head gasket gone ?


jamie-gings

jamie-gings

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Joined
Mar 13, 2010
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448
ok so the engine is a b16a2 block and a CTR head

i got the head and block put together with an oem headgasket and arp headstuds by a mechanic, it was for my project car and this was over a year ago

anyway i only recently got the engine fitted and the car running, but the headgasket is gone from the first start up, the oil is all milky and its bellowing white smoke constantly?

iv just read that with arp headstuds you have to heat cycle them, so after leaving the engine run to operating temperature your supposed to take cams off and retorque them and do this 5-10 times ??...i obviously didnt do this as i was unaware of this...

the car never overheated and has only ben started an run for couple of minutes maybe 5-6 times ....my question is do i need a new gasket or can i just retorque the studs now , and if i do need a new gasket will replacing the gasket do or will i more than likely need to get head skimmed etc ?
 
The heat cycle part of the ARP headstuds is bollocks IMO, you torque them in 3 stages then its done.

Its possible when the mechanic was installing the headgasket he either put it on upside down or maybe damaged/crimped it during installation.

Just my 2 cents mate.

Joe
 
ya its a lot of hassle to have to heat cycle them 5-10 times if that is actually true like.

either way would i need a new gasket ya ? i just want to be sure of exactly what i have to do as i dont want to get a new gasket , put it back on and it just goes again straight away .
 
Ye sounds like the headgasket wasnt installed correctly. There are locating dowels but if he has managed to pinch the gasket it could be easily damaged. Have u compression tested it? And is the cooling system pressurised?
 
no i havent compression tested it, the car isnt road legal atm and im not insured so cant drive it to a mechanics, is there a tool i can get to do it myself ?

what do you mean about the cooling system and how would i check that??
 
Could this not just be that it's not been run for a while?
You hear of the same milky look with cars that only do short journeys due to condensation
If it's only been running for 5-6 mins then it wouldn't have warmed up.
Just thinking

Chris
 
Sorry that ment to say its only Ben running 5-6 times , it's Ben let fully warm up an then left running for ten minutes or more each time . I'm thinkin te gasket is gone as the oil under the oil cap is v milky , it's throwin out a lot of white smoke from te exhaust , there is oil leaking down front of the block at the head gasket and iv had to top the water up .
 
Every time I start up the car after the winter it looks like the head gasket went - there will be loads of water in the exhaust that has gathered there... When you say milky under the oil cap - is it just under the oil cap or is the oil milky when you pull the dip stick as well? Milky residue from condensation is completely normal on cars that only do short journeys, our Vitara is like that all the time. Is the coolant disappearing? Or can you see oil in the coolant? Make sure you've done all the tests before you dismantle it. Check the dip stick - if the oil is normal colour, let her run, turn the heater on and wait until you get hot air blowing, sometimes you lose hot air if the HG has gone (depends on where it cracked...), as above do a compression test (you can buy kit on eBay, not too expensive an handy to have).
 
its very milky under the oil cap and when i take off the rocker cover its all milky oil along the cam covers. the coolant is going down slowly iv had to top it up twice and its leaking oil at the corner where the head and block meet where u can see the corner of the headgasket.
the dipstick isnt milky, the car hasnt overheated and its not loosing warm air from the blower ?

i never heat cycled the arp studs though ? iv read it has to be done and i was told there a while ago by a mechanic who works on hondas that it needs to be done.....would this be the issue ??
 
Heat cycle? Literally never heard of it lol.

If its gone, the engine will be misfiring aswell as consuming alot of coolant - it will be quite literally chucking white smoke out the exhaust (may smell sweet depending on what coolant you use).

You can buy a compression tester from most car orientated shops, this plugs into where the spark plug usually sits, then you dry crank it (costs about £20-40 depending on make etc), then make sure all cylinders are in 5% or 10% of each other - can't quite remember.

edit: Just re-reading, there is the possibility the intake manifold gasket could of been crimped or installed wrong, coolant could be leaking into the intake manifold - if all cylinder readings are good, I'd check there next.
 
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the car isnt misfiring but is throwing out a LOT of white smoke, its idling at 2k rpm too

il buy a compression tester to see but it looks like the gasket is more than likely gone. if it is gone and i buy a new gasket how will i know that it was put in wrong before or if its the block or the head thats the issue ??
 
jamie-gings said:
its very milky under the oil cap and when i take off the rocker cover its all milky oil along the cam covers. the coolant is going down slowly iv had to top it up twice and its leaking oil at the corner where the head and block meet where u can see the corner of the headgasket.
the dipstick isnt milky, the car hasnt overheated and its not loosing warm air from the blower ?

i never heat cycled the arp studs though ? iv read it has to be done and i was told there a while ago by a mechanic who works on hondas that it needs to be done.....would this be the issue ??
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It doesn't really matter about the oil being milky on top of the cam holder plates, if it's been sitting, the cold gets to it. Then it can look like coolent has been mixing. As for the leak at the oil return is because u put the CTR head on so to speak isn't the exactly same kinda flat machine face surface as the block, this happened when I skimmed my pr3 head. Also you'll be able to tell if the head gasket has been installed wrong if you can see the serial code hanging out the end.. Below the vtec solenoid. I never used ARP bolts, just got told there more hassle than there worth. Oem is the best, unless your building for some serious power.
 
The oil is leakin by the seriel number of the gasket just below the vtec solinoid .

I'm gona get a loan of a compression tester tomoro and check the compression .

My eg9 was left sitting for a year and once I started it the white smoke from the condensation went after a short while . On this engine tho the white smoke is constant and really thick .

Ya iv a feeling the issue is because I didn't heat cycle the arp studs I'm half thinking of goin bck Oem .
 
never heard of the heat cycling of studs either, what kind of pcv system do you have, is the pcv valve installed? and the black box on the back of the block,if you have the pipes installed incorrectly for the breather setup it can draw fresh oil into the intake and it will smoke constantly
 
did a bit of reading on the arp website and they dont say anything about heat cycle so i doubt the issue is there.

the pcv valve is actually completely missing from the engine ? the breather box is just venting to the atmosphere and there is a cover over the intake mani where the pcv valve should connect to.

im gona do the compression test tomorow and make sure
 
I bet the headgasket has been fitted upside down....not that uncommon for people to do that with b series engines.
 
Try get a video of the white smoke once it's been running a little while.
 
I can read the serial number of the head gasket there under the soilinoid where the head meets the block so seems to be on right .

I'm hopin it's a case of it was damaged or somethin , I'm gona compression test it later an if it's gone il have to get the head checked , I asked the mechanic to get it skimmed prior to assemble which he never did .

Il get a video later
 
You don't need to heat cycle arp head studs my builder torqued them as stated and mine has been mapped and done a few track days with no hassle so far
 
jamie-gings said:
I asked the mechanic to get it skimmed prior to assemble which he never did .
Click to expand...

WTF, what kind of mechanic is that? It costs peanuts in the grand scheme of engine rebuild to skim the head......
 
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