Burning coolant?

So I think my 96 3.4 is burning coolant? Exhaust is white looking and smells weird also during a compression test #3 had steam coming out. No milky lookin oil so idk whats up. I am having to add coolant so I know its going somewhere. No pooling anywhere I can see. Prob gonna get a head gasket kit and crack it open was wondering if anyone has heard about this kind of issue. Thanks guys.

 

Yep sounds like a head gasket issue.

 

How do you know the oil isn't milky?

I fooled myself into thinking the oil wasn't milky on my old 22rte motor just by pulling the dipstick.

Then, I drained it and it was a beautiful grey milkshake.

 

Cracked head between the valve and plug. Common issue on 5vz. Burning coolant directly and no leak into oil

 

Sounds like a head gasket leak.

Milky oil is a sign that it has gotten really bad...but just because the oil isn't milky yet doesn't mean you don't have a head gasket leak. And your description sounds like it is exactly that. White smoke, burnt coolant smell, bad compression in one of the cylinders...head gasket

 

I'm going to be following you on this one. I recently purchased a '03 with a 5VZ and have been tracking down a few issues. I'm getting slow coolant leak, 90 psi compression on #3 as well and found evident of coolant on the compression test fitting when removed. Been trying to figure out whether its a hairline crack through the head and up into the exhaust valve or a head gasket leak. Interested to see what you find as well.

 

So, I started my teardown last night. I bought a new to me right bank head at the local recyclers and a wack of gaskets from rockauto. Only have broken one bolt so far. I'll be curious to see what the failure is when I get the head off. I'll take a couple photos and post when available. I'm interested what Dedlish has found in their case.

 

I've completed the tear down and removed the head to determine the cause of the coolant leak. On mine, there were two hairline cracks running between the exhaust and intake valve seats. The rings were sealing well enough such that there was no visible coolant in the oil, although there was enough coolant in the cylinder and low enough compression (90 psig) that it impeded proper combustion, causing a misfire code to be logged on the ECM. Having inspected the piston face and cylinder head more closely I found evidence of sodium silicate (liquid glass) having been used to try and fix this leak by one of the previous owners of the vehicle. Once this material leaked into the combustion chamber, was heated above 205F, it solidified and was effectively driven into the soft aluminum head and piston faces repeatedly. I'll post pictures soon on this, but it's a good example of why not to use this type of product to fix head a leaks unless its your last resort.

I had a tremendous amount of trouble getting the exhaust header and cross pipe removed from the head. Had to drill and tap the exhaust header bolt on the used head I purchased. Having since bought a 1/2" electric impact, I would recommend buying this, an impact set and universal joint for it before beginning the job. That and a 3/8" torque wrench to allow you to properly reassemble the cam caps. I spent a good 4-6 hours cleaning up the used head, removing the old exhaust header, drill and tapping, plaining the old gasket materials off and checking it over before reinstallation. I probably have about 24-30 hours into rebuild so far, but I'm working alone. Furthermore, I spent 4 hours building a SST for the removal of the main pulley which was a PITA. I still have the exhaust system to reassemble tonight as well as completing the timing belt, water pump and thermostat replacement. I figured I had it tore down this far, so I should continue to complete the replacement of the timing belt as it was due.

I was very impressed by the lack of wear on the piston walls at 190,000 miles on the engine. I believe it will be a strong engine once we get all the bugs worked out. I'm going to replace current oil with synthetic 5w30 and an OE filter. I'm excited to see how much it improves mileage once completed. I was running around 17 MPG before tearing it down. I'm also running 285/75/16 KO2's so we'll see what the performance looks like afterwards. I'll be glad not to see the CEL.

 

Yep... go to 14:32

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFYEoWTX0YU