Oh, and it smokes a lot from the muffler.

 

You my friend have just described pretty much every single symptom associated with a blown head gasket. Most people only have one or two, maybe three, but it appears you have them all. It's time to tear it down and get it all replaced. Good luck!

 

Whew. Some guys told told me I needed a complete overhaul, or even a new engine. But, with only 118,000 miles on it, I say I'll gladly repair a blown head gasket. Thanks!

 

ummmmm
you have more going on there then just the BHG.
That louder tapping lower in the engine might be a rod knock.
Just be prepaired for the possibility

Steve

Okay, my first request for help. And my third overall post.



A few weeks ago I drove about 320 miles in one (very) long day in my 86.5 non-turbo... I was about 60 miles from home when I stopped for gas and when I stopped, a thin mist of white smoke started coming from under the hood. I checked and couldn't find the source (I'm new to this stuff), so I went ahead and boogied home. No trouble when I stopped. The car had been running a little bit hotter than normal, but I was in severe need of getting home (Mom's orders) so I didn't check the water level (mistake 1)
That was saturday... the following Tuesday, I drove to my martial arts lesson with no problem (15 miles) until I stopped... White smoke. Checked. No problem. After the lesson, (1.5 hours) I came out and checked the radiator. Empty. Completely. Oops. I filled up and discovered a huge leak that hadn't been there before, in the hose coming out of the back top of the engine (7MGE) I took a 5 gallon jug of water with me and me and my buddy headed back. 4 miles from home, I started losing power. I stepped on the gas, but the rpm's continued to drop. By then I new something was screwy, so I killed the engine and coasted to the side of the road. However, the thermometer never showed any higher heat than normal. Any way, when I finally slowed to a stop, white smoke started boiling out from under the hood. No way to see where it was coming from (at least for a newbie). We waited about 20 minutes for someone to stop. Finally a dude in a pickup (gotta love them Texas hillbillys) stopped by and offered to tow me home, but first asked me to try starting the engine. When I did, the engine made a wheezing sound, and it sounded as if the starter was going out. No starty. He towed me home. Owing to lack of money, I've had had to let her sit for a month or so. About 3 days after that, I tried to start it- Bingo! it started, but made such a horrible knocking noise I immediately turned it off.
But I tried again about 2 weeks later, and now there is a quiet tappin under the front right valve cover, and a louder tapping lower in the engine, and it runs really rough. And I finally took the oil cap off, and the oil is milky looking. So what did I do to my baby? I feel like such an unworthy parent...

 

Yep, if you heard a loud knocking...You're going to either need a rebuild or a jdm...The cheaper option being the jdm of course

 

I don't want to look stupid, but what's a JDM?

 

Japan domestic market. Buy your engine from japan!

 

Ah.

 

You have blown your headgasket. Your engine started burning off coolant and mixed with your oil. The milky oil then was lubrucating your internal engine parts witch was useless....so you spun a few rod bearings or smashed them. Sorry to give you the bad news. I would get a new motor from a jdm engine importing company, and put new seals on it and timing belt and headgasket with arp bolts and stick it in there. The current motor might be rebuildable...thats another solution. www.nippon-motors.com is where i got my jdm engine. Search the boards for any question u might have. Its pretty mich gone over a million times. Its the #1 problem with the mk3. Good luck

 

yeah, what NegativeGeForce said.

1. don't believe the hype about JDM engines. many guys on this forum have bought them only to find out those engine have problems themselves. you may get a good one, or you may be one that has low compression, burns too much oil, BHG, and the list goes on.

2. it's sounds like you can afford to have your car down for a while to do an engine rebuild. i would go that route, but it will cost more. there's also the possibility of ordering a new long block from Toyota. prolly be about the same as a shop rebuilding your current one (parts and labor).

3. i would take whatever it cost and put that toward a new car with a warranty. especially if you don't know the first thing about cars. you don't need a supra. you'll be under that hood trying to figure out "what the hell is wrong with it now" more often than you want to. let this be your first sign that this car is going to eat you up alive $$$.

good luck.

 

Well, I'm not going to sell the car, I think I just found a 7MGTE that I'm hopefully going to get. I'm learning mechanics as I go, so I'm not giving up.


Thanks for the pointers though

 

French kiss your motor goodbye. Good luck with the 7M-GTE.

 

Thank yew!