OK. Im about ready to junk my mint RS. I just got done spending 3 Grand on engine work. I built the engine with my dad. Its a 350 bored .060 over , nice cam, new valve job, Edelbrock intake, carb, and headers. New Crankshaft and Speed Pro Pistons and a Fel Pro Blue gasket kit. I've put about 50 miles on this engine and have babied it since i have to break it in. GUESS WHAT? It just started pouring out white smoke on my way out of the High School parking lot. I suspect its a head gasket but I don't understand how it could have blown. ITS BRAND NEW! Im so dissapointed right now, but i haven't been able to do a compression test or anything. Can anyone give me some much needed information on blown head gaskets and what I should do.

BTW The reason i built another engine for this car is because the previous owner didn't know how to put an intake on and those gaskets blew causing antifreeze to mix with the oil. WITH 7000 miles!!

Thanks
Brian

 

did you have the deck surfaced and the head surfaced? are you sure they're flat with in about .006?

 

There are a lot of things besides a blown head gasket that could be the cause of your problem.
Any way you slice it, you're going to have to start tearing your engine down.
Before you start do a comp test and a vaccum test, that might give you some clues on what it is.
It might be an intake gasket, or a cracked block (heaven forbid) or a dozen other things too.
Best of luck, I hope it's an easy fix.

 

Well it better be a not be a cracked block. This block was just machined, hot tanked, had all new freeze plugs, bearings and was sold to me by the machine shop and was said to be all good. The head surface on the block had to of been resurfaced because the engine codes are missing. Just a stupid ? first. Do you have to have special gaskets if the heads have been resurfaced? I dont think it is intake manifold related because there is no antifreeze in the oil. That is what happened on the last engine and these are the same heads. I had them checked out when they did the valve job and were said to be ok. My dad will be leaving out of state for 2 weeks in the beginning of may so I won't have my car unless I can fix it before then. Thanks and any more info is welcome
Brian

 

Did you ever bother retorquing the heads?

 

So I'm seeing that this car has a history of intake gasket failures...
A leak somewhere in the intake port would suck in oil, and there would be no mixing of oil and coolant. Just blue smoke.
Or it could be something as simple as the PCV valve.

 

Check the torque on all your head bolts.. retorque them all in the proper sequence.

After that, check your intake manifold bolts too. There may be some chance that coolant could be getting into your ports from the coolant passage at the front, where your t-stat housing is.

 

So i should of retorqued the heads after 20 miles?! This is a whole new block, just the heads are off the old one. Do you think if i retorque just the top bolts under the valve covers i might be fine. Because I would do the bottom row but i dont have access to them(Headers and other BS in the way) I noticed that it only smokes (heavy white) when you accelerate , not as much as cruising. But when it does its a lot of smoke. And it wont smoke untill after about a block of driving.Would it be safe to drive the car 8 miles to my dads house? Also at idle there are bubbles in the coolant resivoir tank.
THANKS Keep it coming
BTW-I plan on doing a pressure test on the coolant system to see if i can hear an intake leak or see if a headgasket is leaking

 

I'll bet the bank its a head gasket or possibly (hopefully not) a crack somewhere. white smoke = coolant. Have you noticed coolant vanishing? You should. The bubbling is from the compression leaking out of the cylinder and into the cooling system. I was thinking it COULD be the intake gasket but, as you've already experienced, that usually contaminates your oil and it wouldnt make your coolant bubble (since the intake couldnt force air into your cooling system)

Driving the car a few miles (going nice and easy) probably wont hurt anything as long as your oil isnt contaminated and your motor doesnt overheat. That wonderful coolant burning is steam cleaning your engine

 

Check the heads... Did the machine shop only re-build the short block? If so, I bet the heads you swapped on are somewhat warped, prompting head gasket failure.

 

OK here is what the machine shop did.. They checked my old block and found out the align bore was all messed up so he gave me another block that was bored .060 over and i just paid for the bore job on that. He let me pick out all the parts and he ordered them. He also ordered the gaskets and all other things. Then i gave him the heads and he put new valve springs and checked all the seals and guides for wear. Then me and my dad took all the parts home and put it together. What I am going to do now is probably take the engine out of the car and take the heads and have them checked again and go from there

Thanks

 

OK ... its ACT test week at school so i haven't got much accomplished since i had to work on my dads tahoe that i drive. Heres what i found out... I got the car to my dads with out any major problems except the huge white cloud behind me I took out the drivers side plugs and the number 2 on the passengers side when i got there and they were dry(no cooant) but the porcelain was white on the plugs... meaning the coolant has steam cleaned them? Am i right? My dads friend was thinking its the intake manifold again and the heads needing to be torqued down, he said if you use an extension you have to compensate for lose of torqe. But the front rail gasket is pushed out . Also this Performer RPM intake i have might be for a newer block and heads 87 and up. It was grinded to fit and i have my valve covers notched. My block is a 69' but im not sure of the heads... i think 72. Anyways i am trying to get an old Torker manifold from my dad's friend. Do you think that the intake and the head bolts being retorqued will fix this problem? THANKS

 

Yes coolant would steam clean your plugs. Like I already said, I bet its your head gasket due to the bubbling of your coolant. Retorquing the head bolts MIGHT fix the problem but if it was me I'd pull the head and replace the gaskets... theres a good chance they're damaged.

Oh and torker intakes are the worst of the worst in my opinion. You couldnt pay me to put one on any car - Keep your current intake.

 

OK well the current intake keeps pushing rail gaskets out in front and i think its the wrong one for my car. Are the 87 and newer the same as the older ones before that. The intake is a performer RPM but i dont know what year its for as it was on the car when i bought it. The reason i was going to change it is like i said it had to be grinded down in order to fit right therefore i think its the wrong one. But ill take the torker intake into consideration and just buy another intake. Any suggestions for one? The car has a lopey cam, 9.75:1 comp ratio, bored .060 over, headers, 69 block and i think the heads are 72. Thanks
PS. i plan on replacing the head gaskets and checking them over again for defects. BTW can this be done in the car. I have shorty headers on the car and can only take the pass side completley out of the car.
Thanks Again

 

There is only 1 performer rpm manifold type. fits all engines except vortec and LT1.

If a unmolested intake forces the end gaskets out then the block and or heads were shaved quite a bit, ot tyhe intake is faulty dimentionally.

Check to see if the intake will sit on the heads and block without any gaskets at all. There should be a gap at the front and back china walls. And the intake should sit on the heads without a gap. If not then the intake could be faulty or needs to have the bottom shaved because of the decked block and or heads. You can shave it your self with a body sander/grinder and 40 grit paper.

Could be a cracked head.