Smoke and grinding

I have a 95 inline 4 avenger, and just a couple days ago, after changing the valve cover gaskets, it starts blowing smoke out the exhaust and sounds like gears are grinding when the car shifts gears. What the heck is going on!

What other recent maintenance has been done to the car, is it a manual, and how long have you had it?

I changed the spark plugs, spark plug wires, I put in a new cold air intake, and new valve cover gaskets. It's an automatic, and I've had it since last September or October, so almost a year now.

Did you hand tighten the bolts or did you use a torque wrench? What color is the smoke?

The bolts are tightened. Since I'm sorta new at all this stuff, a friend who was turbocharging his car helped me out, since he knew basically everything. First we hand tightened the bolts, then used a socket wrench to make sure they were pretty tight. The smoke is white in color.

That means you're burning coolant.

What about the grinding sound? And how could a car burn coolant? Like a leak in the hoses or something?

Check the level of your transmission fluid. It may be low which "may" account for the grinding noise. And usually white smoke coming from your exhaust is an indication of a blown head gasket. But it may be condensation steaming off as well. after the engine has warmed up, do u still notice the smoke?

Maybe the white smoke was condensation, because we cleaned the valve cover with a degreaser and sprayed it down with a hose and let it dry, but maybe there was still water on it. I'll have to check my tranny fluid. You have to keep your car on to get an accurate reading don't you?

its best to check the fluid when the engine is warm. the engine has to be running and should be in park. take note of the fluid level, and the quailty, color, and smell of the fluid. if its been over a year since you last changed the fluid, i would do that and add a bottle of Lucas transmission fluid to top off you fluid and see if that helps with the grinding noise durning shifts.

I should probably change it anyways. I don't know when the last time someone changed the tranny fluid in it, hehe.