Head Gasket?

2011 SR5 4.0 V6 205,XXX miles

Noticed the other day that the coolant in the reservoir was low and I am getting white smoke out of the exhaust on some start ups. Still up in the air as whether or not too replace the head gasket or find a used motor. It seems hard to find a motor to swap out so that leaves me leaning towards just having it replaced.
I'm pretty sure I could do this myself but I just dont have the time between work and other obligations. With that said, does anyone know of a good shop that specializes in Toyota's around the Conyer/Covington area? Or does anyone know of a place that I could get a JDM motor or a low mileage used one?

TIA

 

Have you pulled plugs to see if any of them are "steam cleaned"? This is a good indicator of coolant being burned off.

I ask because the reservoir has a vent that allows coolant to evaporate after a while, so it could just be low from that. Also, my exhaust tends to steam more in the seasonal transition from colder weather to warm because; 1) warmer air during the day holds more moisture, 2) when air is cooled at night it becomes saturated which causes moisture to collect on hard surfaces, like inside the exhaust system. When you start the truck after sitting overnight that collected moisture evaporates causing excessive steam.

 

Head gaskets cant be 'going out'. They are either good or they're not.

While your symptoms are suspect, it's worth doing the proper testing before diving in.

 

Haven't pulled the plugs. I will try to get to that tomorrow and see what they look like.

Your right about the gasket being good or not, thought about that after I posted but don't know how to change the title. I will look at the plugs tomorrow and see how they look and then try to get a compression test done.

 

In the upper right, just above your original post, kinda small print, click 'thread tools'.

Hoping for your sake it's something simple!

 

Plans got changed and I was able to pull plugs today. What do y’all think?

 

Hard to tell. The plug in the cylinder with the blown gasket will be cleaner than all the rest.

 

Cylinder 3 looked cleaner than all the rest of them with the exception of cylinder 1. Cylinder 1 looked cleaner than all the others but not as clean as 3. These are close ups from the pics I posted yesterday. Plugs 2,4,6 look like plug 5

 

Dobbs Garage in Covington will do you right, they did my head gaskets and I have known the owner for my entire life. They don't specialize in Toyota's, but they are the only people who have ever touched any vehicle I've ever owned. They are super busy, but they're fair and honest. Tell them Jeff sent you.