Symptoms of a Blown Head Gasket?

M

Mannie111

Member
Are usually what?

i'm running a stock KA w/ only new rod bearings and every now and then (usually after i start driving long-er distances) i start shooting clouds of white smoke and i start overheating real bad.

I have a super basic T25 set-up on it. As in i don't even have a bigger Radiator or electric fans yet.

And if i DO have a blown HG, how easy/difficult is it to take the head apart and change it (with the right tools of course)? Reason i ask is cuz i have a brand new Cometic MLS Head Gasket & ARP Head Studs sitting under my bed and i wouldn't mind doing the work myself and learning a thing or two.
 
smoke in exhaust and loss of power is what i usually see when a headgasket is blowin

take a compression test and you'll know or put some pressure in the coolants and see if it leaks also a symptom
 
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Loss of power for sure. I've never really compression tested a motor before but i'll google how to do it and check back.

And where would the leak come out of? Most people that i know that know a thing or two about cars keep telling me that my smoke smells like burnt coolant. And i also get steam coming out of the radiator reservoir.
 
Depends how the gasket is blown. All advice so far is good. Also open the rad cap when the car is cool and start it up - if air bubbles keep coming out, its blown. Or if you see oil.
 
i have this pump type thing for the radiator that puts pressure into the coolant system to determine leakage. and i also have a compression tester. all mac tools so its accurate. if there is blueish smoke out of exhaust its oil being burnt, white smoke would be coolant also oil smoke would linger around for longer than coolant smoke.
 
Okay after driving my car again and it looking like a steam-train w/ massive amounts of puffy white smoke coming out from the breather on the valve cover, i've come to the conclusion that i officially have a blown head gasket.

Now onto phase 2:

Is there a tutorial anywhere that tells me step by step on how to replace a head gasket?
Keep in mind this is my first time attempting some major motor-work.
 
its a fairly simple procedure to replace, just use common sense.
when you get the head off dont clean the surfaces with a razor blade or anything sharp, i believe some use scouring pads or something of the like. main thing is to make sure both surfaces are clean and flat. use a straight edge to make sure its within spec otherwise get it milled. have a torque wrench handy to torque the head bolts in correct sequence several times with progressively more torque. thats pretty much the more important stuff i think.
 
TeeWhyS13 said:
first you should figure out why it was blown so you dont go through this again
Click to expand...

i think driving around for a couple of weeks with a corroded (Completely corroded) water pump and no upgraded cooling (rad nor fans) might be the reason.

I've already invested in a koyo and some electric fans though so i should be good to go.
 
well im sure nico club has a write up on how to do it. dont forget to torque those head bolts back to spec, and when you loosen them do it in the proper order(look it up)
 
take off the intake mani, take off the exhaust mani, take off timing chain, mark it or if your good enough dont, loosen in 2-3 steps in criss cross order working out. clean with a plastic scraper or something non metal, then repeat the process backwards. but the most important part is fix the reason it was blown in the first place. theres info all over the web, search nico and silvia
 
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