conditions? when i built my first engine, my truck sat for about a month in freezing cold and pouring rain, it shot huge clouds of white steam for the first 10 minutes or so that it ran. most likely condensation in the tailpipe

 

LOL, after I replaced my engine that I hydrolocked, water was spewing out the tail pipe for a good 5 minutes.

After the initial steam out your tail pipe did it do it again? In other words let it sit til it cools down, then restart, steam = water leak.........

 

The steam always happens when cold and has happened at least 3 times. It is humid here in Eureka Ca (usually around 66% even in summer, more in winter). Also the engine did sit for a few months while I was working on it.

Anybody ever buy a rebuilt engine from "Rising Sun Engines". They are in Chico CA. I checked the Better Business Bureau and no complaints. Hopefully this engine is OK or fixable.


-Phatdawg

 

Well you guys have to keep in mind that H2O (water) is a product of the combustion of Octane, let alone any other hydrocarbon. Now it's not enough to visibly see steam coming from the tail pipe, but like you guys said, if it were humid enough, it could easily combine to give off enough water to visibly see steam from the tail pipe.

 

I have a question. Is this the same gas that was sitting in the truck while you were working on it. Not sure if that would be an issue or not, but something to think about.

 

sounds like dihydrogen monoxide vapor. http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

 

Somebody shoot me, please...