92 Es300 Blowing While Smoke And Overheating

[92es300rebuilder]

I have a persistent issue with my 1992 ES300 (161K miles) whereby white smoke coming from exhaust and major fuel loss with gas in the oil -- plus running horrible. I was informed by some that it was a blown head gasket and/or warped head. I alread had the back head off and after planing and a valve job, there is ticking from the back head and some smoke coming from the back of the engine -- ?? -- not sure about this --- maybe needed a thicker head gasket after the head planing ??? -- any insights here?

From my research, my gut feeling is that it is either a "stuck open" fuel injector and/or a bad ECU. Since I am an EE, I'm going to open the ECU and see what I find. I have spent way too much money listening to "experts" and am desperately trying to fix the car myself this time. I plan on pulling the ECU out and checking it out tomorrow AM. I'll let you know what I find.

BTW -- I did get the codes by shorting pins E1 and TE1 on the diag port and obtained a 24 (IAT sensor) and 32 (Airflow meter). Upon further research, I found that one of the pins on the MAF sensor was pushed back. Repaired the connector by pusing the wire back into the connector. Still need to verify Intake Air Temp sensor functionality -- any insights from the experts out there? The MIL is not on and no codes at this time.

On the same vehicle, it is overheating. Lower radiator hose is not hot while the top one is --- suspect stuck closed thermostat and/or clogged radiator. After replacing the thermostat, it is running a little cooler (lower radiator now hotter than before), but still overheating. Suspect the radiator is clogged . . . will look into that today.

[byf43]

Sure sounds like a blown headgasket.

Look for water in the oil. The oil will look like 'coffee with cream'.

IF you have a blown headgasket, don't drive it! You'll surely ruin the bottom end of the engine.

The '92-'94 es300s have a bad reputation for overheating problems.

I had my '93 es300 headgaskets go bad. The car had about 105,000 miles on it.

All 4 oxygen sensors replaced (water kills 'em!) and then replaced the head gaskets, plugs, water pump, thermostat, timing belt, just about everything that would soon go bad.

I've driven this car without any problems since. (It's got 125,000+ miles on it, now.)

Best $3,000+ ever spent.

GREAT car!

I have a persistent issue with my 1992 ES300 (161K miles) whereby white smoke coming from exhaust and major fuel loss with gas in the oil -- plus running horrible. I was informed by some that it was a blown head gasket and/or warped head. I alread had the back head off and after planing and a valve job, there is ticking from the back head and some smoke coming from the back of the engine -- ?? -- not sure about this --- maybe needed a thicker head gasket after the head planing ??? -- any insights here?

From my research, my gut feeling is that it is either a "stuck open" fuel injector and/or a bad ECU. Since I am an EE, I'm going to open the ECU and see what I find. I have spent way too much money listening to "experts" and am desperately trying to fix the car myself this time. I plan on pulling the ECU out and checking it out tomorrow AM. I'll let you know what I find.

BTW -- I did get the codes by shorting pins E1 and TE1 on the diag port and obtained a 24 (IAT sensor) and 32 (Airflow meter). Upon further research, I found that one of the pins on the MAF sensor was pushed back. Repaired the connector by pusing the wire back into the connector. Still need to verify Intake Air Temp sensor functionality -- any insights from the experts out there? The MIL is not on and no codes at this time.

On the same vehicle, it is overheating. Lower radiator hose is not hot while the top one is --- suspect stuck closed thermostat and/or clogged radiator. After replacing the thermostat, it is running a little cooler (lower radiator now hotter than before), but still overheating. Suspect the radiator is clogged . . . will look into that today.

[George_Jetson]

The white smoke would indicate a possible headgasket, along with the overheating. BUT that would not explain the fuel in the oil. A leaking injector would expain that. Another possibility to look at is the fuel pressure regulator. If the diaphram inside the regulator is torn, it would allow raw fuel to be drawn up the vac line, into the manifold.

Run a compression check, then start the engine, and pull the vac line off the regulator. If you see any gas, you have a bad regulator.

As far as the codes for MAF sensor, and IAT sensor. The IAT is located inside the MAF. Depending on which pin was pushed back, it is very possible that both codes would be set. Since you indicate that the code did not return, I would assume that the pin was probably for the com (grd connector).