I am working on a 95 Del Sol S that was over heating and blowing white smoke out the tail pipe. It was also running like it was missing. We changed the plugs a few weeks back and noticed one had a lot of oil on it. Well now back to the running hot with rough idle and white smoke. It started o overheat and out of curiosity we pulled the wire on the plug we thought had oil issues to see if the car's idle would change. Well it dies and new started back up.

Now we have replaced the dist cap and dizzy brush. I did the Ohm test on the coil and it checks out ok with in spec. Anyone have any other ideas?

 

Headgasket.

 

x2

 

Humor me on this one but would that still keep it from it form firing up? I assume it would.

Reason is I was hoping I could hear it run before I tore it down to replace the head gasket. It's my Nephews car and all this happened when I wasn't around. No big deal, we'll tear it down and see. We will also be replacing the water pump, timing belt and all other belts.

 

The head is probably warped as well. That deals with the overheating.
As far as the not starting you have a whole other realm of issues to check. Is he getting spark? What color is the spark? Throwing any CELs? Check mechanical and ignition timing? Sounds like nephew isn't taking care of the car like he should be.

 

No CELs and I have checked all fuses. It's getting fuel because I can here the pump engage and I smell it coming out of the tail pipe and around the engine. I don't think it's getting spark and that's what I am trying to figure out. We replaced cap and rotor and I removed coil to make sure it was getting proper ohm reading and it was. I figure it should at least sputter like it wants to start. I haven't check timing because the only thing we did was pull a plug wire while it was running which I have done many times before and the timing was not affected. I an thinking something shorted when the wire was pulled. We may try replacing the coil even though hit checks out. Is there a way I can pull a plug wire from the valve cover to see if it's getting spark? How else can I check?


A little more back story: As winter came and the outside weather temps dropped and he said the engine started with a rough idle but would eventually smooth out as the car got warm. Well at 1st we though it was bad plugs causing a misfire so we replaced.

Then it would still do the rough idle but was also starting to overheat. So we thought maybe just low on water and I checked and noticed his radiator cap was loose and damaged so we replaced it. Refilled and he drove it for a few more days still reporting rough idling but now after it was warm and telling me he sees white smoke. So at this point I hadn't registered to tell him to park it. The next day it must have got real bad so he left it in a parking lot.

Once we get it apart we will be checking the head for warp for sure.

My Dad, a retired Diesel Mechanic headed over to look at it. He fired it up, saw the white smoke and smelt the antifreeze, witnessed rough idle and pulled plug wire #2 because that was the plug we noticed had oil on it when we changed it. He wanted to see of that cylinder was firing or not. When he pulled that wire the car died and never started since.

 

That's your problem. You're not supposed to do that. I think you fried the coil.

 

I tend to agree.

 

I know one is not suppose to pull the spark plug wire while running, but I did it on my LS motor to EACH wire because it was misfiring. Nonetheless, I found that when I pulled wire #2 the car would still be misfiring, but pulling #1 killed the car, pulling #3 also killed car, and as well as #4. I replaced wire #2 and been fine since then. Maybe luck was with me that one incident because I'm never the type to ghetto troubleshoot. Haha. As far as white smoke and smelling a sweet smell from the smoke I can personally assure you that you have a blown gasket, I'm talking from my own experience here. You can also check the oil and see if it's a "milky" substance, if that makes sense. Hope you can get the car on the road asap.

 

Do cylinder compression and leak down tests. My guess is that these tests will confirm the bad head gasket idea and will also explain the misfiring.

 

**UPDATE**

Replaced coil and got it started. And have determined head gasket may be hosed. We will be tearing it apart this week to see the damage.

 

Keep us updated and good luck tearing it apart. It's easy.

 

UPDATE

Toffee anyone?

 

Is that sludge on the top of the cover?

 

Yes

 

More pics. Head gasket was bad. Sent the head to the machine shop to get checked out just in case.

 

Head checked out to be good. Now we are going to clean it up a bit and get it installed. We are also changing out all the belts, timing belt and water pump.

 

Did you get new headbolts?

 

Yes

 

Got the car back together this weekend and seems to be running fine. My nephew took it to get inspected this morning and it passed too haha. I also ended up changing timing belt and water pump as well as all the other belts and installed a new CAI. All in all it wasn't too bad and I enjoyed doing it. Guess that means I really can a "car guy".

 

Did you use a service manual, for proper torque specs etc.

so basically only did the headgasket then, timing belt water pump, no valve work anything else?

 

Yes, I used printed out pages of the shop manual and a torque wrench were required. Also replaced all belts with new ones and install a cold air intake.

Didn't do any valve work because it was not in my nephew's budget. I did clean up the head as much as I could as well as other things. He uses the car for work and school and doesn't drive the **** out of the car like I would have when I was his age.

 

Great to hear the car is alive! Haha, good job bro.