Sup, I have a 96 EK I just changed my headgasket yesterday and today when I drove it, the exhaust still had white smoke coming out of it. When I tap the gas to take off or when im reversing theres a big cloud of white smoke coming out the exhaust. Could this just be leftover coolant in the cylinders or exhaust pipes thats waiting to be burned out?? I drove for around 20 miles today and still had the exhaust smoke coming out. I flushed the old coolant out the radiator and put new one in as well. Also, today when i was driving the car when I revved to 4k the car would start to bog and choke and then it would rev higher. What could cause this also? Check engine light has been on before this problem occured. Havent gotten codes checked.

 

First of all, what year/model/engine?
When I changed my head-gasket I didn't get any white smoke at all after, I changed the oil and the coolant at the same time too. Did you check if the head was warped/got it shaved if so? Did you torque the head down to the specs? did you place the dowel pins in?

Check the code, you can if you have jumper wire/paper clip
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/how-pull-cel-d4-srs-abs-codes-code-lists-1901557/
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-2001-2005-78/get-engine-code-without-scanner-2900091/

 

Prior to installing the new gasket, did you use a precision straight edge to verify the head and block mating surfaces were level to spec?

Pull the CEL codes. See Codes sticky at the top. Then, reset the ECU.

 

its a 96 ek, i did check to see if the head was warped, looked fine to me and 2 other mechanics. I even sanded it down. Yes i torqued it down to specs. When I bought the car the previous owner had rebuilt the head. When I took off the head I noticed there was only 1 dowel pin. Could this be the problem?

 

Boy I sure hope you had the head resurfaced after you blew a head gasket. Always take the head to a machine shop to have it resurfaced and the valves checked.
If you drove the car with a bad head gasket for a while there could still be coolant and or oil in the exhaust that is burning. The cat is good at trapping coolant and oil, coolant can kill the cat FYI. If you have drive the car a bit like 5- 10 miles but it still smokes you have an issue still.

 

How?

Yes.

You should also install new bolts

 

Guess i gotta redo this whole thing -.- the dowl is probably causing this... Is it ok if i used the same bolts the car came with for the head? Or should i buy some ARP bolts?

 

if you got the funds...get some arp. If not, get oem...they aren't cheap though. I just paid around 6/each for them. There is a bunch though, so it adds up quick

 

how much are the oem bolts and how many are there? also do i need to get a new gasket? And where can i buy the dowel pins? Theres supposed to be 4 of em am i correct?