Topic: 22re smokes at idle

[superyota]

Just noticed every time i'm on a trail, while i'm sitting or moving along with rpm's low, the motor builds up like a 2 stroke and starts smoking.  i have no chekc light on, and the truck doesn't burn more than a half a quart or so every 3k miles. i did a compression check and all 4 cylinders are sitting at 150-155 psi.  any ideas why its smoking?  it smells like raw fuel, so figured its running rich  .

[GNasty 82]

First thing I would ask is "What color is the smoke?" 

[superyota [OP]]

blue smoke

[79coyotefrg]

black smoke or blue smoke

nevermind,  yep thats oil smoke.  sounds like you need new valve stem seals but i wouldnt worry about it till it gets bad

[zippo]

does it smoke more when you:

Hit the gas: Bad Rings

Let off the gas: Valve stem seals

Its ok to have a little puff when you are shifting.

White smoke is water and its you head gasket.

None of these are 100% but a good way start.

[superyota [OP]]

black smoke or blue smoke

nevermind,  yep thats oil smoke.  sounds like you need new valve stem seals but i wouldnt worry about it till it gets bad

I had a feeling thats what it was.  any way to check?

[superyota [OP]]

if i'm driving it around, it doesn't smoke, as soon as it has time to sit and idle for bit, you can see it in the exhaust starting to build up.  rev it out a few times, and it seems to clear up for a bit, then comes right back again.  but its only at idle when sitting for a couple of minutes or so.  driving it, no smoke.  everyone that drives behind me on the trail tells me it smells like raw fuel.

[superyota [OP]]

so blue smoke is always oil?  is it possible i might have a bad O2?

[zippo]

No, and O2 is about fuel air mixture. I would say valve stem seals.

[superyota [OP]]

No, and O2 is about fuel air mixture. I would say valve stem seals.

i'm wondering if a bad o2 could cause the motor to run rich enough at idle to build up and smoke.  is it worth changing out or wait and do valve stem seals if it gets worse?

[kneedownnate]

Can you smell it?  If you remember my little blue 91, it recently began letting off a tiny puff of blue on startup, and lately has been worsening and I can smell oil burning at idle.  Valve stem seals for sure need to be replaced since they now have 230,000 miles on them, but my dilemma is that to do it right and assure I don't have a head gasket failure later on, I need to pull the head off and replace the head gasket and bolts too, and the intake is a horribly gummy mess, which probably means my injectors are none too pretty also.  Money.  More money than I can afford right now, so I'm just living with it.

I'm still waiting to hear back on whether the stem seals come as a kit or individual since they're listed so cheap, but it seems the toyota valve cover gasket is extremely cheap also.  I was really surprised at how cheap all the toyota parts I checked out were, though a few were expensive as you'd expect.

[superyota [OP]]

if definitely smells like raw fuel.  the motor was fully rebuilt with new pistons, valves, seals, etc. back in 2000 and has maybe 45k on in.  but the 45k that are on it are hard miles.  driving to and from trails, not counting driving it to school and out at the beach and dunes on a daily bases for about 4 years.

[zippo]

If you are smelling raw fuel i would say change it. It's something that never hurts to replace. It mist be crazy rich to be smoking that bad though.

[kneedownnate]

Any update?

[superyota [OP]]

not yet.  i only get to go home on weekends.  going home tomorrow night.  i'll see what i can figure out this weekend.  any idea what readings i should get with an ohm meter on the 02?  think i'll start with that, then go to the valve stem seals.