i have a 1988 4runner with 22re. and for the past few weeks i have noticed that it has a very rough idle when it starts up. well for the first time when i started it up today i noticed white smoke coming out of the tailpipe. collant isn't brownand i am letting it cool off so i can check for the white film around the oil cap. i also noticed this on the engine block see brown spot in pic. what is it?? i have no idea. i believe i got a head gasket problem. the area behind the distributor cap was alittle wet. not sure why. thanks all help is appreciatted. steven

 

There's no pic, but the white smoke sounds definitely like a blown HG. Good luck & keep us posted!

 

it has milky film under oil cap. so how much does it cost to replace a head gasket???

 

I just did my head gasket with having the heads machined and new stainless steel valves put in for $700 total, + a timming chain overhaul from engnbldr. That was parts and head work, labor was free (me and a friend). We were able to do it in 3 days, 1 dis-assemble, 1 machine work, 1 re-assemble. If your head is not warped or cracked (recomend having it looked at and pressure tested), you can get away with just the cost of the head gasket kit.

 

I managed to do my for probally 70 bucks, including some tools that I had to buy, oil, coolant, etc. But the best part is that I have to pull it all apart again because I have a burnt valve!!! I did mine in 2 days, head of and on in about 6-7 hours the first day, and finishing up little stuff the next day took a few more hours.

 

I'd say mine cost around $250 total, but that was because I put the head on and had to remove it again to have a helicoil put in the #4 spark plug hole...so the added expense was due to 2 headgaskets...but if I did it again it'd probably only cost $150. As far as time, it took my roommate and I a while becuase I'd never torn into an engine before, and we were outraegously anal about labeling hoses and baggies to put bolts in...so we probably had 15 hours in it by the time I was driving it down the road again. At any rate...good luck, it's not a hard job at all if you take your time.

 

i did mine myself for around $500... but i bought brand new toyota gaskets from toyota and that was $200 right there.... i had the head amchined and pressure tessted and a valve grind including new valve guides done for $180.... the rest was in carb cleaner and such and new fluids..... it took me 3 weeks to do it as i wasnt too involved in it... but really was about 2 days of actually working on it....