RE: TOY: Head Gasket? - Valve Seals?

["Payne, Mike K." <MPayne1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I left all of the info on here so no one has to go back looking.

It was neither a head gasket or valve seals.

The white smoke we are contributing to condensation and cold weather.  We
can not see a connection between it and the coolant.  The coolant has a good
color and it is not really new so it has had a while to get fouled up.

The compression across the cylinders was 150 - 185 - 185 - 185.

The cylinder (#1) that had 150 is the one that was fouling up spark plugs.
We believe that it was doing this because of a rich condition... and that
this rich condition also slightly glazed the cylinder and accounts for the
lack in compression.  We are hoping that the rings will re-seat and the
cylinder will be fine.

What was causing the rough idle and weird noise was .012 (that's right
twelve thousandths of an inch).  That is how much clearance the Exhaust
Valve is supposed to have, and we couldn't even get a feeler gauge in there.
This caused the valve to stay slightly open and screw up combustion.

I am now getting noticeably more power since I have all four cylinders
going.

We are optimistic that this was caused by a "rebuild error" plus natural
wear.  Worse case is that the valve is actually eroding and we have only
prolonged its demise.  I have a spare head that I have been wanting to
rebuild anyway, so I will have it just in case.

This is all based on our hypothetical that my buddy Cameron came up with.
Since the adjustment works I cannot argue with him... and he knows his
engines pretty well.  I am happy that this is could be a minor mistake and
does not necessarily discredit the company I got my engine from... after
all, even Cameron said he hated trying to adjust solid lifters.  I hope that
this stresses the importance of valve adjustment for everyone else like it
did for me... the difference in the way the engine sounds, idles, and
performs is not even funny.

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Phil_Johnson@bdis.com [mailto:Phil_Johnson@bdis.com] 

Start the engine with the radiator cap off and look for bubbles in the
coolant.

And do the compression check.

Phil




"Payne, Mike K." <MPayne1@allstate.com> on 11/06/2001 09:12:17 AM

Please respond to toyota@4x4wire.com

To:   "4x4 Toyota Wire (E-mail)" <toyota@4x4wire.com>
cc:    (bcc: Phil Johnson/SANJ/BDX)
Subject:  TOY: Head Gasket? - Valve Seals?



Well, I hope you all can give me a little insight.

It hurts to ask about this actually, because I thought I was doing so well
with this Reman Engine.

Anyway, here are all the symptoms.

I have white smoke after the truck warms up to at or near op. temp (Not
plumes of smoke, this is very light).
This is accompanied by a sound like missing which causes the engine to
"lope" a little, but does not effect RPMs.
This sound does not appear until after the engine is at or near op temp.

The sound started occurring "suddenly" when my wife was accelerating from a
toll booth, so it was not gradual.  At the time I did not notice any white
smoke and it did not appear until a couple days after the sound.

Increasing engine RPMs smoothes out the lope and the white smoke seems to
lessen a bit.
The engine seems to run fine and does not show any obvious lack in power.

Removing the spark plug wire for the number one cylinder causes NO change in
the sound of the engine.
Repeatedly moving the wire away and then back again does not cause any
change even though there is an arc.
I have done the same at the cap and the plug ends.
I also removed the spark plug and made sure it was sparking (spark plug is
brand new).
While increasing engine RPMs this DOES show a change, it only lacks any sign
of change at idle.

When this started I replaced the spark plugs and the no 1 spark plug showed
signs of detonation... as in, it was pretty well destroyed.

I have replaced the no 1 injector and swapped it with one in another
cylinder - this did not change anything.

The oil and coolant look good.  I am burning about a quart every 3K.

The white smoke leads me to believe that it is a head gasket but I don't
know if that would cause the sound or the detonation... would bad valve
seals do that?  Any help is appreciated.

I think I caught everything in there as far as what I have done, but I
apologize if I missed something that I have already done that someone
suggests.  A compression check is next on my list.
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