Head Gasket/ Cracked Block. Help me?

[4Running Daily]

Ok so yes I've had several treads on this, but they have been deleted.
Here's the story:
So a couple days ago I started her up and saw more white smoke coming from the exhaust then normal. I checked coolant and I was low, low low in fact.

4Runner - YouTube

I filled up the coolant to the top and a couple days of sitting and it was half empty again.

Now I have figured out that I have been filling up the coolant overflow up to the "F" Line. I have driven it around my neighborhood and it doesn't get hot. Even after really trying to in 80 degree weather.

I will be fixing this coolant loss this weekend.

Do you think i have a blown head gasket or cracked block?

Should I pressure test it, or pull the plugs to look for lack of carbon?

Could it just be a simple coolant leak somewhere due to the fact that i haven't seen the smoke in a week?

 

[BrianSD_42]

hey man,

I don't know why your threads were deleted but I warned you that might happen. I also gave you the name of a very good shop in SD and BajaRunner gave you the name of another one in PB.


1) you say that you are only 15 years old an live in Escondito --> I assume that means your parents bought the truck for you. If so then just go pay the $50 - $75 to have it looked at since you are neither broke nor very mechanically inclined.


2) Head gasket / cracked head issues CAN be intermittent so you already have the answer to all of your questions.

Ohh and you don't know if it is a cracked block so NO need to speculate on that unlikely scenario without evidence, especially since you don't even have a CEL or rough idle. I'm not a mechanic but I am pretty positive you don't have a cracked block. The block is made of steel and the head is made of aluminum, if one of the two is going to fail it will probably be the head (or the gasket).​

3) why do you keep starting threads? you sound like a nice guy but your overall question has already been answered.


Summary: based on the symptoms it could be a head/gasket failure. NOW you should just get it looked at by someone who is a mechanic or knows auto-mechanics. You should (pay someone to) do a compression test as mentioned already by several members who are mechanics. I'm all for DIY but I don't think you should do the compression test based on your posts, you will save yourself a lot of headache if you just take the truck to a mechanic.


good luck

:bash:

 

[4Running Daily]

My parents have owned the car since 1996 when they bought it new. But ya i'll check the plugs tomorrow and then I'll see if I should bring it in or not.

 

[BrianSD_42]

Hey man what ever happened with this issue?

?

They owned it since 96, nice!

I think a 4Runner is a great to hand down to a family member.