White smoke

[bighead]

Okay... I just replaced the head gasket in my 97 Cav, 2.2L . When I went to start it, it started but, I had a lot of white smoke coming out of the exhaust. It looked like a mosquito defogger going through the neighborhood.

I torqued the heads down to 43lbs on the short bolts and 46lbs on the long bolts.

Any ideas?

[Classicrocjunkie]

sounds like when people sea foam their cars.... lol...
Should be just burning off the excess oil... but if it continues then... did you clean the old gasket off well?... and when you installed it... when you tighten the bolts did you work from the center out?

[bighead]

okay... how long should it last?

I followed the Chiltons guide....1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10


thanks again

[bighead]

going from bad to worse....
the white smoke stopped.....but now i have water/anti-freeze leaking out of the corner of the engine block. I had the heads checked and shaved when it was off. I torqued the head bolts to the correct settings...

any other ideas?

[bighead]

oh yeah.... it started making a noise as if it were struggling to keep going. When i tried to restart the engine..it wouldn't. So, I am in the process of taking it apart to see WTF went wrong...this sucks.....

[bighead]

Another twist to the plot...The guy who owned the car before me had a problem of overheatiing...I think he mixed the Dex-cool and regular anti-freeze. Could it be possible one of the radiator ports inside the enginge block is clogged?

[public]

White smoke is not excess oil. It is coolant. Oil=blue smoke.
Coolant, Tranny fluid, and brake fluid=white smoke.

The torque spec you give in incomplete. Torque the the required foot pounds PLUS 90 DEGREES. You will have to redo this head gasket. Most head bolts end up over 80 lbs of torque so you are way shy. You mentioned that you shaved the head so you should be fine just putting in a new head gasket. Good Luck.

[bighead]

yeah... i did the 43LBS and 46LBS respectfully, plus 90 degrees. ieven called the local Chevy Dealer... the tech agreed with the rates I mentioned.

It could be that the torque wrench was out of calibration.

I'm thinking 10 hours of labor and a new head gasket I will be fine. Since the bolts probably weren't torqued down all the way, and were not stretched, I won't buy new ones.

This is annoying as hell....But, oh so fun....

[public]

The head gasket on this car is only about 4 hours. You will be supprised how much faster you are the second time.

Hint: Leave the intake manifold on the head. Again, Good Luck.

[Fireplug]

NEVER REUSE tork headbolts
never never never
If you did the 90 deg then the bolts are junk
1 . make sure the block and head are clean and dry
2. The tork pattern should start in the center of the head and work its way out in a round pattern

[bighead]

but... the bolts were not torqed correctly...I'm reusing them...at $8.00 each... they are like gold...

[Fireplug]

You said

yeah... i did the 43LBS and 46LBS respectfully, plus 90 degrees. ieven called the local Chevy Dealer... the tech agreed with the rates I mentioned. so did you tork them +90 or not??? If you did and reuse them it will not last long

[bighead]

i also stated the torque wrench could have been wrong.....

[bighead]

okay... this time i will use a gasket sealant on both the engine block and the heads. A complete "sandwich" of gasket sealant.

Any views on the stuff?

[public]

I have reused head bolts for years even on this model and have never had an issue. I know their stretched, 80% of yield strength, etc... If I had bothered to read the manual I would have been scared and replaced them. But I didn't.

Hell a couple of times through the years (roadside repairs) I didn't even use a torque wrench, after 20 years you just learn how 80 ft/lbs feels. Haven't had to redo one yet. Hope my luck holds.

But anyways, never use gasket sealer on a head gasket if you did that is the problem. This is a mated surface. Good Luck.