FastZinTennessee

I'm having some issues with my car that are just about to drive me insane! As much as I'd like to track it down myself and fix it, I think it's about time to get the opinion of someone that knows more about this stuff than I do! I'll try and keep this as short and sweet as possible!

For the past few months I've been having an intermittent smoking problem with my car. One day I went out and started it up and saw a huge plume of smoke behind me. It was about 45 degrees outside so I expected some smoke, but this was a large cloud of it. Seemed to follow me down the road. I checked the coolant level in the radiator and it was low, so I was convinced that it was a blown headgasket. The next day I had to drive the car to work, and it smoked the same amount, then 10 minutes into the trip it completely quit smoking. When I parked at work I got out and looked at the tailpipe and nothing at all was coming out of it. This really confused me because if you have a blown headgasket it's blown all the time, even if you have some material expanding when the motor warms up and possibly not letting coolant through to the chamber, I would assume that the higher pressure in the cooling system would overcome this. The car did this "start up-smoke-stop" routine about five times, but it was intermittent. Sometimes I would start it up and it would not smoke at all, or not more than you would normally expect.

Next I noticed a miss under load, which I tracked down with a Raytech gun to the #7 cylinder. It was getting fuel, but no spark, the wire tested out ok so I replaced the opti. I also put a set of Tayler OVC wires since I have wanted them for a while anyway. Someone told me that unburned fuel in the exhaust can cause white smoke. I also found at this time that there is a leak in the radiator, which would account for the loss of coolant. The new opti and wires fixed the miss problem, and I thought that it fixed the smoke problem as well. The car had not acted up at all for about a week since the parts install. Yesterday I went out for a drive and drove the car harder than normal, and today when I started the car up it smoked a lot like it had before. There was a plume of smoke behind me that I could see clearly for 50 yards. It seems that if I drive the car hard, it won't act up then, but will smoke the next morning when I start it up .

When I removed the #2 and #6 plugs they had a thin white/tan crust on them, and some oily looking stuff. I was told by a mechanic here that it was wet carbon, either too much fuel or coolant.

So basically I can sum it up as drive the car hard -> white smoke the next morning -> after ten minutes the smoke stops -> coolant low most likely due to leaky radiator -> two bad valveseals allowing oil into #2 and #6.

Mods are- K&N intake, meziere waterpump, LT4 HOTcam kit, homeported heads with manley race-flo valves, SLP 1 3/4 headers, removed AIR and EGR, random tech cat, flowmaster catback, PCMforless tune, LT4 knock module. New opti, taylor wires and NGK TR-6 plugs.

Also, this evening on the way home from work the car started running very hot. It had not smoked at all today, but when I accelerated on the way home the temp would jump to 240* then go back down to 190* when I let off the gas. I turned around to check the coolant level. When I removed the radiator cap the level was up to the top, then within seconds it dropped out of sight down the radiator. I topped it off while the waterpump was running with a slow stream of water. After I topped it off the temperatue stuck steady at 185*(normal). Then I noticed after I parked it and turned the car off white smoke came out of the tailpipe for about 5 minutes.

Guy please help me here, I'm so pissed off and I'm about to let this car go for way under what it's worth simply because I'm so tired of it breaking down and basically being an unreliable POS. If you have any suggestions at all I would like to hear them!

SVT Killer LV

-residue on your plugs
-white smoke
-operating temperature problems
-coolant consumption

what else do you need to tell you its a blown head gasket?

Time for a head/cam swap and make your car super-unreliable! oddly enough my 11.5:1 heads/cam/nitrous/blah blah blah z28 has been my most reliable car i have owned

FastZinTennessee

It doesn't smoke all the time..... If you have a blown headgasket it's blown all the time right? It's not blown, then unblown, then blown again. I am leaning towards headgasket as well, but I'm not tearing into the motor again until I'm sure. I've had two camaros, and they have been super unreliable, maybe I just have bad luck.

I have a leaky radiator so I can account for some coolant loss with that, I wish it wasn't leaking so I could pressure test the system.

Edit: about the residue on the plugs, I've had a blown headgasket before, and the cylinder where it was blown was the cleanest one out of all 8. No residue on the plug or in the chamber.

Chris 96 WS6

John I think once the coolant level burned down enough the smoking would go away until you shut it off. It might be re-filling itself to some extent from the reservoir which could be why when you check it it appears full for a moment.

It sure sounds like a blown head gasket. I've never seen excess fuel create white smoke, only sooty brown stuff. If what you are seeing is steam then its gotta be coolant burning in a chamber(s).

Man sorry to hear you are still fighting this one though.

The Cartel

No question blown head gasket. Have you changed the oil? If it comes out lookin like mud its a bhg. I had a 95 cavalier do that exact same thing=blown head gasket. You probably should get the heads milled while your at it, head gaskets rarely fail for no reason, could have poor surface finish due to mass producing or head bolts improperly tight during assembly, or obvious you got it hot. In any case that sux but, "if it breaks build it bigger and stronger"

FastZinTennessee

Thanks for the help guys. Like I said, I was leaning towards a blown headgasket, but I'm not sure. Since the radiator has a leak in it, I can't pressure test it. I did have the fluid tested at the mechanic's shop and the guy said it tested negative for a blown headgasket. It either smokes or it doesn't, regardless of fluid level. If I get on the gas hard the next time I start the car up it will smoke. Also the oil doesn't look milky, but there is an odd yellow/orange gunk on the bottom of the oil filler cap that I haven't noticed before.

Oh well, time to save up for a new motor I guess.........

JJ's95B4C

You can always do a compression test for each cylinder to make sure it is a blown headgasket. That just happened to me, with similar symptoms. It wouldn't smoke all the time. After thinking about it, i figured it was just that there wasn't much coolant flowing through the block to smoke a lot. I did find coolant in the #7 cylinder though, so i didn't need to do a compression test. You can also look at your coolant and see if its brownish from oil getting into it. It doesn't always happen, but in my case I had oil in my coolant. Just b/c you have a blown head gasket doesn't mean you need a new motor, unless you want one!

FastZinTennessee

The coolant actually looks pretty good. I have to add water often to top it off but it always looks green, never dirty. I'm gonna rebuild this motor regardless I suppose. I refuse to do a headswap in the car again, and if I drop the motor out I might as well build it since I have almost 140k miles on it. I'm thinking finish porting the heads since I didn't get a chance to before I put them on, slightly bigger cam, and the forged LT1 kit from summit. Now I just have to find a beater car for the time being.......