Hey Scotty, I recently purchased a 1996 RAV4 standard transmission with 104k miles. The coolant temp gauge sensor (and I believe the coolant temp sensor) were not working when I bought the car. I replaced them, along with the thermostat and coolant and am now seeing some white smoke coming from the exhaust when the car gets up to temp. Before replacement, no white smoke. This seems like a head gasket leak, but there are no overheating issues and everything else runs great. Should I just keep driving it until it needs fixing or should I use Steel Seal or get the gasket replaced?
Thanks for the link, I went ahead and checked it out. My question was more about the gasket and if it needs to be repaired immediately...
if it's bad, then yes. Unless you like replacing engines.
First, the temp SENDER is connected to your gauges. The temp SENSOR is connected to your ECM. It sounds like somebody rebuilt the head on this motor and used a cheap, after market head gasket. Also, a lot of the Toyota engines specify re-torqueing the head bolts after five hundred mile. Most mechanics don't do this and a blown head gasket is the expected result. More work for them, at your expense.
