heavy white smoke from exhaust...
 

My car started doing this yesterday, out of the blue. It has a 5 year old GT40 crate motor in it with around 60,000 miles on it. I took it to New Orleans last week (14 hours each way) with no problems, except a strange occurance one morning when I checked the oil. I removed the dipstick, wiped it off, and when I replaced the dipstick and checked after that, I saw no oil on it. The car was completely level. So I put in one quart and then drove it around the block, came back and checked it again, and it read a 1/4th quart over full.
When I first tried to start the car this morning it sounded like the engine was locked up, as the starter seemed to try to turn but never would turn over, so I tried turning the crank manually with a wrench and it went very smoothly. Next thing I know I get in the car and it starts right up, but the smoke is still looking bad.
I took it to my buddy's garage and checked timing, oil level, fuel pressure, anything and everything but nothing looked abnormal except when I pulled spark plug number 1. It had a layer of oil on it.

I am assuming this means I have either a blown head gasket or some bad piston rings, but I just don't understand why, since I have babied that engine with Mobil 1 full synthetic since the second oil change.

What do you guys think is the problem? I would like to take it to my dad's place which is 100 miles from here. Do you guys advise against driving it further? It runs smoothly, just a bit down on power compared to normal.

White smoke is a very clear indication of a blown head gasket. It is actually steam in your exhaust. Water is not compressible and can severally damage the connecting rods. Water will also eat your bearings up in short order. Fix your head gasket(s) ASAP. Good Luck! Let us know how you do.

I think you answered your own question. :(

Before you do anything else, or make any decisions, you need to perform two compression tests on it; first dry, and then wet. Post your results.

Take care,
-Chris

You mentioned taking it to your dads...

From what you say, I agree, your symptoms are a blown headgasket. Doesn't really matter that you babied the car, sometimes you just get a bad gasket. I know someone who blew one out in their t-bird. We got the car home, then late at night drove it over to his mother's garage. Probably went 40 miles with it blown. His had coolant in the spark plug holes, so we kept having to pull it over and fill it up. How far had you driven it? Chances are if you drove it much you could have damaged your heads, I would have it towed if you can, if not, get a buddy to follow you and take your time, and just drive it over. The damage is already done if there is any. It isn't too terribly hard to throw on new gaskets, you might want to just try and do it where you have the car, then take it over and tear it apart to see if there is anything else wrong. I wouldn't worry, its a good engine, just make sure to be thourough if you inspect it, I know people who just fix the problem and don't really look, then something else happens and they ***** and moan.

Good luck!

Amanda

SkadonyaCA , unless you have your EGR disconnected, then you should hook your coolant lines back up to your EGR spacer, yes the coolant is hot, but is cooler than the EGR gasses going through it.
Also, if you drive up to Indy, I'll put your springs in for ya. But you gotta pay for lunch, and dinner for that matter :D

Compression test results
 

I ran a static compression test today, and I was a bit surprised by the results.

The left hand number is the dry reading, right hand number is the wet reading:
[list=1][*]180 204[*]178 215[*]176 190[*]175 195[*]175 183[*]169 182[*]157 172[*]170 186[/list=1]

So I am thinking maybe the intake gasket is causing the coolant in the #1 chamber? That chamber held the highest pressure, but when I removed the compression gauge, the connector had about a half ounce of coolant in it.

What do you guys think?

I would perform a leak-down test on #1 and #2. Check for bubbles in the radiator. Either way, there is a problem. The question is where.

Take care,
-Chris

Leakdown test? How is that done?

With a leak down tester. You apply regulated compressed air into a cylinder, and a guage on the tool shows you the percentage of air that's escaping. You could also do this:

1) Take the hose from your compression tester, and remove any valves that are in it.
2) Bring the #1 cylinder to TDC on the compression stroke.
3) Remove the spark plug, and insert the compression tester hose.
4) Attach the hose from an air compressor to the compression tester hose.
5) Slowly open the regulator on the compressor, making sure the engine doesn't rotate, to 75 psi.
6) Remove the radiator cap, and look for air bubbles.

If air bubbles are present, then either the head gasket has failed, or there is a crack that goes into a water jacket.
If no air bubbles are seen, then the problem could be the intake gasket.

The next test would be to pressure test the cooling system with the #1 piston still at TDC on the compression stroke. If there is no noticable coolant dripping into the cylinder (observe with a flashlight), rotate the engine 360 degrees, and repeat. If coolant is now dripping in, the intake gasket is at fault.

Take care,
-Chris

this post has me worried about my head gaskets.

when starting it up for the first time in the morning, I get pops, a bit of white smoke and water dripping from exhaust...

then when it warms up, pops are gone, and white smoke only comes back if the thermostat opens up and cools it down to below 195... and water is dripping quite crazily from the tips..
(like a drop every 5 seconds)

is this water from exhaust gasses condensing?
and is the white-smoke at cold-idle just normal??

thanks !

jetuomi-
The symptoms you described indicate that your engine is very healthy. In a perfect world, your exhaust would be pure H2O. That's what the cats turn the HC, CO, CO2 and O2 that are in your exhaust, into. This is why newer cars leave puddles under the tailpipes in the morning. As the pipes heat up, the water turns to steam, which is why you see steam coming from the exhaust of cars that are either cold, or are driving in a very cold climate.

When your car stops making water when it's cold, is the time to worry.

Take care,
-Chris

thanks PKRWUD
 

just making sure, and maybe you can answer this other quick question, my car has 125,000 miles on it... does a head gasket fail at a certain mileage, or cause of constant revving??

THANKS !
:)