Carnivorous19

I recently had my mechanic put in a mini me swap (y8 head, y7 block) into my 99 ex. At first start it had a blown headgasket and was blowing smoke. He had the head resurfaced and put on a new headgasket, and after idling for 15 minutes the leftover coolant burned off and it stopped smoking at idle.

He took it out for a test run, but it seemed sluggish and at high rpms the car was still smoking.

He ran a compression test and said the numbers were all good. He replaced the gas in the car since it had been sitting for a couple of months. That seemed to help a little, but its still smoking grey smoke at high rpms. The car doesn't overheat.

Any ideas what this could be? Doesn't smoke at idle, just high rpms when you smash the gas. I'm this close to finally having my car back, but I can't get it smogged in California if its smoking. Any help and advice is appreciated

Axatax

Head gasket again (or warped head/block surface), sorry to say.

Carnivorous19

Wouldn't the smoke be white then if it was still burning coolant?

Carnivorous19

Bump

jbpnoman

If your shop is so insistent that the compression numbers are ok, check your timing. Also, leakdown test. Do one.

civicexkid1

iTrader: (1)

it might be a silly question but did he do it fully or did he just put on the head and call it done or did he splice wires and all that for vtec etc?

Carnivorous19

I'm pretty sure he did it all the way through. Its either fix this mini me or rebuild a y8 block with this y8 head

dueyx99

hmm you mention nothing of the previous setup, so for all i know the exhaust is contaminiated with junk from previous setup, try disconnecting the exhaust and take it for a boot, watch for smoke

Carnivorous19

The previous setup was a z6 longblock that ran good for two weeks then blew a headgasket and burned coolant like crazy. Tried to replace the headgasket but it kept blowing.

Before that I had the original y8 longblock that came with it when I bought it from a family member. It threw a rod through the block one day.

My mechanic just told me I should find another motor because he doubts this one will run right

crawfo661

Get a new mechanic! i would disassemble the motor and take it to a machine shop and have the head and block decked and checked for true flatness. Once they can assure the head and block are not warped reassemble the motor using a y8 multi-layer head gasket. That should assure that your head gasket wont blow again. This will be a better combo than trying to rebuild a block that threw a rod

Carnivorous19

The block that threw a rod has been disposed of. I asked him and he did perform a leak down test too and that came back fine. Its not burning oil or coolant, and he also disconnected the exhaust and it was still smoking. Above 3K rpm and it starts smoking, but if its idling its not.

What could this be??

Swap'DShuttle

Make sure you're running the right ecu first off.
Check mechanical timing.
Stop letting other people do things to your car like this so you know what's been done exactly.
Check vacuum at idle.
Pull codes if any.
Look for anything not plugged in.
New mechanic...YOU! Lol let us know whats up.

You want to do this kind of stuff learn the easy way by doing it yourself. Not by fixing peoples messes.

Carnivorous19

Its the original P2P ecu, no codes. Trust me I would do it all myself but I live in an apartment complex where they don't allow any working on cars. I'd feel much better at night knowing I did it all correctly myself, but it's not really an option. The only base I don't think i've covered already is the timing, but he may have checked that too. I'll try to touch base with him again

dueyx99

ok if you say it's still smoking with the exhaust off above 3k rpm's, and you say the compression test and leakdown test are ok? yet you show us no results, check the pcv system, make sure the valve rattles when shaken

crawfo661

well if it is smoking it is either running rich as can be or it IS burning something......