I just changed the head on my 1992 prelude si h23... before i changed the head the car was puffing white smoke, but no water through the exhaust. Now that i have the new head on, its still puffin, but it seems to be worse then before i changed the head... and now im getting some moisture in the tailpipe. After we put the head on and let it run for a while some rusty water came out of the muffler and not its just like clear water. We are sure that the water isnt coming from the radiator, but we dont know what the problem is... If you have any suggestions let me know my email is Ixcryxblood@msn.com. also.... we havent changed the oil yet, but we are changing it tomorrow.... let me know if that might be the problem....... the smoke it kinda whitish blue....

 

Did you change the valve seals? If u did then your piston rings must be worn. How much mileage is the engine running? As for the water.......that seems rather strange. U should get a liitle moisture at the tip of the tail pipe due to condensation but rusty water?....NO.
All I can think is that this water got in the exhaust when you were doing the changeover. Keep the car running long enough to see if this rusty water stops coming.

Good luck.

 

Clear water is usually a good sign, just moisture build-up in the exhaust system. Otherwise, you could still be burning off residue left behind in the exhaust system. I'm assuming the cylinder head was torqued down properly?

 

If there is only white smoke coming from the exhaust constantly, then it's most likely your head gasket. Is the head properly installed??

The rusty water you see is probably also in your coolant container right??

If so buy a new head gasket.

 

if your buring water youll know it ,, it smells sooooo bad , and usually depending on how bad the blow gasket the car might not even idle correctly and you should see the coolant over flow filling up, but clear and rusty water in the exhaust is normal , as water is one of the by products of combustion

 

Well the person i had switch the head has been working on cars for years, so im thinking he knew what he was doing. When he took the original head off the car, he took it to napa. Napa dropped it and they had to replace it with a rebuilt that cost them 1400$. He put the head back on and did all the torque to what the book said. After he started the car it was rusty water in the exhaust, but it cleared it and now its just a little clear moisture in the exhaust, but its still smoking white and it stinks REALLY bad! He let the car run for like 45 minutes and it still smokes. the engine has around 141,000 miles on it... Im gonna take it to a honda specialist soon and have them run a dig. on it and see what they say....... so if anyone has any other suggestions, let me know ......... and i dont know if it would hurt the new gaskets or anything, but right when he turned the car on he let it run for 5 mi nutes and then revved it really high for a few seconds... and when u first start the car it idles funny... bouncing from 1500 to 2000 and then it stops after a mi nute

t0ny

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ixcryxblood &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but its still smoking white and it stinks REALLY bad! He let the car run for like 45 minutes and it still smokes. </TD></TR></TABLE>

white smoke = burning coolant = blown headgasket

 

hey im not doubting you or anything, because im just getting into car and everything and i know nothing... but how would it be possible to be a blown gasket already? since i just replaced it? maybe him reving it so high?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ixcryxblood &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hey im not doubting you or anything, because im just getting into car and everything and i know nothing... but how would it be possible to be a blown gasket already? since i just replaced it? maybe him reving it so high? </TD></TR></TABLE>

there are always a million possibilities as to why this or that isn't working. he could have over/under torqued the bolts, didn't use the correct pattern when he torqued everything down. ask your mechanic.

 

anybody else have any ideas? im getting kind of frustrated because ti seems like everything is going wrong with the car :-(