so i had to replace my fuel pump on my 'maro a while back, got the whole fuel system straightened out, and still haven't been able to get my engine back running.

at first it was the plug wires out of order, but the other day i fixed them and got the timing back around 6* advanced (hard to tell when you're keeping the engine going with the starter). at this point the car would start and run smoothly as long as you apply a little bit of throttle. it would run smoothly from 700-5000 rpm, but as soon as the throttle came completely off it would die.

today, i blew in the egr valve to see if it was stuck open and i could blow it shut. when i released the end of the line I was blowing in, i could hear/feel air coming back out (is that because the valve is popping back open?). i replaced a shot vacuum line to the orb of power . . . and thats it. fire it up, dies, fire it up keeping the throttle open . . . runs, a little rougher than the other day, BILLOWS white smoke out the back. I've never seen a drop of smoke from this car before.

did i just lose an intake/head gasket? what the ****?

or was my fuel pump dying and having a hole in the pulsator replacement tube not really the reason my car stopped running in the first place(although i confirmed that it was getting only 6 psi of fuel pressure before i changed it, solid 38-41 now)? why no smoke before?

;_;

 

White smoke is usally an indication of water being burned correct. However this does not neccessarily mean its from the cooling system. You may have gotten some impurities in the fuel system when you worked on it. There may have been somecondenced water in the fuel lines or machining oil on the pump or something for example. So no need to panic just yet. Try running a pressure test on the cooling system that will tell you for sure if its water leaking is somewhere. Also EGR valves are work on vaccum not pressure?

 

well i'd run the engine for a while before today, cleaned the tank out before reinstalling, etc. There's like a 2% chance i left the gas cap off and it rained, but i can't think why i would have taken it off within the last week.

WRT the EGR valve, i believe vacuum is used to open the valve, but i've read that a stuck open valve will kill your idle. Blowing into the valve was just a hopeful attempt to un-stuck the open valve(if that were the case...), but it didn't change anything.

Is there any way to test the coolant system integrity without buying a pressure testing cap or whatever?

 

You can rent/buy a pressure tester from autozone, but in my case it still did not show a bad head gasket. Apparently the most reliable is a "block tester", which is a chemical test on the coolant to see if it contains combustion gases. Alternatively, visually check the coolant for oily swirls... Good luck, I hope its something simple!

 

Well you could try a compression test. Also in many cases a blown headgasket will result in over heating/coolent bubling in the overflow tank. As mentioned renting a pressuretester (for free at autozone) or getting one of the block testers with the chemical dye would work as well.

 

so the voluminous plumes of white smoke have been replaced by a fine cloud that picks up over ~1.5k rpms and (as seen through the hatch glass) appears to have a blue-ish tint and definitely doesn't smell like coolant.

the coolant in the radiator looks okay, but i don't think i've run the engine long enough for the t-stat to even open(maybe the day before it started smoking), so thats not much of a surprise. gonna talk to my brother after class and see if his friend has a compression tester, if not i guess ill have to run into town to rent one from autozone.

if i have to tear this engine down im gonna have to kill something

 

well no worries about getting the coolent pressure tester smoke with a blueish tint is oil being burned. Ide start with a compression and vacuum test.

 

so i think one of the plastic tabs that hold the LIM to runner gaskets in place might have fallen down the LIM runner. Maybe it jacked up a valve seal and then combusted in the cylinder, and now oil is leaking in from the seal? Burning plastic would probably make black smoke though, not white/yellow. eh just a thought. starting the compression test in like 15 min.

 

EGR was fine, IAC a little gunked up, timing a little retarded. it will barely idle right now but the speed is low, need to reset IAC etc tomorrow.

We're thinking the smoke was drip from the valve seals after sitting for so long (months), cause it went away after the next start.

couldn't get the compression tester in because of the 1 7/8" header primarys, but i dont think its necessary any more.

Did find out that the y-pipe ball flange's aren't tight enough, when the pipes are cold it leaks into the engine compartment like a mother****er, as soon as it warms up (2 min) no leak at all.

thanks for the words, will report back after i finish setting things tomorrow

 

Let me know if you need any more help.