My car has been sitting for a while, but i have been starting it up every now and then. What i have noticed is a drip of water when the car is running! Is this the head gasket???? I am going to compression test it when i get a chance.. It also smokes a little, almost nothing as it is running. Is this a head gasket?? If this is and i have to take it all apart what are somethings i could do to freshen the motor up?? It is a 1987 2.8 Camaro. Thanks!!

 

Where's the drip coming from? Slide a big piece of cardboard (or if it's in a garage, a few pieces of newspaper weighed down with rocks) under the engine compartment, and start the motor. Run it a bit, stop the motor, wait a while. Then check the paper for drips.

Is the smoke blue? Might be the valve seals; as they get old, they get small cracks in the rubber, and oil drips down the valve stem into the combustion chamber. Oil will puddle up onto the piston (until all the oil seeps back into the pan). This gives some blue smoke on startup, which quickly clears away. If the car sits for a while, there might be more blue smoke then usual on startup.

I had no smoke on startup until I totalled my car, it sat for almost 2 months without being started. After I rebuilt it, it's smoked on startup ever since. I guess the valve seals dried up and cracked from sitting for so long.

 

O sorry i didn't clear this up it is driping out of the exhaust!! Its more like a almost constant drip! And the smoke is white!!

 

Check head gasket...

 

I did a comprestion test and it came out like this:

175 Psi O I O 165 Psi

165 Psi O I O 170 Psi

174 Psi O I O 165 Psi

Front of Motor


Uhh they are all over the place what dose this mean my head gasket needs replaceing ??? I don't mind the work i just need to know how to figure out if i need a new ones!

 

Well, your compression is averaging 169psi/cyl. And it should be in the range of +/-10% which gives you a range of 152-186psi, so it looks like you're actually okay.

 

So what is the water from??


Something good and bad happened!! My friend just recked his iroc!! Bad

But he is willing to sell me the car because its got a brand new motor, which would be perfict for a v6 to v8 converstion!!! Good

:lala:

 

Say you drive the car all day and then park it... after the exhaust has heated up will it still be dripping water? Did you check for coolant in the oil? A leakdown test will help diagnose a head gasket better, as would pulling the plugs and checking the electrodes... etc