Engine smoke after coolant flush

Hey all, so I’m a beginning but felt a coolant flush is something I can handle. I drained just the radiator, not the engine block ( I forgot). But after that I poured 1 gallon of distilled water in the radiator ran it for a bit, flushed that then added 1 gallon of antifreeze 50/50 and after burping the hoses for a while it seemed no more would go in so I drove it to come back to find it was no longer filled to the top of the radiator. So I’m adding another gallon and it’s going very slowly. I started the engine and within a minute smoke was coming from under the intake manifold, so it seemed. Did I do something wrong? Is it fixable? Did I ruin the engine?

 

Are you sure it's smoke? It could be that you just spilled some coolant when filling or draining on the engine and it just got steamed off when the engine got warm. If your coolant and your oil isn't looking like a milk shake, and you didn't overheat the engine it's hard to imagine you did any permanent damage.

 

Also with it being a 2008, and you are doing coolant maintenance, go ahead and check to make sure you have a stainless steel coolant line going under your intake manifold.

 

I did spill some coolant but it didn’t appear at the time to reach the back of the engine where it appeared to be smoking. I shut it off immediately. I should state, when I thought I was finished, I only added 1 gallon of coolant before driving it about 25 miles, then came back to see the fluid wasn’t filled to the top. Now as I add more it seems again it won’t take anymore than a 1/10 of a bottle. Burping is going ridiculously slow.

 

I also didn’t have the engine running long enough for it to heat up. Less than a minute

 

It's 100% normal to need to top off the fluid while refilling the system.
I leave the radiator cap off, and let the truck run until the thermostat opens.
Once it opens, the coolant will go down. Add more coolant. Let it run a couple more minutes. If the coolant doesn't drop anymore, put the cap back on and drive it.
Come back, let truck cool down check the coolant in the radiator. If it's low, top it off. And 99% of the time that's good enough. As long as you have plenty of coolant in the over flow, it will be fine.

Now to really throw you for loop. And to add unmercenary information to this rambling post, I now use a vacuum filler.
It's "faster" and you'll know if you have a leak in the system at the same time.....
Your avg. at home DIY guy doesn't need a vacuum filler for a Tacoma. They don't air lock like a Nissan will.....That's why I have one. A damn Nissan.

 

Coolant tube at the back of the engine. Is yours plastic and leaking?

 

Do I HAVE to take the intake manifold off to see?

 

Do you have to? No.
Will it require metamorphosing into a contortionist? Yes.

In short, Find the starter. Then look above it.
Good luck.