How screwed am I?

Fairly long story, please bear with me.

2008 extended cab, 6' bed, 2.7, manual transmission, ~225K miles. I have replaced tAntifreeze was again all over engine compartment.he water pump withing the past 6 months. Went to friends house the other night and on the way home on the interstate I started to go up the hill of an overpass when I started losing speed. Downshifted and it sped up. Got off the interstate and onto a back highway. Approaching stop sign so I pushed in clutch and was coasting to a stop and the engine died. Popped clutch and it started back up. Proceeded through stop sign but the truck didn't have a whole lot of power. Started noticing a strange noise any time I pushed down on the accelerator. Pulled into a parking lot and it died again. Popped hood and antifreeze was everywhere. Overflow reservoir cap had popped itself open and spewed everywhere. Let the engine cool, popped radiator cap. No coolant. Checked oil… none of that either. Had wife come get me. Went back the next day and put in a gallon of oil and 1.5 gallons of antifreeze mix. Truck started up and seemed to be ok. Drove part way home and it started over heating again. Stopped at O'Reilly's and refilled my antifreeze jugs with water. Let engine cool and refilled radiator. Drove the rest of the way home. As long as I stayed under 2K rpms temp stayed fine. Got home and noticed radiator cap was broken. Got a new one and installed it, bled cooling system, pressure tested cooling system, everything seems to be ok. Drove for a week and yesterday it started over heating again stranding me about half an hour from home. Checked coolant, I'm half a gallon low. Overflow reservoir is full though. Topped off coolant with water and slowly limped it home. Checked things when I got home and noticed when I run it with the radiator cap off, I see bubbling in the radiator. Have checked the oil and it appears to be just fine. Any suggestions? Do I have a blown head gasket?

 

Sounds like a blown head gasket, especially with the bubbling with the radiator cap off.

 

If the head gasket were blown, wouldn't the oil be milkshake like though? Because it's not, it looks like fresh clean oil. That's part of what I'm finding so puzzling about this.

 

A head gasket can fail without involving an oil passage. Sounds like you have a leak between a cylinder and coolant passage, and maybe also from the coolant passage to the outside of the engine.
Here's a better explanation. https://www.fluidlife.com/blog-head-gasket-failures-recognizing-symptoms/

 

That's excellent information to have. Thanks for that link. Looks like I'm very screwed. Decisions have to be made now it seems. Rebuild, swap for used, swap for something else, get rid of it and find another vehicle...

 

No, they can blow in many places and sometimes you can get oil in your antifreeze instead of the other way around depending on where they fail.

You are losing coolant and overheating, if it's not in the oil and not visibly leaking, it has to be going out the exhaust.

 

Doubt you need a full engine rebuild, just a new head gasket. I’ve done one before on a Toyota 4 cylinder (not a Tacoma though). It’s not easy but not terribly difficult. Maybe that’s the same cost as swapping an engine with how much labor costs these days but personally I’d just replace the head gasket. Gotta be way easier to do a head gasket on a 4 banger than the v6 so you have that going for you at least.

 

You can also scope the cylinders and look for the piston that has a "clean" appearance as compared to the others. Piston tops usually have dark faces in their normal state (soot). The cylinder/piston that looks different/cleaner than the others/is indicative of the location of a cylinder head gasket leak. The coolant and steam is washing the cylinder "clean".

Don't put off this repair once it's determined to be the culprit: It will only get worse and if the coolant exhausted in the meantime, the engine will be toast.

 

Welcome to TW..

 

The question of whether or not it's worth fixing, comes down to the head and block.
You SHOULD have the head and block both checked for warpage. The block doesn't typically warp as often as the head.
most of the time, IF something warps, it's the head.

If both are fine, it is worth fixing.
If the head is warped, it's up to you. And the route you take to get it fixed.
If the block warped, it's not worth fixing. (IMO)

 

Pull the plugs one at a time until you find the one(s) that are crystalized with a white crud... you've found the leaking hole.

 

Maybe a low mileage engine swap is in order. @AR15xAR10 I think had one for sale?

 

I’m keeping my 4.0 for now but i have so much other stuff for sale

I already sold the 60551 mile 2.7 I had for sale

 

You ran it with no oil and no coolant? That things toast
Swap a used engine in