I overboosted the other day and from the looks of my spark plugs, I detonated in cylinders 1 and 3. FYI, no oil on any of the plugs. Now, when I start up my car, it blows white smoke out of the exhaust for a little while. Then car starts up real rough. But after a while, it smoothens out and is like normal. The car drives like normal, it just starts up rough. What did I do to my motor?

 

How thick is the white smoke? Is it white or whitish blue? The difference between blowing oil and blowing coolant is the difference between a headgasket and piston rings in this case, so you should figure it out and get back to us ASAP .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Archidictus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How thick is the white smoke? Is it white or whitish blue? The difference between blowing oil and blowing coolant is the difference between a headgasket and piston rings in this case, so you should figure it out and get back to us ASAP .</TD></TR></TABLE>

It is white and it is fairly thick. I don't believe it is the head gasket because I have a Cometic HP gasket, so I guess it is a piston ring. How long can I ride on a blown piston ring?

 

headgaskets will blow regardless of what brand it is

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dominate9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

It is white and it is fairly thick. I don't believe it is the head gasket because I have a Cometic HP gasket, so I guess it is a piston ring. How long can I ride on a blown piston ring?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not only can a Cometic gasket still blow, but that's not the worst thing that can cause coolant to enter your cylinders. It's almost 100% coolant if your description of the smoke is accurate, and that wouldn't be caused by rings. Either you've got a ruptured head gasket or a cracked block

 

I also get oil on my EGR valve. That ***** also directly under the breather filter on the valve cover. The engine also seems to overheat quicker than usual. If I had a blown headgasket, wouldn't it run shitty all the time instead of just when I start the car up?

 

it wouldnt neccesarily run bad all the time....

but if its not a hugh headgasket problem then you will only have serious running problems when you first start it...because the coolant has had time to leak into the cylinders when parked, and then when you start it, it smokes, and runs like crap....

but if your smoke is what we all think it is...then its headgasket...

and if its overheating too.....

id say headgasket

 

whoa pornstar's post was at 4:20

Everything you describe sounds like headgasket. Count your blessings, because if thats all it is you got off easy.

 

Ok guys. I'll check that out. Thanks for your help.

 

If I had a blown headgasket, wouldn't I get a shitty idle too?

 

nope. My Idle was fine when I had a blown head gasket (actually, the iron sleeves moved). I had the same simptoms as you... sorry bud.

 

blown head gaskets can do lots of different things...

but from what your telling us.....all signs point to the head gasket....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbosi03 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nope. My Idle was fine when I had a blown head gasket (actually, the iron sleeves moved). I had the same simptoms as you... sorry bud. </TD></TR></TABLE>

So was something wrong with your headgasket, your sleeves, or both? I can't imagine something being wrong with my sleeves. BTW, the car doesn't start up shitty all the time...more like 60% of the time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbosi03 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nope. My Idle was fine when I had a blown head gasket (actually, the iron sleeves moved). I had the same simptoms as you... sorry bud. </TD></TR></TABLE>

And were you still able to boost? My car is still boosting like normal...except it just overheats a lot quicker.

 

yes I was able to boost... with my problems I was able to get a 350whp dyno graph. my sleeves moved which caused the gasket seal to break. my motor also overheated quicker and the coolant would always get emptied out of the radiator (hense the white smoke)... thats a pretty good reason to overheat.

I didn't realize you have sleeves put in... hope you dont have the same problems I have. If you think you do then please let me know what you did to solve them, or find your root cause... my motor is out of the car and I'm taking a break from the BS for now, but I still need to find out the root cause of my problems.

 

Just pull the damn head

 

another way to easily test for a blown headgasket is to check for oil in the radiator.....when mine went out on my b18a1 motor all the mechanis did was check for that........plus your overheating.....definite headgasket

 

yah u could have had the head off by now i know it sux to have the down time but it can get worse if u keep waiting

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dominate9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

It is white and it is fairly thick. I don't believe it is the head gasket because I have a Cometic HP gasket, so I guess it is a piston ring. How long can I ride on a blown piston ring?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Cometic HP don't do any better than OEM gaskets....I believe you have a blown headgasket. If its a piston ring (depending on how bad) oil would be coming out of the exhaust ports and you would have a blue smoke or even lots of oil itself coming right into the turbo manifold. Take off the manifold when u get a chance and check it out

mike


Modified by MikeMAN at 9:12 PM 1/7/2004

 

My friend said that he thinks it is starting up shitty because of the condensation that gets into the exhaust pipes when the car has been sitting for a while and the big injectors.

 

And I'm broke right now so I can't offered to pay someone to pull the head. Can't I tell with a compression test or leakdown test?

 

First Yes a compression, or leakdown test would tell you.

The reason its starting up shitty only 60% is probably due to the fact that some of the time you start the engine up cold and some times hot. Well anyone knows when something gets hot it expands well a minor spot in the HG can somewhat close up when this happens however when it is cold this spot is opened up and water will start to fill the cylinders up. So once you sart the car it burns off the water, warms up the blocks which will decrease the bad spot and inconjunction with the pressure in the cylinder from the piston compressing it will keep water from coming back in and thus stop smoking and run fine. However since there is still a hole/ crack in the HG this is a place for the heat and flame of combustion to exit through, so it will go into the coolant around the cylinders and warm the water excessivly.

Hope this answers some questions

 

Damn, thanks 30psi Teg. Now I understand.