i need help (smoking/runs rough)
 

this truck just seems to keep on getting worse the longer i own it heheh...

it started doing this recently...

after it warms up and everything... it still smokes out of the left side (looking from the back forward) the smoke doesn't seem to stay a certain color, sometimes blue, sometimes white, sometimes it doesn't smoke at all...

When i'm at a stop in gear, it idles pretty rough and takes off rough also.

Could you give me some pointers, other then "take it to the junkyard" :)

thanx

do you have dual exhaust? where is the smoke coming from? is the oil or coolant level dropping?

it's dual exhaust...

it smokes out of the left hand side (from the drivers point of view)
the oil/coolant seems to stay.... although after about 1000 km i have had to add almost a quart of oil...

i'm thinking i should replace the head gasket?

when i was going to work today, it ran really rough and smoked a lot... but on the way back it didn't.

This could be many things. I would guess at maybe some bad rings causing the smoking on one side. Of course it could the carb flooding on one side. How do your plugs look? This is usually a pretty good indication of what's going on inside the engine. If they are wet with oil or gas, it will foul them out and cause a rough running engine.

ugh... i REALLY hope it's not the rings.

i noticed tonight that the temp seems to fluctuate somewhat, and the engine surges somewhat.

once i'm stopped though, it feels like it's not running on all cylinders.

I was kinda hoping it was the head gasket or something like that.

How hard is it to change the head gasket? and do i need any special tools?

i will check the plugs tomorrow...i'll post the pics once i get them

If the engine idles rough you probably have a fouled plug. Change them and see if you notice a change. Plugs are cheap to preplace. I replace mine every 6 months due to oil burning on three cylinders.

Don't forget about bad / loose plug wires. Seen that before also

first of all, Happy New Year!!!

thank you for helping me out here... i will replace the plugs today... a question though, would bad plugs make it smoke?