# White smoke after replacing head and head gasket



## timi2shoes (May 24, 2006)

So I was driving my car one day and all of a sudden lots of white smoke started to pour out the exhaust. So i opened everything up and replaced the head gasket and the head with a rebuilt head. After i had it all installed it worked fine for about 1 min then white smoke started coming out again. I let it run for a little while to see if it was just extra water in the exhaust but the white smoke continued. Any input is greatly appreciated....


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## roccostud (Jun 7, 2002)

*Re: White smoke after replacing head and head gasket (timi2shoes)*


_Quote, originally posted by *timi2shoes* »_So I was driving my car one day and all of a sudden lots of white smoke started to pour out the exhaust. So i opened everything up and replaced the head gasket and the head with a rebuilt head. After i had it all installed it worked fine for about 1 min then white smoke started coming out again. I let it run for a little while to see if it was just extra water in the exhaust but the white smoke continued. Any input is greatly appreciated....

could be the same problem. if its doing what it did before the fix maybe something didn't go together correctly.


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## leriderx (Oct 28, 2007)

*Re: White smoke after replacing head and head gasket (roccostud)*

maybe you have the gasket up side down
Maybe your head is a little bit warped
Maybe your head or bloc suface is sratch


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## timi2shoes (May 24, 2006)

*Re: White smoke after replacing head and head gasket (leriderx)*

The head should be fine cuase it was rebuilt and checked.


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## peaceofshiza (Oct 18, 2007)

*Re: White smoke after replacing head and head gasket (timi2shoes)*

Did you use a copper head gasket? They work better with surface imperfections ie block being a little outta wack. Did you remember to replace your head bolts there only good once.


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## onewiper (Aug 29, 2002)

Let it run for a good hour or more, there is a bit of oil that needs to be burned off the head plus you may have a fair bit of oil or coolant still in your exhaust system from the previous problem. Just drive it, that's the best way to burn everything off.


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## Campbell (Nov 9, 2004)

Why did you replace the head gasket? did the car overheat? how do the spark plugs look? does it run smoothly or rough?
The motor is not blowing till it begins to heat up, that is when cracks expand allowing fluids to go where they shouldn't. White smoke is generally coolant, blue oil and black gas.
Coolant gets into the combustion chamber from a crack in the head, crack in the block or a leaking head gasket. The cylinder with coolant will look very shiny and the spark plug will be white looking - pull the plugs and look in the cylinders. There is more going on here than you have let us know. What is the mileage? what issues has the car had? Was the old head gasket mis-shapen? With a new head and if you did a good job on the head gasket, it sounds like a cracked block which may have been the issue to begin with. 
good luck


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## timi2shoes (May 24, 2006)

*Re: (Campbell)*

I didnt do a compression check or anything. I just saw lots of smoke come out the exhaust the first time and i just assumed it was the head. The previous owner of the car told me that the head gasket had blown before. So when i replaced the gasket i thought id replace the head with it too jsut to make sure that it if it was cracked or warped that it would fix the problem.
So i ran my car today for about 30 min and it ran great







. There was no smoke at all when i turned it on. After about 5 min of it being on it started smoking just a little bit but that too dissapeared. After that it ran fine with no smoke. Other than that it idled a little high but thats no big deal, ill fix that in a little bit. It did seem to run a little hot though. Maybe that was jsut me but it seemed to get hotter quicker than it should have. The water flowed into the overflow reservoir so the pump seems good. The thermostat got replace just before the head blew so im guessing thats still good. But other than that it seems good. What do you guys think?


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## peaceofshiza (Oct 18, 2007)

*Re: (timi2shoes)*

you more than likely havean air pocket in your cooling system easyest way to fix it is jack up the front of the car and run tell the thermostat opens and rev about to 3000rpm untill it burps you'll knowbecause when it closes you'll have to add coolant. po.s squeezing the upper and lower hoses will tell you ifthere isa pocket and help to burp it out


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## timi2shoes (May 24, 2006)

*Re: (peaceofshiza)*

Thank you guys for all your help. I think i figured out what was going on. The smoke at the very beginning was from left over junk from when the head gasket blew. So that cleared out after a little while. But from time to time i still get a little smoke and i think that is from a bad master cylinder. The reason i say that is because i lose brake fluid and i have no idea where it is going. I think that the rear seal on the cylinder is broken and it is escaping through the vacum line. I checked the vacum line and it was wet







so i am happy for that because now i think i know where it is going. Im going to replace the cylinder here soon.


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## vdubbn78 (Dec 17, 2003)

*Re: White smoke after replacing head and head gasket (timi2shoes)*

after the cooling system is opened, the air must be bled out-about 2000 rpms for a few mins with the heat on defrost till HOT air comes out of the vents, then let it run for a bit and off you go.....


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