[sturi0_]

A year ago I had my 87 supra's non turbo head gasket redone with all the works;

valve treatment, machined head, new gasket for everything from header to intake runners to intake manifold. The HG bolts were torqued down to 75 ft lbs, which, according to Wreckless, is the proper way to do it.

There's an issue right now, theres evidence of another head gasket issue. I haven't opened up the engine yet to take a look, but my coolant reservoir is missing fluid, when I check the oil dip stick nothing comes out, and white smoke is coming out of my exhaust.

Except my car is running fine, the temp gauge doesn't shoot up and overheat, and it runs smoothly except at random occasions there's a rough idle.

I'm pretty sure the head gasket is blown (again), but what could have caused this? Perhaps my mechanics torque wrench hasn't been calibrated properly? It's only been a 1000~ miles since the HG job yet my car is eating shit already.

If you guys agree that it's a head gasket failure, should I just re-torque the bolts and pray, or replace it with arp ones (kinda a waste of money but I have the money) and maybe a metal head gasket from cometic (assuming the hg is compromised)?

some photos from the hg job

 

[sturi0_]

Later this month I'll drain the oil to check if the head gasket is compromised so I'll most likely come back to this thread

 

[sturi0_]

Head could be cracked, or the block allowing coolant to get where it’s not supposed to be

damn if the head cracked, a 1uz vvti swap this early is too crazy for me

 

[sturi0_]

I’d never do a 1uz over a 2j- but really just LS that bad boy. You’ll have money left over for suspension and power train stuff; and in the end will be a better rig

im tempted since a miata with an LS3 managed to pass carb and I really just want a daily swap into my car that gives enough smiles per gallon (the 1uz vvti being a perfect candidate). I'll keep the LS3 in my mind. My only issue is that I'm young and inexperienced, with very little tools. I do have a lot of friends with experience tho so I guess that makes up for it.

 

[sturi0_]

What do you mean 'nothing comes out'? As in, no oil or anything is on the dipstick?

Top off the coolant reservior with distilled water.

How much white smoke is coming out of the exhaust? Does it get worse or clear up under engine load/higher revs? What do the spark plugs look like?

Nothing is on the dip stick. The white smoke goes away after a bit, usually when it warms up. I need to take a look into the spark plugs. probably some time later this week. I'll update you guys sometime but if you all have more questions I'll be answering.

 

[sturi0_]

Add some oil until it measures full on the dipstick! Why the hell wasn't that your first reaction to seeing nothing on the dipstick? Why are you still running the engine with low oil?!?!?!

If the white smoke is gone after it's warmed up, I can almost guarantee there's no BHG involved. Did you do the valve stem seals while the cylinder head was off? Have you done a compression or leakdown test?

I did an oil change two months ago. A little weird that I'm missing all my oil two months after, but I'll heed your advice and dump oil in it tonight. I don't think my mechanic replaced the valve stem seals. I trusted him enough (he's been a mechanic for 40 years) to let him take care of it. I havent done a compression or leakdown test.

 

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I havent done a compression or leakdown test.

might be a leak now that I think about it.

 

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To update yall;

My dad had let the car run until it warmed up earlier this morning (as of writing it is 9:25pm pst) and he mentioned the white smoke, and that it had disappeared as the engine warmed up. The exhaust smells like gas.

I did the same thing earlier like 4 hours ago and it looks like it looks good. I checked the oil, it was murky and very very very low. It looks like I've been naughty with it lol, as I've been redlining the shit out of it recently (been going to too many car meets). I filled it up, a bit more than I should have, and called it a day.

tl;dr the oil is fine and we can move on from that. Except I still need to do a compression and leak down test, which brings me to the coolant.

None of these answer the coolant issue. My coolant is randomly disappearing after a week of daily driving. I know I'm a big stupid idiot for not replacing the coolant hoses (theyre damaged from the overheating and blown hg 12 years ago) but it didn't seem urgent until now. Whenever I flush the radiator, there are black specks that come out of the flushing, which is definitely from the damaged coolant hoses. One other thing, when I had flush the coolant last week, I decided to clean out the radiator cap. The radiator cap now has this rubbery gunk on it. Perhaps this is a result of the black specks heating up and melting into this brown gunky stuff? Also the radiator was replaced in august with an OEM one. So definitely the hoses.

