It is possible to have a head gasket leak where exhaust gets into the water jacket and not the other way around. My 93SR had a head job done and the person did not put the washers under the head bolts. They all bottomed out before clamping to spec. My exhaust was going into the water system and pushing water out through the overflow tank.

Scott, how low was the coolant? If there is no hot water touching the sensor it will read cooler than it is.

A head gasket job is a lot more labor. You have to take everything off of the engine. It is a real pain in the <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" />. I have done it a few times on the early 3.0. Usually takes me 8-10 hours over a weekend. It is not hard to do though. But with yours you will need to check the heads, then if they need work it will take more time.

Like said above, get a leak down test and see what you find.

thanks guys, appreciate all the info. going on day 4 of the wife driving it approximately 2-3 hours a day on the highway, still no drop in coolant level. when I said the coolant was low, it was on the full mark when cold, I know that is full, but I thought I had it higher in there for the simple fact that it was recently overheated and wanted to have some extra in the tank. so I topped it off to just about the top of the tank, and when it gets hot, it just about touches the top of the bottle, and it has maintained that level for the last 4 days, so I am thinking one of two things happened:
1. I over-reacted and did not remember correctly the real level of the coolant in there and just thought it lost some
2. I was correct in my memory of having extra in the bottle and there was an air pocket in the system from the overheating incident that finally came out

still have 2 more days of the test to go until I make final assessment, but so far, it is looking like the smoke is engine oil since I do traditionally need to top that off every week or so.

if doing valve seals is a really in depth job, I will just deal with it, it isn't tons of smoke, I mean it has 170k miles on it, hard miles, off roading miles, towing miles, hot heat arizona miles, etc. so it won't be able to hold engine oil back like a new engine. will burning about 1 cup engine oil every 2 weeks ruin anything?

I would bet the smoke is probably oil burn from worn VGS's. The tell tale sign is when the smoke is mostly prevelant during startup and idling. Some say it's "blue" smoke but to me it just looks like, well smoke...

My 95 has had the smoke since about 85K and now I'm right at 200..No immeadiate Ill effects, but It took two tries to pass smog last year. I think the smoke degrades the efficiency of the cat converter and also cant be too good for the O2 sensor...Probably puts alot of carbon into the EGR ports...

So in my opinion its not an urgent thing..but not something you want to let go for 100K like me <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

Put half a quart of atf in the oil and see if that swells the stem seals and stops the oil burn. Change the oil after about a thou.

yeah, i bet it is oil too, it is upon start up and idling, on long highway trips, it doesn't consume much, stop and go driving is what makes it consume oil.

it had t-belt and water pump done at 90k miles, it now has 170k miles, so I was thinking at around 180k miles, get t-belt and water pump changed again, maybe I can work in the VGS replacement at that time for some extra cash, anyone think that is worth it?

I do . It is a pain in the <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" /> though. With the Mitsu special valve spring compressor it would be so much easier and quicker. I'm really glad I did that job though <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

well I won't be doing it, but with the next t-belt and water pump change, maybe I will have them do VGS as well. how do the piston rings hold up on these engines, basically I ask b/c is it not worth the time/money to VGS if you don't do the whole engine? or do the rings hold up well and the VGS need more frequent replacement?

Back 9 years when my blue gen1 smoked someone on here suggested I try Valvoline Maxlife. I did and it helped the smoking. I have been using it ever since in all my Monteros.

1c per two weeks? One quart per 2 months? 2-3hrs of hiway at 50mph per weekday x 22wkdays x 2mo = 2200-3300mi per month or 4000mi to the qt minimum? I start worrying at under 1000mi/qt...

Unless it smokes after prolonged idle after warmup, or at least smells strongly like vaporized oil at the tailpipe, even if there's no visible smoke, I would start looking for a leak, like front or rear main or cam seal or rear cam plug seals.

Or just quit worrying about it...

Agree 1000%

My Raider burned a quart every 2 weeks and I owned it for 6 years before finally fixing it a few months back. No ill effects aside from having my own fog machine for a while. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />