Put Put Put noise and white smoke!

So my 97' 4 banger, pre-runner, stick shift .. started to crap out. the original motor in it ran about 250k miles before the 3rd cylinder died. Had the engine replaced with another 4banger that was said to have about 100k on it..

anywho, it has been about 1 year since the replacement and now the problems are: white smoke out of the exhaust, engine making put put put or tick tick tick noise.. the more gas you give the faster the noise goes. seems as if it has no pressure/power. Put in first fear, let the clutch off slowly the truck will start to die. give it gas and it barely wants to move.. give it more gas and it moves just a tad bit.. as if it has no power? and the whole time, there is a cloud of smoke in my rear view mirror!

 

I'd start with the simple stuff, air and fuel delivery. I'm not familiar with the 1st Gens but do they have an in-line fuel filter, if so, was that replaced when you did the engine swap? Check the air filter, make sure mice haven't made a nest in your intake (doubtful but that stuff is cheap to check and you might get lucky)

Does it burn oil between service intervals that you've noticed?

Check the coolant, make sure it's all coolant and no oil has made it's way into the coolant.

 

valve seats / seals are good place to start if your burning oil and gettign ticking noises that corelate with engine rpm. check compression on cylinders. could be bottom end problem as well.

 

valve seats / seals are good place to start if your burning oil and gettign ticking noises that coralate with engine rpm. check compression on cylinders. could be bottom end problem as well.

 

white smoke and a miss is often a blown head gasket...look for contamination to the radiator and dipstick and for water out the tailpipe.

Good luck...

 

while my brother was stranded at a gas station waiting for me to go scoop him up, a local mechanic mentioned it is a high chance that the gasket blew...

white smoke and water out of the tailpipe is a sign of a blown gasket... and brother said that he heard and started to hear it since the night before! ... the truck recently got an oil change

what exactly am i looking for when i pull the dipstick?? water im assuming?

i appreciate the replies! will definitely start looking at the other things mentioned.. especially that sneeky mice

 

your oil will look like chocolate milk if there is coolant in the oil.

 

well that was easy. cool! well not cool, but you get what im sayin'.

 

glad you figured it out, and sorry for the bad news!

 

Sounds like a blown head gasket to me

 

Another fun way is to remove the radiator cap. Then start the truck with the hood open. If it splashes out. Shoot it directly between the headlights.

 

that statement makes me sad...lol...

HG's suck, but your motor isn't trashed unless you drive too much on it and overheat the motor badly.

 

ohh no, i havent figured it out yet...

when i said easy, i was referring to the fact that it is easy to tell if the oil was contaminated or not. I would have to wait until this weekend to find out if it is or not.. lol

 

what is the average cost for a repair like this??

and how much do you think i can get out of the truck if i sold it? besides gasket problem the truck runs great! its a 97' and had another motor installed at around 250k miles.

 

It's like a $50 gasket kit, seen some as low as $25 on ebay. There's a decent amount of labor so if you don't feel comfortable doing it call up a few shops and ask what the labor rate is if you buy the parts. That should save you the markup on the gaskets.

 

well was thinking maybe $2000obo for the condition it is in?

nothing else is really mechanically wrong with it... i mean there are some cosmetic discrepancies but hey, its a 1997.

 

dont sell it like it is. It will be anywhere between $500-$1000 in labor to do the gasket. The gasket itself is cheap.

I say fix it and keep it, or fix it and sell it for a decent price.

 

got a friend who is interested and threw an offer of $1000 as is...hmmmmmmmmm

 

Local shop quoted me $900to replace my HG. They had this bulb thingy they put in the radiator to check for combustion gases.

 

sold it to an old friend for $1500 as is.... hes a mechanic and he'll fix it up and use it for his mechanic shop