I'm in a bad place Yotatech...from my drive to Phoenix from Denver, my truck started losing power, then blowing white smoke. The damn engine never overheated, and I just replaced the HGs 30k ago. Block and head was tanked/decked/etc.

Needed to be in Phoenix ASAP, so I dropped off the truck at a mechanic in Cortez, CO. Blowing white smoke, stumbling unless full throttle, etc. Exactly how a blown head gasket would behave. I figured it would be the driver's side, since when I opened the hood, I'm pretty sure I saw coolant leaking out between the head on the drivers side. I could only get the truck restarted after I pulled #4 spark plug and then turned it over (un hydrolocking it),....

or so I thought

Today the shop called me saying my head was fine, and so was my gasket. What gives? Surely my block isn't cracked..




Could the oil cooler somehow be causing this? When I first pulled over, the dipstick wasn't milky..only the cap, but that may have just been a coincidence.

 

Oil cooler shouldn't allow coolant into the combustion chamber at all. Are you sure it was cylinder 4? If I'm not mistaken, 4 is a middle cylinder on a 3.0. it does in fact look like that gasket had been leaking but in one of the end cylinders. Looks like it didn't burn through the fire ring like you normally expect a head gasket to go. If you look closely at the printing on the gasket you can see it's almost gone on the bottom cylinder but very visible at the top. The top is also where it's wet. This is usually because there wasn't as much clamping force on that end. That's caused by either not enough bolt torque or a head or deck that isn't flat. You can also see the imprint of a coolant passage on the top right of the gasket. You can see it was good on the bottom edge of the passage but the imprint lightens up near the top. Looks to me like it definitely was leaking.

 

I gotta wonder did they pressure test the cooling system or just pull things apart?

Did you shut things down right away since it did not over heat ?

You sprayed coolant when cranking with the middle plug removed??

I am guessing you caught this just as it was starting to fail so to the average shop it looks ok compared to a major failure !!

See How it works when it gets put back together

 

Not sure what they did. All I know is that I've just paid the shop another $400 to check/replace the other side. It would've been another $1000 if they put it back together and had to disassemble if it was the other side. The truck has never overheated since I redid the gaskets 30k ago. I couldn't tell since I was unable to see from the cab.

That is what I'm thinking. Just frustrated I spent another $1600 on the truck. Thinking of selling it now, since its not worth a ton to anyone except me, and something a bit newer (like a gen3 or gen4) sounds just much nicer at this point.

If I had time/space/tools, I could've taken care of this. I was just stuck in a bad situation. This is the only shop to work on my car aside from tires. ARGH!

If anyone is looking for a good interior/engine/driveline/trail rig in Phoenix area...let me know..

 

Yes--it was middle cyl. on driver's side. Didn't think it was the oil cooler, just confusing since its not a typical "blow out". I had the head checked by the shop and they reported it was "perfect". I'm assuming the block is the same since the truck wasn't overheated in the slightest. Could this be a faulty gasket? I had to get a FELPRO last minute (fix-it itis). The other side is a DNJ gasket. Going back together with a ToyOEM gasket for peace of mine. And its $58 a gasket.

The "wet" was reported to me by the shop as being when they removed the head and the coolant spilling out. I was wondering myself if that wasn't the case and was a telltale sign of leaking.

I put this engine together myself, following the Toyota FSM by the letter. Could I have simply not torqued it enough (the shop reported that all the head bolts were equally tight)? Or, back to a faulty gasket, could the gasket have been manufactured uneven, I wonder?

 

Intake gasket?

 

Mystery solved...

The block is cracked.

That is the end of this truck, unfortunately.

 

bummer dude. sorry to hear it