Celica Forums General Discussion Engine and Performance Over heated engine white smoke in exhaust

Engine has 280K miles, still running strong and smooth, compression in the 200s. I was losing coolant, could not find out where leaks were, kept adding.

1 day local drive, engine overheated to the max, knocking hard a few times like someone tapping it with a small hammer. Immediate got off the freeway, coasted into a gas station, added water to reservoir. It only sucked in coolant when engine is turned on.

Ran wengine, looking for leaks, finally found a tear under the hose from top of engine (next to throttle body) to radiator. It only sprayed out steam when engine got hot.

Ordered a Gates hose on eBay for $20 (dealer sells same for $80), spent 3 hours taking out the battery, connectors and air box to pull out the old hose and put in new one. Engine still runs strong but will pump out white smoke on high RPMs. Looks like coolant is leaking into the cyinders heads.

Such a stupid mistake on my part. What would be a good fix? I am asking the experienced bros for advise.

Car still runs smooth, starts immediately, no vibration, hesitation or jerking, only unpredictable white smoke soemtimes. No smoke on high RPM..

Toyota's Master Mechanic said occasional white smoke may be residues in CAT being burned off, or burned oil due to worn valve seals ect.

If head is cracked with coolant leaked into cylinder, 1 or 2 cylinders would have lower compression, engine would vibrate , hesitate and hard starting or may not even start. So engine is OK. Damn, I am relieved.

Bros with cars exceeding 150K should be very careful with coolant leaks. Check levels and parking spots regualrly, like weekly. If leak is suspected, make sure you do a thorough check, find and fix it, or you may risk blowing the engine.

I'm at 85k with a coolant leak... They are telling me I need a raidiator, how will I know if they are full of shi* and it's just a hose?

You should definitely find the leaks and fix it. Overheating can crack engine and cause very expensive damages.

Run the engine full hot ans shine a bright light into the radiator and its bottom. If radiator leaks there will be coolant dripping down at the bottom.

Shine the bright light along hoses between the engine and the radiator. If any squirts or steam, replace the hoses.

In eBay New Denso's OEM radiator costts only about $150. OEM hoses also cost $20-30. Dealer will charge double those prcies for the same parts.

Coolant leaks are very serious problems that should be fixed ASAP.