So i bought this truck 2 days ago for 640$, my first car. I was planning on putting some work into it, when i bought it i knew it needed a windshield, muffler and alternator(it makes a really loud squeeking noise). So i bought it, took it home, seems to run fine and whatnot. But I\m not very observant and mechanical in terms of trucks. My dad said it seems to smoke alot, i thought it was just cause the muffler is messed. He thinks it needs a head gasket fixed.

So my plan is to take it to the shop and get it looked over by a mechanic to find out whats wrong. Say worst case scenario that the head gasket is blown, is it worth it to put money into it and fix the truck up? it has 270 000 kms on it. I dont know where to start and if i could pull off fixing everythign myself.

 

Any Toyota is worth bringing back to life in my opinion. Make sure that engine is workin tip to shape, then you can move onto the fun stuff of getting it off road ready. Let us know whats up!

 

Im looking jsut to get it ready for the road ahah, maybe offroad after that.

 

Definatly fix it, once you get all the problems taken care of you will have the best vehicle you could ever own.

 

I like this forum, i get discouraged easily but you guys get me stoked again, haha. I might need some help with some tech onc ei find everythign thats wrong.

 

22re's are pretty straight forward engines and are pretty easy to work on for simple mechanics. 640$ is not a bad deal. What color is the smoke and how much smoke? If its less than 50 degrees out side it will seem to smoke cause its....cold. Loud sqeeking noise could be anything from a loose or belt to a pully bearing or water pump. Does the truck run bad or miss fire randomly? First thing i would do to a truck like that when i first got it is determine the cause of smoke if there is an issue or not.... then do a tune-up your self that way you know your own parts. New plugs(NGK), wires, dist.cap, rotor button, fuel filter, air filter, oil change, fluids. If you have compressed air around you can take the plugs out each cyl and pressurize each cyl and see if you see bubbles coming out the radiator. They also make these special headgasket testers you put coolant in it from your engine and it tells you but the air is better... If you seem bubbles theres either and blown HG, cracked head, cracked block. Only way to tell is to open up the motor.

 

like whitish smoke, and a bit, its probabaly around 0-10 degrees celcius when i see the smoke. Engine starts and runs fine, never misfired yet, im 18 so i guess kinda dumb so when i bought it i took it to a straight away part of a local road and went up and down it really fast. brakes work, thankfully. umm, about all the tune up, not sure if i could do all that myself, i have no jack or anything. Only tools good enough for fixing bicycles.

 

Defenetly fix it! That is what I did. I bought my 91 22re for $500 with only a short block and had to find parts. It gives you great feeling of building something yourself. You can find may build treads on the 22re here. And lots of helpful people too. So don't get discrouraged. I have changed my had gasket and had the motor rebuilt. If you need any help, hit me up. Good luck!

 

Have you checked the oil? Typically if you blow a head gasket then the oil will look like cappuccino.

 

too busy to really look into anything, Busy during the day anyways and today was rainy as hell and my dad's saturn was in the garage. After work tommorow if its nice im going to pull soem caps off and look inside.

 

If the oil has any white in it then you need to quit driving it "right now"

 

Trailer that thing and get it to a mechanic. Get it fixed right the first time and you will thank yourself later. Don't get discouraged!

 

so first thing i Guess ill get it looked over by a mechanic. If theres a big issue with the head gasket and all that aybe i should jsust invest in a full engine rebuild? Seems like the best idea, then iknow everything there should last awhile. How much would that cost? how much does a shop charge jsut for an inspection fo everything?

 

and where can i get a owners manual? ahah.

 

Get a haynes/ chilton manual at your local parts store
I had a squeeling once that I thought was the power steering pump. I took the belt off for about a week until I could scrape the dough to replace it. But after some more testing and such it turned out to be the idler pulley and I was able to replace just the bearing inside and saved myself a bunch of money.
Don't give up on it.
use the search button. It'll keep you from getting flamed for posting a ? that's already been answered a bazillion times.
I wouldn't flame ya but some would.
good luck

 

Just checked the rad cap and oil cap, looked inside, no oil in rad, and no coolant or anything in the oil. My uncle owns a shop and agreed to put my truck up on the hoist and look over it for me for free.

 

Good deal.

good start too.

Welcome to YOTATECH, you're in the right spot.

No matter what the damage (within reason) a novice mechanic can do a boat-load of the work....ask me, i are one!

But 1st, the essentials.....find out what's wrong. A few bucks (or free, hopefully in your case) and you can get yourself a decent provisional diagnosis of what's up.

secondly, Christmas is too far away, so you may just be buying yourself some stuff.

A good floor jack is essential for changing tires and lots of other stuff. A decent metric socket set will get you very deeply into the repair process. But most importantly a good working knowledge of the 22re is essential.

ask lots of questions BEFORE unscrewing stuff, but more than that, do your research........all you answers are on YOTATECH.

 

truck went to the shop today, cross your fingers for me! will be getting her back after the weekend. hopefully then i can start putting money into it.

 

Okay. Shop safety look over went good. Only needs exhaust and windshield for safety. Needs the ehaust from the catalytic converter back. Im thinking of installing itmyself. is it difficult?

 

no its really easy. but you should weld the hangers onto the tailpipe, so unless you know how to weld, id get it welded, then its really straightforward after that