2001 2.3l shat the bed... but now it's fine?

Background: http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1501137#post1501137

About a month ago my mechanic told me I had a minor oil leak during a routine oil change, but blew it off as a minor thing. He didn't give any specifics.

I drive 2 miles to work every day, so my truck rarely gets up to temp. I still get the oil changed every 3 months, which is roughly 500 miles for me.

This truck has been a basket of bullshit since the day I drove it home and it pissed antifreeze all over my driveway. The dealer fixed that, but since the 90 day "It's Cool, We Swear!" BS warranty has run out I've had to replace the radiator, coolant bottle, and whatever hose connects the two (which apparently has to route down around the engine block and requires a ****-ton of labor hours...). It ran hot a few times, but never truly overheated in my care. I think this was an old NAPA Auto Parts truck, which would explain why it's been beat to hell.

This weekend, I started it up on Saturday and it ran like crap. The whole truck was shuddering and vibrating, and the tailpipe was spewing white smoke. It wouldn't idle at all, and it only ran for the 30 seconds I was gassing it. I killed it, checked the coolant and oil for milkshake/cappuccino... nothing. Coolant is a nice murky green color, oil is at the top of the "MAX" mark on the dipstick and looks pristine. Didn't smell like gas, either.

In an act of supreme stupidity, I cranked it again and... it ran fine. Still has an odd oil-burning smell, the oil-pressure gauge is still "low", within the 'normal' range, just lower than it normally is. This resolves itself within 5 minutes or so and the oil-pressure needle is in the middle of the gauge.

On longer drives, once everything is up to temp, all indicators are where they should be and the tailpipe is crystal clear... but the smell of burnt oil hits me in the face when I step out of the truck, and I hear a constant dripping sound that seems to come from underneath the driver's seat (into the exhaust maybe?) until it cools off. Coolant and oil are still perfect, no milkshake.

What the effing eff am I looking at here? If I am losing oil, it's not very quickly, as the dipstick still shows me perfectly full. The truck doesn't leave any stains on the pavement it's parked over, so whatever that dripping / ticking sound is, it's internal.

Any advice? Anyone?

My guess is that the ticking noise you hear is the exhaust/cats cooling off after shut down. I drive 25 miles each way to work, and it's pretty common for me to hear that ticking, especially if it's wet out, and the underside of the truck has been getting wet.

The random bucking issue is weird. Maybe an injector got clogged or stuck temporarily or something? And if 1 of your 4 cylinders wasn't firing, it would surely cause a rough idle. Running some injector cleaner through it can't hurt.
White "smoke" out of the exhaust is common on start up, especially as air temps get cooler this time of year. In most cases, it's just condensation, and will go away quickly. If it's still smoking after the engine has warmed up, then there may be a more serious issue.

Also, I just replaced the coolant bypass line that you mentioned running down one side of the engine and up the other. What a huge pain in the ass! I feel your pain there.

stmitch said:

Running some injector cleaner through it can't hurt.

White "smoke" out of the exhaust is common on start up, especially as air temps get cooler this time of year. In most cases, it's just condensation, and will go away quickly. If it's still smoking after the engine has warmed up, then there may be a more serious issue.

Also, I just replaced the coolant bypass line that you mentioned running down one side of the engine and up the other. What a huge pain in the ass! I feel your pain there.

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Injector cleaner I will do tomorrow. The "Cars puff steam in winter, dummy!" issue has been bothering me since that first failed-start happened. I know there should be SOME steam burnoff, and that it looks the same as burnt oil in the cold. I keep second-guessing myself.

It certainly does not go away "quickly", as it persists for about 5 minutes after the coolant gauge is reading normal operating temp (10+ minutes of driving). For the last two weeks I've been pulling through stoplights and watching my passenger mirror to see what comes out of the tailpipe. Unless it's been a long (20+ minute) drive, I spew clouds. Even if I drove half an hour to a store, shopped for 5 minutes, and then re-started it, I'm still putting out a LOT of vapor with an engine that cranked up at normal operating temp.

Sometimes it starts hard (5+ turnovers before it 'catches'), sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the oil pressure gauge is low when cold, sometimes it isn't. The battery is fine. I don't trust this truck like I did my old one, every morning for the last 2 weeks it's been "Is this the day I have to walk to work?" and a small prayer before I turn the key.

I've also noticed that I'm losing coolant AGAIN. Maybe that's the dripping sound I keep hearing? I know what you mean when you say that hot metal cooling off "ticks" and sounds nearly identical to liquids dripping. I *THINK* this sounds more like a liquid drop, but I could very well be wrong. Will coolant leaking into the exhaust in winter burn/boil off like the clouds I'm seeing from the tailpipe? The engine bay smells like burnt oil when I park, but the cloudy exhaust doesn't smell like much of anything.

That would actually be good news, coolant is cheap and easy to monitor / replace

Coolant leaking onto the exhaust would burn off, and shouldn't be visible out the tailpipe. It would smell like coolant when you got out of the truck, but you probably wouldn't find any leaks or puddles.
Coolant getting into the exhaust stream however would be visible out of the tailpipe. But your exhaust would have a noticeable coolant odor.

I know it's not what you want to hear, but I'd just continue to monitor your coolant/oil levels on a regular basis. If/when things change or your random bucking on start up returns it may help to identify a specific issue. (I'm assuming that you aren't seeing any check engine lights, or getting any fault codes)