First off, I apologize that this is kind of long, but I feel that I might have to go into some details with this so you guys will have a better understanding of the situation and will be able to narrow down the potential problem to help me diagnose what is wrong.
I replaced my head gaskets over a year ago. I did it myself and I also had my heads resurfaced, and cleaned nicely as well. After replacing it, my car seemed to run fine with no engine problem, but then oil started slowly dripping from my passenger side valve cover, and it was because my valve cover threads were stripped from me opening up my valve cover back and forth a couple times to adjust my valves. My only option here was helicoil, and note that when I found this out, I have only driven my car for less than 5 miles.
After this, I took off my passenger side head to rethread the valve cover threads with Helicoil. While I was taking off the passenger side head, I forgot to completely remove my headers from underneath, and I got coolant dripping all over and into it, through one side pipe of the headers only though, not the driver side.
I finally got my passenger side head out, rethread the threads with helicoil. I also got my headers out, dumped the coolant, and let it dry for a couple hours. I thought that the hot exhaust air from the motor will burn out the coolant after a while. After this, I put everything back on but while putting my passenger head back it, I bent the passender side head gasket a little. It was bent to where it would just slightly curve when you lay it on the block. I thought it would be okay to use since the head bolts would tighten the gasket to a flat position on the block anyways.
After putting everything back and started up my car for the first time after a while, coolant was burning from the headers which was what I expected to see. While my car was up, I noticed that white smoke were coming out of my exhaust and my passenger side head like a head gasket failure. First I thought it was only the coolant burning off, but then this seemed like it wasn't going to stop. This got me really confused but I figured that maybe I just needed to rinse my headers with water and let it dry completely before putting it back on. So that is exactly what I did afterwards. I rinsed it completely with water and let it completely dry in the sun for the next 3-4 days. After this I bolted my headers back on.
Even after I bolted my headers back on and started up my car, I am still seeing while smoke coming out of my exhaust and passenger side head. My next thought was to double check that I put my passenger side head gasket on correctly, and torqued the head bolts correctly. So that is exactly what I did.
When I took off the passenger side head, the head gasket was on correctly, and the head gasket seemed to still be in good shape, since I haven't even drove my car more than 10 miles since replacing my head gasket, but my passenger side head gasket was still a little bent. It would slightly curve when I sit it on the block, rather than stay completely flat. I also torqued the head on correctly and all the bolts seemed tight. After this I started up my car, and I still see white smoke, coming out of my exhaust and passenger side head. It also smells like coolant.
So it comes to my question, do you guys think that maybe coolant may have dripped all the way into my cat which is burning coolant, or is my passenger side head gasket no good and it is causing coolant to burn? What are your thoughts? Any help, ideas, thoughts, welcomed.
I replaced my head gaskets over a year ago. I did it myself and I also had my heads resurfaced, and cleaned nicely as well. After replacing it, my car seemed to run fine with no engine problem, but then oil started slowly dripping from my passenger side valve cover, and it was because my valve cover threads were stripped from me opening up my valve cover back and forth a couple times to adjust my valves. My only option here was helicoil, and note that when I found this out, I have only driven my car for less than 5 miles.
After this, I took off my passenger side head to rethread the valve cover threads with Helicoil. While I was taking off the passenger side head, I forgot to completely remove my headers from underneath, and I got coolant dripping all over and into it, through one side pipe of the headers only though, not the driver side.
I finally got my passenger side head out, rethread the threads with helicoil. I also got my headers out, dumped the coolant, and let it dry for a couple hours. I thought that the hot exhaust air from the motor will burn out the coolant after a while. After this, I put everything back on but while putting my passenger head back it, I bent the passender side head gasket a little. It was bent to where it would just slightly curve when you lay it on the block. I thought it would be okay to use since the head bolts would tighten the gasket to a flat position on the block anyways.
After putting everything back and started up my car for the first time after a while, coolant was burning from the headers which was what I expected to see. While my car was up, I noticed that white smoke were coming out of my exhaust and my passenger side head like a head gasket failure. First I thought it was only the coolant burning off, but then this seemed like it wasn't going to stop. This got me really confused but I figured that maybe I just needed to rinse my headers with water and let it dry completely before putting it back on. So that is exactly what I did afterwards. I rinsed it completely with water and let it completely dry in the sun for the next 3-4 days. After this I bolted my headers back on.
Even after I bolted my headers back on and started up my car, I am still seeing while smoke coming out of my exhaust and passenger side head. My next thought was to double check that I put my passenger side head gasket on correctly, and torqued the head bolts correctly. So that is exactly what I did.
When I took off the passenger side head, the head gasket was on correctly, and the head gasket seemed to still be in good shape, since I haven't even drove my car more than 10 miles since replacing my head gasket, but my passenger side head gasket was still a little bent. It would slightly curve when I sit it on the block, rather than stay completely flat. I also torqued the head on correctly and all the bolts seemed tight. After this I started up my car, and I still see white smoke, coming out of my exhaust and passenger side head. It also smells like coolant.
So it comes to my question, do you guys think that maybe coolant may have dripped all the way into my cat which is burning coolant, or is my passenger side head gasket no good and it is causing coolant to burn? What are your thoughts? Any help, ideas, thoughts, welcomed.