4G63 DOHC HEAD GASKET

[GSRace]

I've just got my 2.5" mandrel sys removed in favor of a 2.25" press bent system, and the car is running 10x better, it's got so much more torque now, I'm in love with it all over..

But..

After indoor cricket training today a mate following me said a bit of white smoke was emiting, and some vapour was comming out intermittenly and onto his windscreen.

There is also a weird smell from my car's exhaust..
White smoke = water

1/ Is my head gasket gone?

2/ what's the cost roughly?

I would like to tackle this myself, but don't have a torque wrench.. other than that, it's just bolts, and the need to zip-tie the cam belt to the cam wheels so it doesn't skip a tooth, right?

I feel sad now, it was going so well!! :roll:

 

[JAP63]

Dont worry about the water.
Its a by product of combustion...your catalytic converter turns Noxious gases into water and carbon monoxide...so water out of the tail pipe is normal...in dribs and drabs...

If you started it in the morning and it blew half a litre of water onto the garage wall then id say yes the headgasket is F*cked.

Headgasket issues could include..water to oil contamination and/or pressurised coolant system.

The white smoke...how many K's is on the motor?
When does it smoke..under load?
or
On take off,startup,High rpm decceleration with plenty of vaccum?

First being rings
Second being valvestem seals

 

[GSRace]

It's an import motor. Car has 260XXX on it, and we installed it at 190XXX.
So assume it had 100XXX or just under at pruchase/install time, it's got about 150XXX+ on it.

I couldn't get it to do it at home, idle, or free reving. So at this stage I can only say under load or high RPM over run, as my mate didn't say if it was happening under accel or overun..

Will find out..

Thanks for the interest, I'm still a little concerned. It fkn stunk too! real bad at the lights.

 

[bazeng]

check your oil

if its milky thats a bad sign
if it looks normal, you should be okay

white smoke can be normal at times
a new car will do it due to condensation in the exhaust..

was it a steamy white?
or a bluey white?

bluey = oil, which could be caused by high crank case pressure...if thats the case, catch can could help..

to be sure, get a leak down test and you'll know for sure...
ask any workshop, they should be able to do it for you.

just some suggestions before u rip the head off!

 

[GSRace]

cheers, will sus it out. I would rather see it myself, and get my mate to drive it. This weird arse smell from the car is got me..

Will let yez kno, team

 

[JAP63]

If its a sweet and overpowering smell its usually oil burning through the exhaust.

If its more like a sulphur egg smell the catalyic converter is dead or half Fu*ked.

As baz said..dont get it confused with vapour..if it comes out the exhaust and dissapears pretty quickly its just mist..if it hangs around and has a full body to it with a blueish coluor its smoke.

Let the car idle for say 5 min then have someone push the throttle very quickly to the floor and back straight off,if you see smoke its valvestem seals /guides etc...i do this every time i got to look at buying a car.
And after you do your next oil change...the first time you start it.. look to the back of the car..again..valvestem seals...

The other stuff..under load or top end can be rings.
as baz said Try a catchcan
And check how shitty the inside of your pollution hoses are goin into the inlet pipe..check the one way valve is still there and pointing in the correct direction..i once seen it not installed the right way...such a mess.
not what you want..

 

[Mitsi-undai]

Could just be your new exhaust system. Sometimes new mufflers and catconverters can have some coating to stop it rusting on the shelf. Just my 2cents.

 

[MADVR4]

get the car running.... take off radiator cap... if it bubbles ALOT!!!! u could have headgasket issues... also look for oil in the radiator water?

least i think thats how u tell...

correct me if im wrong

Grant

 

[GSRace]

If its a sweet and overpowering smell its usually oil burning through the exhaust.

If its more like a sulphur egg smell the catalyic converter is dead or half Fu*ked.

That was the smell, the rotten eggy scent sorta thing. I haven't smelt if for a couple of days, and I've never actually seen this smoke my mate was refering to (nah he wouldn't have joked about it either). This 2.5" cat was only fitted 2 years ago when I got the last bit of 2.5" pipe fitted from the 4-1's to the rest of the sys.

The weird thing the other day was that when I checkd the oil in the morning, it was low - and I had only dropped the old oil out 2 weeks ago, and filled 4 - 4.5 litres in it...

I gotta get a new overflow bottle, then I'll flush the radiator out too. It's not loosing water, but it's due a change.

 

[bazeng]

the egg smell can either relate to

cat
clutch

i dont think its the head gasket

 

[JAP63]

I know if the Cat gets a bit of shit in it at any point...like oil etc..it can burn out and make that smell too....
i remeber on my GSR about 6 months before my valvestem seals went to complete shit i got this smell..i think the slow process of burning the oil..(which wasnt bad enough to be seen at the time) eventually degraded the cat...and therefore made it Shit itself..the smell was the excess sulphur in the petrol combined with a bit of oil...which turned to a sweet smell when the oil burning was bad...if you want to know what i mean by the sweet smell..sit behind any magna made from 1986-1993 and take note of the smell whilst its idling..and when it takes off...burning oil.

Good to see you still persisting with the GSR,i think youd remeber mine from when i had it.
Silver paint,polished silver 17's with silver lip/dish and lowered onto the ground...was on the gold coast.

 

[GSRace]

Hey man, do you kno my car?! hang on are you on my MSN!?

Did u have a GGSR and a Vr4?