White smoke and high idle on the 3.0

Hello all! I just bought a 95 4Runner a couple days ago. 161k on the clock, complete with a suspension and body lift, rock sliders, and 32.5 inch mud tires. I knew there was a lot of work involved when I bought it (which is why I was able to negotiate a good deal on it), and from what I can see, the valve covers and oil pan are leaking, and radiator needs replaced. Oil cap was clean, transmission fluid was bright, and no milkshakes in the coolant, but the radiator was definitely leaking.

Ran the VIN through the dealership, found they replaced the steering shaft, but no other recalls were found. The header connection that runs behind the motor appears to have a heat shield, and I'm not seeing any signs of BHG.

So, I'm already tracking what needs done, and getting parts on order for the gaskets, but noticed this morning that there was significantly more white smoke from the exhaust on startup, and she was idling high (1800-1900 rpm). I was planning on replacing the PCV valve and grommet while I do the valve cover gaskets, and replace the timing belt and water pump while I've got her open, because I have no way of knowing when the last time this was done.

My question is, is there anything else I should look at while I'm in there?

(Picture tax paid)

 

Welcome to the forum!

I think head gasket failures were common on those 3VZ's, but if you already checked that I'm stumped.

There are plenty of smart people on here. I'm sure someone will be able to help.

 

High idle is normal with a 3VZE on cold start when it’s cool outside.

as for the white smoke, my previous engine with 310k had similar symptoms. No obvious signs of head gasket failure like milky coolant but when I ran it for a while then turned it off you could hear the engine pressure bubbling in the overflow due to the failure. That white smoke will also smell sweet. First signs of a breach in the coolant system for these trucks is gurgling in the heater core and/or hold the upper coolant hose and feel if you can feel cylinder fire pulsation.

What coolant are you running? If Toyota pink coolant it is easiest to tell if your burning coolant in the cylinders if you pull the o2 sensor upstream of the catalytic converter. Mine was pink indicating I was burning coolant. Sure enough, when I pulled the engine for replacement cylinder 2 and 4 had pink coolant char on the exhaust ports.

 

It's running green coolant. I'm pretty sure the PO topped off all the fluids before I got to it, and the coolant level has dropped significantly since driving it home after purchase, and driving to the DOL the next day to transfer title. I'll pull that O2 sensor later this afternoon and see if there's any coolant residue on it.

 

Hey brother sorry to hear about white smoke.
When we go to the doctors, first thing the nurse does is put a thermometer in our mouth and takes our blood pressure.
It tells them a couple things that are going on inside our bodies. The numbers don't lie.

In my humble opinion, lots of things have come to life over the years, WiFi, cell phones, On Demand. And therefore we lose basics.

With cars, the numbers don't lie and WILL TELL all. Take a compression reading, if the head gasket is blown the numbers won't lie. A vacuum gauge - the numbers won't lie.
Both those instruments are as basic as a visit to the doctors...

Save yourself time. Take a compression check, it will tell you the integrity of your engine BEFORE you sink money into things. It will also tell you exactly where the blown head gasket is.

Do this First!

 

Welcome. Idle is very easy to adjust but do it after the engine is has warmed up. Should idle at 800-900 rpm again when the engine is warm. High idle is normal and you will also notice that it takes a few miles for the tranny to shift properly. There was a sort of recall, it was a TSB, for the headgasket on the 3.0 back in the late 90's. Toyota replaced them for free. http://www.brian894x4.com/V6headgasketrecall.html

 

Welcome to the love/hate world of the 3VZ. If you want a horror story, read my little thread on Gatorgrl's 4Runner build. I swear we replaced and touched every single thing in that beast and now....finally....she is behaving as she should....but that road wasn't easy. If you don't know, plan on doing it. These engines ARE known for head gasket failures due to the dreaded crossover pipe in the rear of the engine. We deleted ours after we had the block removed and decked and the heads rebuilt due to this fact, along with a host of other wonderful things.

 

Oh, I've been reading through that thread and taking notes. Between all the really smart folks on these forums, and the factory service manuals I was able to download to my phone, I think I should be able to solve just about any issue with this motor.

 

Yo "thegillmachine" your right were Fourtoad, myself and many others were about two or more years ago.

The throttle body has a bypass valve in it with a wax actuator (similar to a thermostat) that expands with heat. While cold this valve creates a vacuum leak on purpose and the engine idles at 1000 to 2000 rpm. Then as it warms up the wax expands and closes this thing off. After its warmed up the idle air screw on the throttle body is used to set the warmed up idle speed should it need to be adjusted. This actuator is part of the fast warm up to get the engine running cleaner sooner for the OBD-1 pre 1996 era emissions control technology.

Cylinders #1 and #6 which are on opposite corners of the engine and have identical block, head-gasket (HG) geometry. I'd look at those cylinders first with a borescope for coolant ingress. These cylinders have the shortest distance from the combustion chamber ring in the HG to a water gallery in the block were the head gasket can form a path between them as it breaks down with age. Because of the way my head gasket had exhibited its failure on #1 I went with MLS because the water gallery is only in the block and the gasket covers it as there is not an equivalent gallery in the head. As this was the case with the Feld Pro's my 4Runner came with it seemed to me to be a bad idea to try and make composite HG's work as a long term fix. Time will tell on my MLS gaskets. If you go this route you have to lap the block and heads after they are decked.

Headers, MLS and ARP with a proper engine rebuild is in your future. Welcome aboard the 3VZ-E slow train to fun and games in the art of vehicle troubleshooting, maintenance and enhancement!

 

When there is white smoke, the possible things are-

• internal coolant leak
• problem with transmission fluid
• cracked cylinder head
• fuel injector
• broken fuel pumping injection
• faulty piston
• variation in oil level
• water contamination of fuel

If you want, you can know them in detail reading the blog about white smoke.