Blown Head Gasket :( VZV21

[jackfrost1031]

driving to school I believe I blew my headgasket. I wasn't driving very fast, and I had noticed that the engine was missing pretty badly. I came to a stop and saw an ungodly amount of pure white smoke coming out from under my hood. I figured it was overheated and thought it was steam, but realized it was smoke when I smelled it. Friend stopped by and I asked him to get me some water to refil the reservoir with. I turned my rad fans on to let it cool down for a minute too. While inder the hood, I noticed a wire on the ignitor was stripped, but not broken, so I figured that was why it was missing. Then I tried to restart and it missed like an entire bank of cylinders was not firing and more of the thick white smoke came out the exhaust. It smelled sort of sweet, so I figure that coolant has gotten into the cylinders due to a head gasket leak.

Do gaskets just blow, or does something cause it? Like, what would I need to do to fix it, other than just replacing the gasket? The engine isn't horribly high mileage, 178k. I admit, I drive it hard sometimes, but not for very long (3-5mi).

I have an alltrac I can drive for now if I put an engine in it, and looked on car-part.com for an engine in it. It specified between fwd and awd on the engines, but I thought that a 3sfe was a 3sfe..


Anyway, thanks for any response.

[88 LE]

Originally posted by jackfrost1031
Then I tried to restart and it missed like an entire bank of cylinders was not firing and more of the thick white smoke came out the exhaust. It smelled sort of sweet, so I figure that coolant has gotten into the cylinders due to a head gasket leak.

You got a blown headgasket(s).

Like, what would I need to do to fix it, other than just replacing the gasket?

Check the heads (I would pull off both of them) for flatness. You can check it yourself with a long metal ruler and a feeler guage. Otherwise take it to a engine builder or cylinder head shop.

Replace any gaskets that you remove (cam seals, valve cover gasket, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, etc..)

Make sure that you replace the head bolts and torque them properly when replacing the gasket.

I have an alltrac I can drive for now if I put an engine in it, and looked on car-part.com for an engine in it. It specified between fwd and awd on the engines, but I thought that a 3sfe was a 3sfe.

The difference is in the tranny.

[jackfrost1031]

I was hoping you'd reply..heh.


Yeah, I figured the diff between them was just the tranny but I thought maybe the ECU was what was different, if anything.


I think if I'm going to pull both heads I ought to pull the whole motor out and do a rebuild while I'm at it, if I ever plan to do much with it I would need to do that anyway..



Oh, on a side note. I had it towed to my house, and to move it to my shop I couldn't push it so I drove it 100yds, and it didn't smoke but it did miss and smell sweet. Was the lack of smoke due to a lack of coolant in the first place?

[88 LE]

Originally posted by jackfrost1031
Yeah, I figured the diff between them was just the tranny but I thought maybe the ECU was what was different, if anything.

The ECU should be the same on both.

I have a electrical manual for a 88 Camry w/3S-FE. It also covers the 88 All Trac.

So I take it that the ECU is the same on both, since theres no special section in the manual for the All Trac model.

I drove it 100yds, and it didn't smoke but it did miss and smell sweet. Was the lack of smoke due to a lack of coolant in the first place?

Could be.

It'll smoke if theres coolant in the cylinder. Remember water doesn't compress or burn, it boils.

When the headgasket on my friends mk3 supra (7M-GTE) blew it would only smoke at idle.