I am the semi-proud owner of a 2002 Tacoma Prerunner. I say semi-proud because I'm noticing some problems with it. First it smokes heavily during startup. At first it was white smoke, now I notice a blue-ish tint to it. I also have oil in my air filter housing and the hose that connects it to the throttle body. I had the stealership look at it and they suggested it was the PCV valve which they replaced. It's still having problems. I then pulled the PCV valve out and noticed it was clogged up in the engine. It looked like sludge. I opened the oil cap and it's very sludgey in there as well.

My question is, could this be a faulty head gasket? What do I say to the dealership? I bought their extended platinum warranty in case something like this happened. Will it cover a blown head gasket? Any other suggestions as to why I'm seeing this jelly in my engine and oil in my air filter? I went through a quart of oil the first week I had it.

Any thoughts????

 

Did you buy the truck used. If so it's probably due to a serious lack of oil changes in the past. Toyota sienna vans have the same problem if not maintained properly. A large amount of tar like substance builds up everywhere in the engine. The oil control rings get stuck to the pistons and it starts burning oil. I hope this is not the case with your truck, cause it would require a complete engine teardown.


Mike.

 

Well the service manager called back and said there was gelling/sludge in the engine which caused excessive crankcase pressure and premature wear on the parts. Basically said I need a new engine which costs upwards of $5,000! Can't clean it due to the wearing down of the parts (he didn't say which ones). He said the salesman would get in contact with me about replacing my truck with something else. I may just ask for my money back and go Ford or Chevy. Or I could do what I should have done in the first place and have the truck inspected by a mechanic. I've only had this truck for a week and this really sucks!