when i shut my engine off you can here bubbles coming out of the engine compartment, so i look in the over flow tank and there is bubbles coming up, bubbles are aprox. 3/8" round. i get aprox. 15 bubbles per 5 seconds for about a minute then i get about 1 bubbles every 5 seconds for about 20 seconds, then it stops. you can also here what i think is more bubbles coming from the left side of the motor simultaniously with the other bubbles. i had one guy tell me that it is a blown head gasket, but i dunno. i also get a white puff of smoke from the back of the block when i rev the engine, not every rev just when its been idleing for a bit then i rev it and white smoke comes up. is this all caused by a bad head gasket or what? any ideas? thanks.

 

Yep, sounds like a blown head gasket.

 

WELL SH|T, im just gonna wait till i get my headers on, cuz i gotta take the stock manifolds off n e ways, also gonna put a new gasket on the manifold runners and other stuff, because i just found out i got bad injectors, looks like i got some work cut out for me.

 

Before getting all excited about a head gasket:

Does the car lose coolant?

Have you tried a new radiator cap?

 

i just checked my radiator, it looks like its a little low like 9 inches down before you see coolant, i have not tried a new radiator cap, i never thought that could be a reason, ill try one of the other caps i got laying around, and see if it does the same thing.

 

i put on one of the other radiator caps i had laying around, rated at 16psi, and it seemed to stop the bubbles, coquinsidense? i was thinking i should replace my head gaskets anyways because i have to pull the intake off and replace my injectors anyways, and guessed my heads and pistons could use a good cleaning. im getting some white smoke from the back of the block somewhere, cant really detect where, i was assuming the head gasket because it was coming from below it. the motor has 200k on it, i think it could use a full gasket tune up(heads, valve covers, intake, runners, tb)... what do you guys think.

 

White smoke from behind the heads is probably a valve cover gasket leak, dripping oil onto the exhaust manifold.

Definitely change the valve cover gaskets, and if you can, the valve guide seals while you're there. Those seals will stifle the puff of smoke at startup, and maybe the engine's overall oil consumption. Search this forum for instructions on how to do that. I'd leave the head gaskets alone if they aren't failed. Same for the intake and runners and all that.

Glad to hear the rad cap helped. Cheap fix.

 

i dont get constant white smoke, i only get it when its been idleing for about 30 seconds, and then when i give it a little rev, white smoke comes up. im not going to do this untill i have everything i need, i need new injectors (low ohms) definantly, so i was going to have to replace runner gaskets and what not, and i also got a new set of edelbrock headers, i was gonna put on at the same time, figured, just a few more bolts and put on a new head gasket.

 

I just had this issue with my car today. I spent months installing a 350 TPI into my GTA. I ran it quite a few times in the garage and today I drove it to the shop for an alignment. Then I did a few laps around the neighborhood and pulled into the garage and shut her down. Then a lot of bubbles in the over flow bottle and a lot of gurgling noises. I freaked out thinking blown head gasket, cracked head or block, you know the worse possible things.

I saw this post and thought I just installed a brand new rad. cap last month so that can't be it. I decided it was worth the $5 shot.

I installed the brand new cap and I'll be damn, that was the problem.

 

I know this is pretty basic but don't forget to torque all the bolts down correctly, not just by hand/guessing. Don't ask my why I'm reminding you of this, it's a painful memory ...

 

wow this thread i started is old, but i remember it pretty well. shortly after this thread this engine siezed up on me, the bottom end would not turn over, even with a 4 foot pry bar on the crankshaft.