Okay, here's what happened. I'm pretty sure I know what's going on but not sure the extent of damage that is possible or what to do.

Basically, I just installed a hondata intake manifold gasket and may not have cleaned off the old gasket completely before throwing on the hondata gasket. After starting the engine it is idling very rough, approximately around 2-3 and surging....coolant being burned up and white smoke is coming out of tailpipe. Also, cylinder 4 misfire. This is obvious to me that the intake manifold gasket is leaking at the coolant path and going into cylinder 4.

Now my plan is to take the gasket back off and double check to make sure that the surfaces are clean as well as tighten up the nuts snugly and in the correct
order. What i'm scared about is if I have done serious damage already. Can anyone give me some insight into the possibility of serious damage being done already. I didn't run my car that long...i didn't drive it but just let it idle for a bit. Thanks for all the input.

Also, if there is coolant left in the cylinder, what is the best way to get it out. A friend is telling me to moving the spark plugs and spray carb/throttle body cleaner down the cylinder????

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by [HrZn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">4life]Also, if there is coolant left in the cylinder, what is the best way to get it out. A friend is telling me to moving the spark plugs and spray carb/throttle body cleaner down the cylinder????</TD></TR></TABLE>

If it was just idling, and continued to fire, you probably got lucky.

Carb cleaner won't do much but add to the issue. Take a peek in there and see how deep the water is, if it's shallow enough you can just fire it up again and wait for it to go out the exhaust. Deep enough, and you might need a straw and a shop vac

-Chris

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by [HrZn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">4life]

Also, if there is coolant left in the cylinder, what is the best way to get it out</TD></TR></TABLE>

Bring the piston to TDC and suck it out.

It was probably just a small leak, you should be ok. Clean it up and start it again.

 

thanks guys. Hopefully everything turns out alright.

 

I would try using a shopvac with a small hose taped to it to get into the cylinder area and then spray WD-40 (water displacement) in all of the cylinders and turn the motor over with the plugs removed. this will blow out most of the remaining water. I would not use carb cleaner as it may wash past the rings and go into the crankcase. Hope this helps.