Well as the title states, my 91runner with a 22re, 279,000 miles has started to suck up coolant and I see white exhaust. Does this always mean that the headgasket is going or a cracked head? Or can the coolant be drawn in thru a malfuncting valve (don't remember what it is called) under the front of the throttle body?

The timing chain, guides, oil pump, water pump etc were all done about 20,000 miles ago with an engnbldr kit.

Thanks in advance.

 

head is cracked or gasket most likely ck oil see what it looks like if it look like oil its not Head gasket or head but if it looks like some really good chocolate milk dontt drink you blew head gasket the chocolate milk means you have water in oil

 

thanks for the quick reply.

the oil looks good and the coolant looks good, no mixing of the two.

 

than it is possible its sucking threw water passage but not common at least with me and when that happens truck runs terrible i would do a pressure test on cooling system that will point you in the direction you need to go auto zone or most parts stores sell a pressure tester for cheap and it is a huge help with diagnostics

 

x2 on the pressure test....also if you start the engine when cold after sitting all night remove the rad capt, a blown head gasket sometimes will produce tiny air bubbles in the radiator that look like fizzes......that is a sure sign of a bad head gasket

 

started the truck this afternoon to see what happens throughout the warm up and it never stopped smoking, even when it got completely warmed up.

that is a pretty good indication that it is either the head gasket or the head.

looks like its rebuild time.

 

How is it running? When my head failed (not the gasket) - it would burn a TON of coolant and it ran pretty bad.

Do you hear any noise from the front of the motor? Like the chain could be rubbing on the timing cover?

 

Cgeorge,

thanks for your response.

other than what I have mentioned, it runs good. I did the timing chain, gears, water pump and oil pump about 15,000 miles ago, so I don't think that would be it, but you never know.

 

have you tried what I mentioned just to do a visusl

 

I'm having the same issues, except that as soon as the truck starts to warm up, the white smoke disappears. The engine is still running rough, so I'm suspecting that it's still a head gasket

 

buck,

I did the cap off the radiator test and I thought I saw a few small bubbles in the coolant, but nothing that was obvious. The coolant kept rising to the the top and spilling out of the radiator though, which I thought was kinda weird even though the coolant was not warm or hot yet? Is it supposed to do that?

 

well to let you know when I suspected a blown head gasket....I would start up and only after the engine started cold for a few minutes with the radiator cap off the fluid would start to push out the top of the radiator really bad.....and when I put the cap back on with engine running and starting to warm up I got white smoke out the exhaust real heavy with a lot of vapor.I would put my hand in front of the exhaust and it would get wet with water vapor and for me it was a sure sigh of a bad head gasket here is a video of what my smoke looked like.I should add that this was on a hot summer day
[YOUTUBE]bFg8iyihDAI[/YOUTUBE]

 

Hey guys,,,,

my 2 cents

I remember seeing this used on a video when a guy was showing exhaust gasses were coming through the coolant.

http://www.rxauto.com/block-test-kits.htm

I imagine for the money, it's worth looking to see if a local garage has an item like this, otherwise I don't think I would spend the $$$$$ for this just to confirm what you suspect anyway.

 

buck,

watched your video, that is what my exhaust looks like. Mine runs good and sounds fine as well.

thanks

 

When mine went it was burning coolant at startup and then it would be fine after it warmed up. A couple 3 days later it started running a bit rough and I had to dump more coolant in. A couple 3 days later it was always smoking and really drinking the coolant. Never had the milkshake. When i tore the head off, well the exhaust manifold I could tell #3 was burning the coolant, then with the head off I could tell the HG went between #3 and #4. It was letting coolant into the combustion chamber on #3.

But that was mine.

 

mine started up cold, with a flooding out sound and once the coolant was burned out of the cylinder and the engine warms up it started smoking with a miss.......and once I removed the heads here is what I found in the #6 cylinder

 

mine started up cold, with a flooding out sound and once the coolant was burned out of the cylinder and the engine warms up it started smoking with a miss.......and once I removed the heads here is what I found in the #6 cylinder

 

Sorry don't have any good pic's of my mess...