MontanaChinook Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Noticed this about a month ago. When I get to a place I'm going to camp, after driving on the highway, pull into a spot, get out my leveling blocks while it idles, then give it gas to get up on the leveling blocks, a huge plume of smoke comes out the tailpipe. Kind of embarrassing when I'm in a campground... It seems as though I'm burning oil at low speeds, but not on the highway. Or at least less on the highway. When I'm just out on interstate, I don't really need to add oil. But when I'm driving around in a town, I notice every time I get moving at a light, smoke comes out the tailpipe. And though I haven't been paying close enough attention for long enough, it seems like I have to add oil more often when I've been driving around in a town. Does this sound more like rings or valves? It seems to be getting worse pretty quickly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred heath Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Do a compression check. That will tell you where the problem is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toyohome Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I'm hardly a mechanic, but I wonder if it is something as simple as bad valve guide seals. New seals are a fairly easy fix and is likely the cause on an old vehicle. Do you also get a cloud of smoke on start up after sitting overnight? If so, then that is a pretty strong indication that the seals are deteriorating and letting oil leak down into the cylinders. On starting, the oil is instantly burned up and then there is usually no more smoke. In your case, idling at a stop light (low speed) allows excess oil to flow down into the cylinders. Then when you take off, it is burned up. This is very similar to getting smoke after sitting overnight. Given the durability of these Toyota engines, I would bet that the old tech 'rubber' seals are finally wearing out and new high tech rubber seals will solve the problem. A good professional mechanic should be able to confirm my diag-guesstimate. Let us know what you find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 How far have you driven this trip and how much oil have you used??? "Normally" oil smoke on start up is bad valve seals, smoke under acceleration is bad rings. Nasty question are you sure its oil smoke? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Noticed this about a month ago. When I get to a place I'm going to camp, after driving on the highway, pull into a spot, get out my leveling blocks while it idles, then give it gas to get up on the leveling blocks, a huge plume of smoke comes out the tailpipe. Kind of embarrassing when I'm in a campground... Sounds like valve-stem seals to me. When they leak . . they typically show at first start - like WME already stated. Or when coming down a steep hill - especially if holding back in a lower gear with the throttle near closed (high vacuum situation). If the problem is lower - like wear in the piston ring-grooves, rings, cylinder walls, etc. - no sure way to test. Some engines that burn oil something awful test perfect with a compression or leak-down test. Some do, some do not. I just put new seals in my 22RE. I'm not going to say it was "easy." Much more difficult in a Toyota 4 cylinder then in a Chevy or Ford V8. To do it safely with your engine and NOT pull the head off - the main issue is the head bolts have to be removed to get to the valve-springs. I put temporary bolts back in while putting new seals on each cylinder area - to keep the head gasket from popping loose. When I did my seals - I found the interior head bolts in very bad shape from some sort of corrosion. They looked as though exhaust had been hitting them for years. I put in all new head bolts along with the new seals. Fixed my oil smoke problems and it's been fine since. 145,000 miles on it. Driven it 6000 miles since I did the work. So far, so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontanaChinook Posted July 18, 2014 Author Share Posted July 18, 2014 Ah right, because the rocker assembly is held down by the head bolts, too. Ok, thanks. I've driven about 12,000 miles. I only had to start adding oil about 5,000 miles ago. I've added about 4 quarts, but it's speeding up. My oil pump also started leaking a little on the trip, so it's hard to say exactly how much I'm burning. Well maybe I'll have the shop check it out, then decide if it's something I'll do myself. I was just in there doing the head gasket last fall...but it wasn't burning oil back then. But at least I've been that far into the engine already, so it's something I could probably handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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