Help...blown head gaskets?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 77
Likes: 0
Help...blown head gaskets? Well in about September, the Camaro started spitting a noticeable amount of white smoke out the tailpipes, both of them. No X or H, the exhaust never crosses over. I've also noticed it is leaking what seems to be water, but could be Dextron, out of one of the mufflers, where it meets the rest of the exhaust piping. It's been enough to leave 3"x3" stains in the concrete.
Well I pulled the intake and throttle body off, and everything seems to be fine - a little oily in the intake, but no worries(I guess?). Should this much build-up be normal in the intake ports on a 42,000 mile car?
Pulled the spark plugs today, and I think they look fine???:
In those pics, cylinders go:
Passenger's front cylinder..........passenger rear cylinder
Driver's front...............driver rear
I'm new to motor diagnostics, so...help?
The car has a 160 TStat in it, and I have NEVER seen it get over 190. Could both of the headgaskets popped at the same time? I don't want to pull my heads if I don't have to - head studs aren't cheap. The motor is a 98 LS1, stock.
Thanks for the help,
-Adam
Well I pulled the intake and throttle body off, and everything seems to be fine - a little oily in the intake, but no worries(I guess?). Should this much build-up be normal in the intake ports on a 42,000 mile car?
Pulled the spark plugs today, and I think they look fine???:
In those pics, cylinders go:
Passenger's front cylinder..........passenger rear cylinder
Driver's front...............driver rear
I'm new to motor diagnostics, so...help?
The car has a 160 TStat in it, and I have NEVER seen it get over 190. Could both of the headgaskets popped at the same time? I don't want to pull my heads if I don't have to - head studs aren't cheap. The motor is a 98 LS1, stock.
Thanks for the help,
-Adam
I just pulled a set of plugs out of my engine that looked liek that and my engine was missing horribly because of them and i have no idea why. I installed new plugs no more misfiring.
Exhaust naturally builds up moisture it could be leaking on one side just because its clamp leaks thats all. Is it down on power at all? Have you tried a compression test yet? What type of pcv system are you running? Any catch can?
Exhaust naturally builds up moisture it could be leaking on one side just because its clamp leaks thats all. Is it down on power at all? Have you tried a compression test yet? What type of pcv system are you running? Any catch can?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 77
Likes: 0
Not NOTICEABLY low on antifreeze, but I could definetly add a little. I am not running a catch can on the car, unless you mean an overflow for the radiator? It's still running the factory PCV system, I only removed EGR and 2 o2's. Haven't ran a compression test and it hasn't been dynoed, but it feels strong for a LS1 car.
The motor sat for 3 years after I pulled it out of the donor car before it started again...car was hit in the front, no visible damage to engine. I did have to replace the water pump not long before it went down for winter, but the old one just had a "wobble" in the pulley, and was making some noise and tearing up belts. It's never had any cooling problems...
Sorry, I can bolt parts together, but I dunno too much about these motors.
Thanks again,
-Adam
The motor sat for 3 years after I pulled it out of the donor car before it started again...car was hit in the front, no visible damage to engine. I did have to replace the water pump not long before it went down for winter, but the old one just had a "wobble" in the pulley, and was making some noise and tearing up belts. It's never had any cooling problems...
Sorry, I can bolt parts together, but I dunno too much about these motors.
Thanks again,
-Adam
I would suggest puting a catch can on and see how much oil your actually sucking in... Clean it all up, slap her back togather with a catch can and see if it goes away..
If you had a blown head gasket you would see antifreeze in the oil and loose alot more prolly..
If you had a blown head gasket you would see antifreeze in the oil and loose alot more prolly..
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,080
Likes: 17
From: So.Cal.
Your plugs don't look fine, they are fouled.
If you suspect blown head gaskets then do a leakdown/compression test...
Test coolant for presence of blowby gases (using a "block test kit")...
Pressure test cooling system.
Monitor your coolant level.
Condensation in the exhaust maybe normal.
Does your motor occasionally misfire...?
Using a scantool, check how the PCM thinks your motor is running (fuel trims, misfires).
If you suspect blown head gaskets then do a leakdown/compression test...
Test coolant for presence of blowby gases (using a "block test kit")...
Pressure test cooling system.
Monitor your coolant level.
Condensation in the exhaust maybe normal.
Does your motor occasionally misfire...?
Using a scantool, check how the PCM thinks your motor is running (fuel trims, misfires).
My catch can catches ALOT of moisture and oil coming into the intake. Like a maybe 3oz every 200 miles or so. MY engine does blow a little white smoke as well and i know its not my headgaskets as my compression tests showed every cylinder within 2psi. MAybe its because your engine has sat so long? Mine sat for a couple years before i installed it to. Have you had much run time on it? Ive put about 500 miles on mine since the swap and it seems to run better every time i drive it.
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a blown headgasket would usually mix coolant in with your oil. Check your oil and see if it looks like a milkshake. You would also probably have coolant coming out of your overflow bottle. any overheating? I don't think it is a headgasket.
Also I agree those plugs do not look so great.
Also condensation in you exhaust is common and not bad. If it smells real sweet than it is burning coolant and that is not so good, but the smell is quite distinct and usually pretty strong and you did not mention it so...
Also I agree those plugs do not look so great.
Also condensation in you exhaust is common and not bad. If it smells real sweet than it is burning coolant and that is not so good, but the smell is quite distinct and usually pretty strong and you did not mention it so...
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