hey so my truck is smoking pretty bad (white smoke) i thought it was due to it being cold and having no cat. /delete. but i drove it all the way to the beach 3 hrs. and it smoked the whole way not noticeable only when i was at stop signs and such. i have plenty of oil and coolant. however i came back tonight from the beach and the second i got on the highway i look down and temp gauge is strateling the red line luckily i spent the next 3 hrs trying to baby the truck home. i have to go get it looked at but dont have time tomorrow thought id give you guys a chance to diagnose

 

Head gasket maybe

 

yea i thought of that but theres no milky substance in the oil

 

i'm pretty sure it can be blown without causing the milky oil. it all depends on where it is blown.

 

head gaskets don't always fail between oil and water passages.
Sometimes they fail between the combustion chamber and water passage, letting coolant into the chamber and causing very hard starting (due to being hydrolocked), not to mention LOTS of white smoke....constantly.However, the oil looks fine, and so does the coolant. Which happened to my old truck.

 

really? hummmm it is possible i assume.

 

sounds exactly like it however how does this explain the high temp reading?

 

have you looked under the hood yet?

 

Check your coolant level. Probably leaking into your combustion chamber and coming out your exhaust which would cause your coolant to eventually run low and then overheat.

 

wat about if my truck smokes when i change gears only such as from a stop and once i release the clutch and give it gas it sends a cloud of smoke then stops?

 

^^^ Not to be a dick, but please start your own thread. We got talent, just not enough to aswer 2 different questions in the same thread.

 

get ready....I'mma make this easy....

smoke colors....
black=fuel=check carb
blue=oil=check rings,valve seals, valve guides
white=coolant=head gasket

Combination of colored smoke=your on fire, get out and run....

 

ok by your explanation the head gasket is damaged and its coolant related. my question is would any one recommend using a sealant or get the gasket changed. im kinda iffy about most additives but i saw steel seal and though maybe some one has used it

 

just do the head gasket. if you can do it yourself, and the head doesn't need machining, you should be able to get it done for around $100.

the guy i bought my 4x4 from used some radiator stop leak on the truck when the head gasket went out. then he let it sit for 8 months and the head was ruined.. i got lucky and found a fresh machined head for $100 on craigslist.

 

seriously head gaskets are easy, 35 bucks at advance, all you need is the head gasket, new head studs which are about 20, coolant and oil and a few hours of time.. this happened to my head a few weeks ago.. truck sat for 5 months and started up over heated and blew between combustion and water and white smoke came out... havent had the chance to see if the head is cracked but its not too bad.. dont start it, youll do more damage..

 

ok so this is whats up i woke up this morning to see what was up with the truck, i go out and no visable coolant in the top of the radiator, but theres a parts store close enough that i can get to it before it gets too hot. so i run up to napa and get a gallon of 100% concentrate and it only took 3/4 of the jug which makes me think that it wasnt bone dry. so i had to ride 1 hr. to school and had the heat on blast driving on the freeway and its actually only half way on the temp gauge. ps. it hasnt smoked today at all. so i get out of class and grabb some sealant and flush to go work on that head gasket and i get home and nothing. no over heating no smoke , weird huh? so im going to look at the thermostat tomorrow but i dont know what to do about the smoke

 

You can add all the sealents you want and it still wont fix the problem. If its a head gasket problem (which it sounds like), just change the head gasket. All the money you spend on band aid sealers/sealents/additives, you could have spent on a head gasket. The sealent could have worked for now but will probably fail in the future.

 

I would have to second this. Try not to put it off and drive it. Could contribute to bigger problems. Could end up pitting the head or block. Sometimes the coolant can act like a water jet put grooves in either. (rare) but I wouldnt take the chance....

 

seriously.

IIRC, it's been a few years...

8 bolts to take the exhaust manifold off
4 bolts to take the valve cover off
I wanna say 10 to take the head/intake/carb off as one unit.
ziptie the cam gear to the chain, making sure the chain stays exactly on the teeth it was on when it came off, and don't let it fall down the hole after taking the gear off the cam!!
pull the head, clean the mating surfaces while inspecting for the point of failure.

why am I doing this, there's already a good write up with pics on here somewhere...anybody got a link?

 

so i just went out to the truck that i havent ran since monday and checked the pluggs to se if one was cleaner than the others but all four have burn marks so i dont know whats up. interesting find tho when i tool off my air filter the carburetor has a gunky yellowish orange stuff on the right port but not on the left. what the hell??