hey i know what white smoke from exhaust means...head gasket...etc but check this out....my car smokes white (alot) in the morning after like 2minutes of being turned on and goes away when warm....now throughout the day when i get out of work it can sit there, ice cold and when i turn it on it wont smoke at all......i did notice that the muffler is wet on the inside at all times...i ran my finger through it and i get water on my finger....it is a freshly built block..it got once because the fan was weak and i installed a new one....if its headgasket wouldnt it always smoke? what do you guys think?

thanx...

 

cant white smoke also mean water vapor?

 

try retourquing the head studs.

 

i dont think they need to be....the bolts were pre-stretched...

 

mine did the same it smoked when i started it and sounded like it was running on 3 cylinders. i would start it drive away look in the mirror and see some white smoke and then about 10 feet from the smoke it would be fine. replaced the head gasket and it was fine.

 

was the HG installed correctly?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nordy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i dont think they need to be....the bolts were pre-stretched...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not sure what you mean by pre-stretched but Civic head bolts are TTY bolts that stretch when torqued. They should not be re-used in case there is no stretch left in them.

 

what i mean is they were tightened, loosened, tightened torqued to a different lb and loosened etc....

 

Condensation can build up in the exhaust system and can cause the muffler tip to be damp/wet. Ever seen cars pee before?

 

Wanna know if its the head gasket, check your coolant levels. It should go up and down but remain the same under same conditions. ALL CARS produce steam from the engine being cold and water condensation. It goes away when the car is warm. Yes, they'll even drip water out the exhaust. This is not uncommon.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tzarinque &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">try retourquing the head studs. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Why, unless he just did a fresh head gasket install? wtf

 

the muffler is wet all day....if u touch it at any time during the day it is wet......the coolant level is the same but the reservoir drops slowly......checked out the oil after dynoing and there didnt seem to be water in the oil....

 

Drive it on the freeway for like 20 miles or something. If after that its still wet, it could be the head gasket. If you barely drive anywhere like to the grocery store and back / short trips, you'll always have condensation in your car. Unless its 75 degrees out.

 

im in florida.....its 80+ degrees here lol......thing is, if its a headgasket shouldnt it always smoke...specially when cold?

 

ok, so i put in castrol 20w - 50 conventional oil and it stopped doing it...im thinking valveguide seals?

 

you said it was a freshly built block right .... get behind new cars and you will see them dripping water. Like said before condensation builds up. Good compression.

 

ok so 700 miles after i put the oil in it started doing it again....im thinking maybe the oil is thinning out and leaking by the seals if it is that? my theory was that since the oil was thicker it wouldnt leak thus no smoke would come out but now that is getting worn out (specially since it aint synthetic) it started elaking again? idk just my thinking...any ideas? i noticed the smoke has a bluish tint but doesnt smell like oil....