I blew a head gasket on my 1985 22RE 4 runner last month.
When I pulled the head, I found cracks between the cylinder ports and the water jackets. A local machine shop disassembled the head and welded the cracks closed - then machined the head. Valve job with new guides, seats and stem seals.

I used a Fel-Pro head gasket, a new timing chain set and replaced the oil pump. The engine runs good !

My problem is that it is now smoking at idle speeds - white smoke and smells like oil burning. It did not smoke or use oil before the head repair. Yesterday, I performed a compression check and here are the results: 165,170, 170 and 165. I have not performed a leak down test yet. I also readjusted the valves with them warm yesterday.

I'm suspecting the repaired head still has issues - I don't think my rings are bad with compression readings this close to the manual specifications of 171 lbs. I am not down on power and the engine runs good - it just smokes at idle speeds - red lights and stop signs.

Any thoughts that you may have would be appreciated. If it is warmer tomorrow, I'll attempt the leak down test.

Is it smoke or steam? Sounds like the welds didn't hold and you are losing coolant into a cylinder.

Nope - I am not loosing coolant and the smoke does not disapate like steam.

I was loosing coolant and the tail pipe would blow quickly disapating steam before I tore it down. Now I am using oil,
I've driven the runner about 400 miles since the head gasket and I've added almost 2 quarts of oil.

I was in line last night at a Burger King and it was really embarrasing - low rpm means it smokes more - I do not see the smoke except for first gear - after that it may be blowing away. I was hoping to find a valve with no stem seal yesterday - but they seem to be intact.

With the compression as close to normal as it is, I don't know if the leak down test will tell me anything. I hope to do the leak down test tomorrow.

The leakdown tests the top end; my q. for the machine shop would be if they pressure tested it after they got done machining the dang thing.

I seriously doubt that they have the capability to pressure test the head. I had it delivered by my son, when I picked it up 2 weeks later - the shop was a mess and there is parts stacked eye ball high - there was literally a trail between the machines. I would not take any other work back to them. $185.00 was what I was charged for the head repair and valve job.

I am having trouble determining a method for pin pointing where the problem is, I may just have to tear it back down after attempting the leak down test.

Have you pulled and examined the spark plugs? With that much oil consumption, you should see a clue on one or more plugs. At least you should see which cylinder[s] are affected.

All the plugs looked fouled but the #3 cylinder looked the worst. I installed new spark plugs yesterday and allowed it to idle with the new plugs while I checked the timing.

I removed the spark plugs after a 10 minute idle and they were (all 4) were black.

Sure, after a 10 minute idle they'll be black with soot. You might learn more after an hour on the freeway. That should burn off the soot and maybe show one that's wet with oil.

White smoke = water (coolant)
Blue or Black = oil

Maybe your muffler is full of coolant from the last episode.

[color:"#666666"]Hi Meester! [/color]