---->Head Gasket<-----or worse? Help

2000 tacoma, 3.4,auto,sr5,4x4 xtra cab 220,000 miles .......... Im 2nd owner at 180,00...

just replaced valve cover gaskets , cam shaft plugs, pcv valve , reglued half moon looking things and replaced plugs and wires....... now the fun!

I was driving to the creek sunday when i felt a slight hesitation going up a hill that made me start paying attention to sounds and such. My brother was driving behind me and noticed at some point black smoke coming from my tail pipe that eventually turned to white. At first it only belched out smoke shifting into 2nd gear. Now it smokes a ton when I start it up and continues heavily until it warms up then it thins out a bit. Also can't seem to notice much smoke above 55mph.

what I've checked...
coolant- green and not low
oil- lost at least a quart over 30 miles.... yesterday appeared still very clear but today its deteriorated a good bit..... i can't say its milky but its only registering on the very bottom of dip stick ( i need to add more oil) and I can't really see in the valve cover .

smoke -does not smell sweet and i notice no water in tail pipe. sometimes the smell is oily but other times its different kinda acidic (weird smell different kinda like burning brake fluid)

no codes thrown and none of the cylinders are missing ..... still running smooth

What is my next step? if I blew it up shouldn't it be running worst? Is it possible to burn mostly oil with a bad head cover gasket?

many thanks in advance!!!

 

bump...... Has anyone purchased a motor from JDM on E-bay ? Ive been searching around for reviews without much luck. There has to be some 3.0 guys out there that have bought a 3.4 from offline. ....... Head gasket or engine swap?

 

update--- more pieces to the puzzle....... oil found in air box

 

Looks like head gasket to me.. Is it overheating?

 

You say you replaced pcv valve and later found oil in the air box. are you sure you have the correct pcv valve and its correctly installed? pcv hose plugged ? Is there enough oil in the air box that it is being drawn into the engine and burned ? If you are not losing coolant or misfiring most likely not head gasket. Compression test is in order.

 

Pcv valve working and correct..... intake gasket maybe?

 

Pull the plugs and check for coolant residue. That white smoke is all to familiar with the 4Runner 3.0 I used to have. It was a head gasket. I'd much rather do a low mileage engine swap than do the head gaskets. Toyota engine requires a really fine surface prep (30RA+) for the MLS gaskets.

 

Yes, perform both a leakdown test on your radiator as well as a compression check on all of the cylinders.
That's the only way to know for sure what is going on.

 

Well i think i found my answer. So part of the info i left out was that I originally cracked my passenger side valve cover so I replaced it...... I got to talking to my friend and we decided to pull the PCV valve out of the valve cover but leave it attached ... started it let it run for 10-15 minutes and smoke started to decline so I got in it and drove it for 10 minutes NO SMOKE !!! turned it off and back on no more SMOKE!!! So its got to be the new valve cover right! what I figure is bad baffles that allow the PCV to suck oil straight into the intake ----2 quarts worth to be exact ....... DORMAN = suck......

 

Welp, at least its not a head gasket.

 

Did you have any issues with the plugs? I would have guessed that the plugs would eventually dislike oil being introduced from the intake valves...