joined the headgasket club today

[northfwestg]

well fresh from a timing belt and waterpump my 97 limited with 213000 it started acting funny when i turned on the ignition. The idle was really rough and it would billow white smoke. 30 seconds later it would smooth out and level off. Using small amounts of coolent. This went on for about a week. It would never overheat however. Today while in idle i watched the temp gauge skyrocket and i knew we has a problem. My mechanic said this was the first 3.4 he has ever seen showing signs of a head gasket failure. What do yall think.

1997 limited
flat black taco rims
geolander ats
running boards removed
hellas
debadged and blacked out

 

[Doug18]

The billows of white smoke should have tipped you off to this problem. The 3.4 is better than the 3.slow with headgaskets but it isn't invincible to normal maintenance

 

[northfwestg]

agreed fully, the PO said it had overheated once 20,ooo miles ago. This probably warped the head and slowly the gasket failed