I'll post an update in this thread once I get a compression test, and probably again at the end of the year once the coolant hoses are settled down and I have updates for you guys (updates as in, whether or not my car continues to leak coolant).

Thanks for your contributions guys!

 

[sturi0_]

Update;

After cruising speed limit for about a week now, I haven't encountered any coolant issues. Perhaps something clogged up my coolant and the pressure caused it to leave through one of the cracks in the hoses?

radiator piping outlined in blue and crack circled in red.

Maybe that's just a sleeve for the coolant hoses and I'm tripping about it. Again, it hasnt leaked any coolant. Maybe the heater core is leaking like what 3p141592654 mentioned. If memory serves me right, the window heaters were on. (disclaimer; I know nothing about the heater core system besides the blower motor resistor located near the heater core)

As for my oil issue:

I admit. I've been using autozone STP 5w-30 regular oil. Which could be the reason for my car eating so much goddamn oil.

Since my engine should be well broken in already, what oil should I run? My car is a 7mge with 109k miles with a full rebuild (to reiterate, every gasket was replaced and the head was machined) Right now its not that hot and the highest temps are 75 degrees with very very cold winds. I think I should stick with the 5w-30 since the mechanic that worked on the engine recommended it, but also said that I could do 10w-30 if I wanted to (I brought up to him that it was the oil recommended from the TSRM). If anything, I'll just switch to a name brand synthetic oil for 5w-30. I know that iron blocks and aluminum heads could benefit better from specific oil brands, but if theres no such thing available then I'll stick to synthetic 5w-30. Let me know your suggestions, or if my idea is solid (and extra information is welcome).

 

[sturi0_]

With a light and a mirror, you can look up into the duct on the right side of the transmission tunnel to see the heater core. Look and see if it's crusty...

You're awesome, thank you for the recommendations. As for coolant, I'm running Peaks universal ethylene glycol coolant since I dont know where to get toyota red locally. I'll probably switch it up once I replace my radiator piping. As for the heater core, I'll take a look sometime later and update.

 

[sturi0_]

I think I found the culprit. Behind the head near the fire wall, I see some drips falling and I managed to take a vide. of the small leak. I can upload it to google drive if you guys would like a video. But tbh, this looks like its enough. Could this be a heater hose job?

the brown thing is the small drip

Photo with no drip

On my way home, a friendly driver let me know there was a bunch of smoke underneath my car and it smelt like sweet caramel on the way home. This must be a heater hose job, no? Im gonna buy parts as soon as I get an opinion.

 

[sturi0_]

That is the famous 90 degree bend hose. There is another at the front of the motor. Both get cooked by the exhaust and fail. Suggest replacing both. The heater hoses are also back there but are not that one.

Damn. Do you have a link or website to where I can find a replacement (preferably an upgrade)? Or will I have to search ebay 😭

 

[sturi0_]

I found all of those formed hoses on RockAuto.com. Gates makes a lot of them and you might have to mix in a Continental or AC Delco to complete a full set. They are reasonable.

Do I select any of the few hoses on the "coolant hose / pipe" drop down menu and cut it up to fit the 90 degree hose?

 

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I mixed and matched all my hoses from there and when they arrived they were all direct fits. No cutting needed. Time to change all those 30+ year old hoses and clamps. I was happy to find all of them pretty easily.

Im lowk gonna run the 7m to the ground until I attain a 7mgte / jz / uz, this'll come in handy once the leaks appear lol.

 

[sturi0_]

Alright here's an update to the people searching for post headgasket or coolant hose leaks in the future and simply want to know what happened after this thread;

I actually found several hose leaks. One of them was from the union hose (the hose that connects the 90 degree hose located above the engine as seen in this famous video) and the hose that goes from a heater hose to the throttle body.

It kind of explains the rough idling I've been getting recently and all of my missing coolant. It does not explain why my oil has been eating up, however after some time I figure my piston rings are fried. Or perhaps its a result of the ECU going poopoo because of the throttle-body-to-heater-hose leaks.

Last bit of beginners advice to a mk3 owner trying to get their 7m rebuilt;

Replace all of the hoses. Whether or not its a random ass hose from oreillys or rock auto or whatever, just replace all of them (but keep the spring clamps. theyre pretty good quality and you can always have the left over). If theyre not in terrible condition you might as well wait until they are blown but definitely replace all the hard to reach hoses.

I still need to do a compression test...