I am starting to think I have a blown head gasket... which is strange cause they were fine before the cam install. Here are my symptoms.

1.Car is extremely hard to start.
2.It pours white/grey smoke from the exhaust(A LOT)
3.Runs extremely rough will not run at all below 1500rpm.
4.My exhaust manifold on the right side sort of smokes.
5.My oil level seems to "rise" no discolouration though.

For the longest time I was thinking opti as I seem to be somewhat weak on spark. I am really starting to wonder now though. Any easy ways to check 100% for blown head gasket.

 

Pull the plugs on the offending side and look them over, if they look steam clean its a definate. Also with the plugs out put a pressure tester onthe rad and pump it up , now listen in each cylender for a ligh hiss. or look for water entering the cylender.

 

Any water in the oil or overheating problems? Also check all of your plugs.

 

I can't get the thing to run long enough to have drivability problems.... it has not run for more than 10 minutes since the cam install. I put brand new plugs on the side I suspect... after 5 minutes they were totally carboned up and seemed to have a mystery liquid on them(as in could be fuel or water).

 

I haven't noticed any oil in the coolant however the car may not have run enough for it to get to a point were I would notice it.

 

I had a problem with a leak and couldnt tell if it was the tranny or engine so here GM sells these little bottles of dye. You would need to make sure you get the kind for your radiator, not the engine. Anyways the GM parts guy can give you instructions but its pretty straight forward. Add the correct dye to your car, run car, take a black light to where you think the leak is. The dye will glow! This is how I found my input shaft seal was ka-put. In your case you would check the oil. If coolant is leaking into the oil, and the dye is in the coolant, then you will know if you have a leak when you drain the oil and go over it and your engine with a black light. Worked for me in the past and took out some of the guess work.

Sorry dont remember the part number though. I do know there are different dye's for different components of the car though so make sure you get the right one.

Good luck

 

I will try the dye sounds like an excellent idea. I am ready to just start tearing the thing apart. I have true duals so the smoke should just be coming from one pipe, right?? unless they both went at the same time

 

I just went to start the car and it looked like the thorttle body spit some gas out.... followed some white smoke!! Seems like the car is smoking from everywhere.

 

are you sure its pure gas? It could be oil and gas etc. look your plugs over and see what you have.

 

Well they were definitly black... could be oil on it. I will pull a different plug and check it out.

 

yeah, check everyone of em, that way youre for sure how many are eating water, on a side note a blown head gasket to the lifter valley can cause excessive oil consumption and crankcase pressure as well (blowing out the intake)

 

Its funny because I pulled a plug from the opposite side of the engine and the two year old plugs on that side are better than the new ones I ran for 10 minutes on the other. I guess thats a bad sign.

 

From what I read most people just get white smoke... my z can hardly run at all. Can a headgasket cause that serious of a problem???? Keep in mind that my car was fine last time it ran.(Before cam)