Major engine issues.

Hi all,

Truck: 2012 Toyota Tacoma DC LB 4x4 TRD Sport 4.0L Automatic.

Well, I have had a crappy weekend. I was changing my oil and I noticed a tiny bit of milky residue. I wasn’t too worried, as it was not a lot and sometimes a bit of moisture can do that. So I changed the oil, and drained and flushed the coolant.

So I drive to my friends house today, and the attached pictures (milky residue in oil filler tube) is what I see after 30 miles of driving. I start it back up, rev it, and a bit (not huge) white smoke comes out with each rev.

My first inclination was to think that it is a head gasket or even worse, a cracked head and additional engine damage.

I bought this truck Toyota certified from Stevens Creek Toyota (San Jose area). It had 63,500 miles when I bought it in Feb 2017 Now it has 86,000. I am meticulous about maintenance and only use high quality synthetic oil. I don’t abuse it, and most of my trip are start it up, drive 20-30 miles and shut it off. I do not have the capability or
space, nor time to do this resort myself. As a bit of backstory, I had a few hard starts the last few weeks. No CELs but I did have some “OEM ENHANCED” codes. P0300, P1604, and left bank lean or right bank rich. Ran like a top, idled fine, no issues.

That being said, would calling Toyota and pleading for their assistance do any good? My truck had an extended warranty and expired last year in April 2019, so of course this happens now. I bought another Toyota because of their so called bullet proof recommendation.

Looking for friendly helpful advice.

Cheers,
Jason

 

How does the dip stick look? How does the coolant look? Not a good sign if it has had long crank times. Time to check compression on the cylinders and test the coolant for exhaust gases. Also send an oil sample for analysis to check for presence of coolant.

 

From what I have read that is pretty normal for these rigs to see that in the filler. @tacomaholic covers it on youtube.
How did the oil itself look and the dipstick?

 

Hi Chuy,

Long crank times were spread apart and very random. Most times it starts right up like always. Dipstick looks fine. Coolant, well the coolant I drained out looked a little dirty. Not fresh and pink/red.

I wonder if I just caught it early on?

Think pleading to Toyota would help?

 

Hmmm, I get that residue when I check the engine oil if its been cold and wet out. I also get quite a bit of noticeable smoke on cold mornings but a lot of it is probably just the temperature difference form the exhaust to ambient air. I have also ironically had a couple times during a cold morning since I've owned my truck where it took a long time to start or wouldn't start at all unless I turned it back off and tried again. Of course this has only happened a couple times in the years I've owned it. Do you see any contamination in your coolant? Does it appear you're losing coolant? Could be somewhat normal operation unless the hard starting situation is happening all the time. If you have any sort of warranty on it you might as well bring it in for piece of mind.

 

If buying a certified preowned Toyota, you should have a powertrain warranty left correct? 7 year 100k warranty.

 

Thing is I have never seen it before Today. Not a smidgen of moisture on it.

oil was just changed 30 miles ago but clear still.

 

https://www.toyotacertified.com/warranty


Maybe?

 

Also, last year, my wife's 2014 Corolla had a bad power steering pump. Went in and paid the 50 dollar deductible and they replaced it under the cert program. It is a great way to buy used.

 

Check this out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gicCCwg4JwQ

 

If you just changed your oil, how did the old oil look? Black or milky?

 

Do you do mostly short trips?

I honestly think you don't have a problem. It is normal for the oil residue to create that gunk. that part of the engine doesn't heat up, so the moisture from combustion condenses on that cold area.

It's more common to happen when the outside temps are cooler.

 

Just a little dirtier than normal.

 

If you bought a true Toyota CPO vehicle, you should be covered until 100k miles...

That being said, my 09 has displayed similar symptoms from time time over the last 5+ years I’ve owned it. Bought it used with just shy of 50k miles, currently sitting at 120k. There have been a handful of cold mornings where the truck doesn’t start on the first crank. I replaced my battery last winter and haven’t had nearly as many, but it still happens every now and then. And it always cranks on the second try so I’ve never worried much about it.

I’ve also seen some milky type buildup like that in my filler tube and on the bottom of the cap. It’s not always there and I typically clean it out whenever I see it. I’ve never seen any of that residue on the oil drain plug or the dipstick and my oil is always dark and black when I change it. Haven’t flushed the coolant recently but it still looks nice and pink in the reservoir.

The only thing you’ve mentioned that would cause any alarm for me would be white smoke from the tail pipe. My truck will do that on cold mornings until it’s warmed up but I’ve never seen any white smoke while driving with the engine warm. So it could be fine, or it could require some attention. If you have an actual Toyota CPO warranty it wouldn’t hurt to call your local dealership and have them look at it. Or, if nothing else, have them check to see if your truck is listed as a CPO vehicle.

 

well, I may have forgotten something on the white smoke. I did put in some sea foam gas additive (not oil additive) on Wednesday. I already burned thru a half tank since then and topped it off again though.

 

Hardly any short trips.

this and that video make a lot of sense. Just nervous as I don’t want to toast the motor, but nor do I want to throw money at a non existent problem. Maybe a leak down tear, compression test radiator pressure test will let me sleep at night.

I also recently moved from San Diego to Wichita, KS (family health issue). Maybe the temp extremes are playing a role?

 

This ^^^^ your covered to 100k. Also Incase you don’t know. Have the dealer do a true tranny flush. If done at or before 100k. Then done every 30k at the dealer your tranny is covered.

 

you sir, you are a beautiful man (or woman, or non-binary, or... )


Oops, just realized that my warranty is 100k or 7 years from new. Expired still

 

Over reacting.

The moisture in the motor is due to short trips, lack of sufficient heat in the sump. A good drive along with good oil will fix that.

Next the misfire is likely spark plugs and throttle body. Many many many 2nd gen people complain of a hard start and you can read up on it. The spark plug intervals are short on these trucks. I think its 30,000miles. But I know its 48,000km.

Usually with headgaskets the coolant is milky first in the reseviour, coolant in the oil often just shows up in the sump on initial drain as they don't mix as well.

 

You get condensation in the filler tube which causes the milky oil appearance. That’s a common and normal occurrence. I’d be more concerned if after running the truck the oil on the dip stick was milky. So far I’m not too concerned since the oil on the dip stick looks normal.
The sea foam is kind of a major omission . The sea foam can definitely make it smoke . And since it’s not smoking all the time, again I’m not too concerned. Check the compression and if normal just monitor the oil for milky appearance and check the coolant fluid level several times. If no abnormalities you are probably good.
Oh and whining to Toyota ain’t going to do shit if the warranty is expired.