Recent content by mgcorreia

Before I embark on this I know I need to drain the oil. but what about the coolant? thanks

Got it thanks buddy. And if im really screwed possibly the cylinder head is bad and the bottom end needs to be rebuilt. Could that be possible?

If I have a blown head gasket should it smoke out the tail pipe the entire time I drive or just on start up? I pulled the pcv valve out and it seemed in good condition, had a rattle to it. there was a little sludge on it so I cleaned it with carb cleaner. Looked in the hole it came out of...

Was reading that my pcv valve might be clogged with sludge. might be worth a shot...

Cleared those codes off. Got a bunch of new ones. Seems like the check engine light comes on when ever I drive now. Here are the codes I get in various combinations. Car has trouble starting, I have to push the gas for it to fire up. If I start it cold it seems like I get the white smoke...

Also I don't really feel any loss of power when I drive. I mean I get some hesitation on the freeway, but otherwise its fine.

Hi guys, so I got a block tester and a compression tester. The solution in the block tester stayed blue so that's good. I did happen to have a clean start with no white smoke on the tail pipe so im not sure its accurate. I'm gonna keep it handy in case I get a bad start with white smoke and...

Hi, I have a 1997 Toyota 4runner with 220k miles, 4cyl, manual trans. Sometimes when I start my car it has trouble starting, I have to push the gas when I turn the key, and then it runs rumbly for a few blocks with a bunch of white smoke that doesn't smell sweet coming out the tail pipe. After...

This job is done! what a day. So I had to pull the water pump off, scrape the gasket off and rethread the block on the water pump holes. I used this thing called HeliCoil from Oreilly auto parts. That thing is in there tight now. The old water pump was leaking from the bottom because the...

Crap!! I know why the bottom of the water pump was leaking. The damn 10mm bolts on the bottom wont snug down. they just kind of spin loosely in there. Any suggestions?

Here is a pic of another tensioner on the top with one of those long screws. I was working on taking it out and the screw snapped in half. Am I screwed?! No pun intended. This thing is going to fight me the entire way.

Would it have killed them to put in a dummy bolt?! geez. Here is a tensioner on the alternator. So I understand correct, I loosen bolt 1 and then 2, correct? do these bolts come all the way off? And that's it, I can lift the belt right off there?

Thanks for the support guys! I put in NGK iridium spark plugs last night, car is running way better now. The old ones were kind of cheap. I started my water pump replacement last night but hit a road block as I can't for the life of me figure out how the belts come off. On most cars you...

water pump bad? new spark plugs Pic attached

Am I supposed to hit the gas peddle when I do a compression test? Maybe that's why its low. I just turned the ignition for 5 revolutions, didn't touch the gas. Do you rev the gas or hold the peddle down? Also, I noticed something today... after the compression test I put the spark plugs back...