Ok, I know white smoke with a sweet smell = blown headgasket. But it was a brand new head gasket on a completely rebuilt motor. Here's the details:

CRX
d16a6
na
.020 overbore
12:1 compression
ARP head studs
It was a complete rebuild from a bare block up.

Everything seems fine with the exception of this white smoke, so I took the head off and sure enough there's coolant in very small amounts in the cylinders (on top of the pistons) but no sign of wear and tear to the head gasket. I remove the head gasket, exhaust mani gasket, and intake mani gasket and replaced all three. Reassembled. Torqued to ARP and Honda specs.

Started it back up and white smoke again.

Also: 10 fast blinks on the EDU. CEL code is ten fast blinks. CEL code 10 - Intake air temperature sensor or circuit? Any idea if this has anything to do with it? Or another problem I need to diagnose?

Any ideas? I'm at a loss since I've put two new head gaskets on it.

 

Did you measure the block and head trueness? They might be warped.

 

Block was machined and head was measured with a straigtedge and feeler gauge thingy. Almost perfect (well within stock specs).

I'm going to take it apart and take the head back to the machine shop to check it professionally.

In the meantime, anyone else have any ideas? Valve seals? Mating surface smoothness? Is it possible that there could be any problems with the intake manifold? I'm just at a loss since everything appears to be fine when its pulled apart.

Thanks.

 

crank in the head or intake manifold gasket is leaking into the #4 cylinder from the coolant passage next to it

 

Get the head milled and pressure checked.
Get a new head gasket. Check the sleeves for cracks.
Good luck.

 

Thanks all. Gonna take it apart tomorrow night and see what I find.

 

I had the same problem too new headgasket and all and a shop as well i had to do my head like four times to get it right. best advise it to torque the head tight as hell.

 

you maybe running rich on the gas....I have that problem right now

 

have u tried torquing your head gasket just a little bit more than stock? maybe u just didnt torque it enough, that happened to me once

 

make sure you have the dowel pins so the gasket doesnt move around when you put the head one

 

I re-read the post. You may have a sealing issue.

 

When you say sealing issue, what do you mean? Can you elaborate?

 

maybe your fast idle thermal valve is loosened up and maybe allowing coolant in through the tb. check this out for info in the FITV. https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1003988

 

That could be it!!! In the link you provided, it mentioned the high revs on startup. It does indeed surge on startup, so it absolutely could be the FITV. I'll make that the first thing I check. I have another full Intake Manifold and TB sitting in the garage. I'll just swap it before I do anything else.

Thanks everyone, this gives me A LOT to look into. I'm sure its one of these things. Hopefully one of the easier, rather than the more difficult/costly.

I'll let you know what I find.

 

check your oil if its milky then headgasket