So i just went out and bought another 5.0L 91 RS about 2 weeks ago. I havent had a chance to get any pictures up, but im eager to show it to everyone, its really nice. Unfortunatly, ive come to believe that the head gasket is blow. Ive got white smoke with a little water coming out of my tailpipe. When i bought the car it didnt have any smoking, and the motor was tight. I noticed that it ran hot and i went to change the thermostat but discovered that there wasnt one. I put the new one in, fired the car up, and it started smoking. My guess is that the guy that had the car last knew of the problem and removed the thremostat to keep from building pressure on the weak gasket. When i put the new thermostat in it built up pressure and blew the gasket. So pretty much i have the choice of getting the gasket replaced (costs $1200) or just swapping out the motor. What do you guys think? How hard is it to just change the gasket. Is there anything else that could make the car smoke like this? (the only other thing i did was put a tbi spacer on the car since i bought it). Any advice would really be appreciated. Thanks, Danny

 

i think your 1200 guess is a bit high for a head gasket

 

Unless it included working the heads too.

If it's a 2nd car, do it yourself and learn something new. Otherwise I'd DEFINITELY get a second estimate...lol!

 

I called four different shops today and the average price was $1200 bucks. All of them said it was around 900+ for laybor. Im sure you guys have changed head gaskets before, how much work is it to do if the engine is still in the car? Ive changed gaskets on engines before, just not one in a car. IS it simpler to just swap the engine out?

 

$300 for gaskets then? that seems a little steep.

 

"White smoke with a little water" is normal, especially at a cold startup.

Does the car consume coolant? If not, it doesn't have a head gasket leak.

It's very unusual for a head gasket to exchange combustion and coolant for very long, without it becoming a major disaster. Leaking combustion scours away the remains of a failed head gasket FAST. If it's not getting worse by the minute as you drive the car, then it isn't a head gasket problem.

You can always do a compression test to find out. I'd sure do some stuff like that before paying somebody to rip into a motor that might not have anything wrong with it in the first place.

Even if in fact you do have a coolant leak into the cylinders, it could easily be an intake gasket.

 

I dont see how swapping gaskets is different whether the engine is in/out of a car?

No, I dont think it's easier to just swap out the engine.

 

is there a gasket in the front of the engine in conjuction with the thremostat housing? The guy that had the car before me shoved a bolt in there the wrong way and now its stripped out. It didnt look like he had gone through the water jacket in the intake but could that be causing a leak? As far as the smoke goes, when i start the car there is a constant stream of white smoke that only gets worse as the engine is reved. thanks for all your help so far, i appreciate it.