Awful odor from exhaust, occasional smoke.

There's 240K miles on the truck, the smoke didn't go away quickly, as the wind carried it from the rear of my vehicle past the cab, and then it dissipated as it passed the front of the vehicle ahead of me.
The oil dipstick and cap both look normal, no milkiness at all

 

probably worn rings then... oil blowby is making you burn oil. Hence the oily spark plugs. PCV is probably clogged. Need to do a compression test.

 

You could have more than one problem. The white smoke is probably worn rings. The foul odor could mean the cat is toast. I'm not sure what kind of issues get shown on your year's truck, but a bad cat should throw a code and check engine light should be ON.

 

Thanks everybody.
The only code that's shown up is P0401- EGR flow insufficient.
That ones been on for well over a year.

 

I've never worked on EGR stuff before so maybe someone else can help with that. @mechanicjon @BartMaster1234 ?

 

Sounds like it could be EGR related to me. P0401 usually means a carbon build up in the EGR system. The EGR diaphragm could also be defective.

If it’s been on for that long, than perhaps it finally failed.

Just thinking out loud here. But if I were you I’d definitely rule out the EGR first since that seems like the only underlaying problem so far.

PCV is a good one to check too.

 

adding *any* amount of coolant or oil is excessive. This is a Tacoma, not a 70's domestic V8.

 

I say his 1 qt of oil every 2500 miles is not all that unexpected for a truck with 230,000. There's gotta be some wear to the piston rings.

 

Loosing *any* oil, at *any* mileage means something is wrong/worn out and should be fixed.

I guess I should qualify my statement with the assumption of proper maintenance. Yeah, the guy's rings are probably gone, but that tells me maintenance was likely ignored for far too long. There are trucks with twice that mileage that don't loose a drop.

 

And trucks that have half that mileage and use double! Proper maintenance and how used/driven are the keys.

 

Well, the smoking hasn't happened again, after those 4 times. I just hooked up the OB2 scanner and got some strange results, I'll post them in a minute.
I let it warm up after work today, and revved the engine a few times, up to 4000 to 4500 rpms, quickly. It seems theres quite a bit of liquid coming from the tail pipe... Of course I never checked to see how much was normal either...? This is maybe 2 tablespoons I guess.

 

From the scanner---> DTC that caused freeze frame data PO401. Engine RPM 2525. Load value 43%, intake air 21 degrees. Short term fuel trim one 15.6%. Short term fuel trim 100.6%. Vehicle speed 39mph. Fuel system 1 closed, system 2 NA.

 

Pop open ur coolant over flow tank and radiator...when the truck is cold obviously...does it smell like fuel?...got a white milky substance?...if it does it most definitely sounds like a leaking head gasket...closest to the combustion chamber. I had this problem and dropped some Bars gasket sealer in this past weekend. We shall see.

If it is the head gasket...it's not worth just fixing in a motor with such high mileage...I'd yank the whole thing and rebuild.

Dave

 

Intake air 21f, found the issue for white ''smoke.''

Does it usually get that cold where you are at? Water dripping from the exhaust is completely normal at that temp, especially when the engine is cold, combustion of fossil fuels always produces water as a by-product.

 

There's no fuel odor from the reservoir or radiator. Fluids are all normal looking, from the oil, to the coolant.

Right now, we are experiencing a cool spell in TN. I'm driving it daily 24m round trip to work. The only thing that's noticable is the burned hair odor that's coming from the exhaust. I'd love to mark this one off as some kinds fluke, like a pcv valve/egr valve. I've owned this rig since 2000. Its like a member of the family.

 

keep us posted

 

Man! First it was burnt popcorn, then french fries, now burnt hair... What are you doing to your truck?

Sub'd

 

Something could have maybe blown under your truck while the exhaust was hot and stuck to the cat converter? Look for any stains there. Did you piss anyone off lately? A dirty trick that has been used is to place a block of Limburger cheese atop the cat. The vehicle will reek horribly for weeks if not months.

 

Maybe your engine is running hotter than normal (why?, low on water...head gasket...?) and heating up your cat above it's previous running temp, which would then be the smell. Do you know engine temp when fully warmed(<210F?), or have you seen the temp gauge creeping up above previous norm (center). I see people stating they are running anywhere from 180-210 on TW. That coolant level was pretty low unless you find a leaky freeze plug, hose clamp, etc.

To me, the plugs don't look that bad. Running a little rich, yes. But not overly concerning to me if I saw it in one of mine.

To sum what everybody is saying, I would:
check engine running temp
look for coolant leaks, and keep a close eye on coolant level
continue to monitor rad cap and oil fill cap for signs of head gasket issue
check compression
Don't run it hot! If the HG is not blown, you will if you run it hot "limping home"

 

I appreciate the replies.

One shop gave me an estimate of $1400 to replace the head gasket. Is that a reasonable estimate?