oranginal

Some insight or things to check to pinpoint issue would be greatly appreciated


Progressively getting worse:

when car is warm white smoke blows out of exhaust, valve cover breather, oil dipstick hole (if I remove the dipstick of course). Also I was doing a compression test last night and after I let the car warm up I quickly took the spark plug out of cyl #4 and some white smoke came out. Also I am getting a black sludge in the coolant reservoir, not sure if it is fuel or oil but no coolant in the oil and the oil level stays pretty constant while the coolant level slowly goes down.

I’m trying to determine if this is a headgasket issue, water-cooled turbo issue, cracked head issue, warped head, cracked sleeve, valve seals, waterline from intake manifold to head, or other.....

I had this problem with my first cometic gasket, everything was fine for about 6-7 months until one day my car slightly overheated on the temp gauge then I saw black sludge in my coolant reservoir. I just kept flushing out the reservoir until the white smoke from the exhaust came along and eventually got bad.
So I got a goldenEagle gasket and installed that torque down with proper specs and pattern, although the cometic gasket I took out didn't show any noticeable leakage spots, and things were fine for about 3-4 weeks until it overheated on the temp gauge one day while I was at idle and again the black sludge returned (although not as bad as before) and the white smoke is showing up again. The car doesn't overheat while driving; only overheated once for each of the two headgaskets I have on.

motor summary:
built h22a4 open deck bottom end golden eagle headgasket ARP bolts water-cooled turbo
compression test numbers when warm
4 3 2 1
190 190 180 200
180 190 180 200

compression test numbers when cold
4 3 2 1
210 200 180 200

update:

update:

got new head gasket installed but white smoke still there, no visual signs of wear on the old headgasket.
checked for warpage or sunk sleeve with straight edge and no issues there.
didn't see any cracks in the head or in the sleeves....pistons and walls looked fine, vales looked good for a '93 head.

no copper spray, used arp torque specs, let it sit over night then slightly loosen then retorque tot he 120lbs using 30w oil.

Could the white smoke be from the turbo since it's watercooled?

i think when i get home i will bypass the waterlines to the turbo and see if that helps, otherwise i am pretty lost and don't know what else i can check aside from taking the engine out and sending the head and block to be check and tested fully.

After letting the car fully warm up i ran another compression test and got 180psi across all 4 cylinders. That's lower than my original reading before the head gasket but that was with the car just warm, not hot.

Any thoughts on what else to check or look at would be appreciated.

IVGattaBeDreaming

head gasket... burning coolant=white smoke and black sludge in coolant res is oil. Def HG

cnydc2

^^^ I gotta go with the HG too. Be careful, you dont want the coolant to make it into the oil.

sh!ft

did you change out the gasket previously to adding the turbo stuff? what did you torque the bolts to? did you use the old bolts or new ones?

unusual71

textbook headgasket case, sir.

philafelman

try performing a leakdown test perhaps...the compression numbers look ok. are you running a catch can setup?

boosted91crx

leak down is only way to be sure, compression test dont always catch small leaks.

oranginal

got the block when i went turbo, a4 block with an a1 head. and put in a cometic gasket. after that gave me the same issues i am having now i put in a GoldenEagle gasket.
ARP bolts torqued to 120lbs since i was using oil as a lubricant. called ARP and they said with their lube you torque to 80, with oil you want 120lbs in three steps so i did 40, 80, 120

arp said re-torque the bolts isn't necessary after a heat cycle but recommended. they said another alternative is to let the car sit over night after reaching the first torque spece, then the next day retorque if necessary.

anyone have ti[ps on cooper gasket spray or torue after heat cycle experience on boosted motors.

coneheadsracing

Why don't you use the stock head gasket. I've used the copper stuff, mine was a brush on type, worked fine. I don't really know anything about your motor, but i've never had issues with the regular MLS gaskets.

oranginal

the Golden Eagle gaskets are just that, stock gaskets bored out. in my case i have a 89.5mm bore so i use the 90mm GE gasket. they even come in the original honda packaging with the honda part sticker number on it.


any comments on copper stuff or re-torque after heat cycle or letting it sit for a night or any other things to look for after disassembling or before disassembling would be appreciated.

p.s. gasket should be arriving monday so work will be done sometime next week so i'm trying to get as much info as possible so all posts welcome

thanks everyone

The Lobster

IMO

even with OIL i dont think you should do 120 lbs on the head tq...you might have streched your head bolts and getting a slight head lift.

cause on my D series ARP states 63 with moly but i think 80 with oil. i dont see a 40 lb over. Specially with oil the readings are so inaccurate i have snapped studs before...i dont every use oil anymore moly or nothing.

so i think you should get new bolts and use the moly that comes with it and tq them to spec

i also think you should just use a stock bore OEM gasket...even at stock bore Honda overbore the OEM gasket.

Antilag

With 89.5 i assume you have new sleeves. When you pull the head, get a straight edge and check the block deck. Possibility you might of sunked a sleeve. Check the Head as well. Do a leakdown test and cover all the basics.

The Lobster

also true.

i changed about 6 head gaskets cause i thought well multiple of things till i finally realized 2 out of my 4 sleeves were sunk...

oranginal

excellent points, i will get a straight edge and check the head for warpage and the block for a possible sunk sleeve.

i will do some research about the arp torque specs to see what others have used and see what i can find.

but any other info like lobster said regarding torque and re-torque and possible using cooper gasket spray would be appreciated
thanks

oranginal

update:

got new head gasket installed but white smoke still there, no visual signs of wear on the old headgasket.
checked for warpage or sunk sleeve with straight edge and no issues there.
didn't see any cracks in the head or in the sleeves....pistons and walls looked fine, vales looked good for a '93 head.

no copper spray, used arp torque specs, let it sit over night then slightly loosen then retorque tot he 120lbs using 30w oil.

Could the white smoke be from the turbo since it's watercooled?

i think when i get home i will bypass the waterlines to the turbo and see if that helps, otherwise i am pretty lost and don't know what else i can check aside from taking the engine out and sending the head and block to be check and tested fully.

After letting the car fully warm up i ran another compression test and got 180psi across all 4 cylinders. That's lower than my original reading before the head gasket but that was with the car just warm, not hot.

Any thoughts on what else to check or look at would be appreciated.

thanks

acc98ord

May be silly to question...

Your using an a4 block with an a1 head. Does the a4 head have the same passages as the a1 does?

Correct me if im wrong,
99 = h22a4
93 = h22a1

head gaskets have different part numbers at
www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/

oranginal

you are correct as far as open deck vs closed deck.

i contacted goldenEagle and they only sell the a1 (93 closed deck) gasket will work on the a4 (open deck) motors. they said that they have built a few h22a4 block this way without any issues.

before replacing the gasket this weekend i installed the same h22a1 GE gasket and it ran fine for a few months before the smoke started.

With the new gasket i am still having the same smoking issue although it is alot better not.

UPDATE: so i was thinking maybe bad turbo seals, so yesterday i checked and i had too much oil in the car so i emptied some out and instead of smoking all the time it just smokes sometimes at idle but it smokes a lot more as i drive it, especially after i come to a stop after giving it some gas.

hard to tell if the smoke is white or white with a tint of blue and my sense of smell isn't that good with allergies so it's hard to detect sweet coolant or oil. i was going to pull the downpipe and check for oil before i noticed the oil level was higher than normal so i don't think the turbo is the problem. going to do another compression test today when i get home and maybe try to get a leakdown test or test the turbo this weekend.

nothing is more frustrating then not knowing what is causing smoke.