Im told that a blown head gasket would result in "milky" oil, white smoke out of the exhaust with water, and white spark plugs. A few questions I have regarding this is are:
Would water be constintly coming out of the exhaust with white smoke?
Would the oil be milky for sure or does the gasket have to have a big enough leak for it to be milky?
Would the tip of the spark plug be white or the majority of the plug (does anyone have a picture)
The reason I ask, is because I have some of these signs but not to a full extent. It does smoke white and drips out of the exhaust for awhile, then stops, then somtimes comes back. The oil is not milky at all, but the spark plugs are a little white with tan on the ends. I've searhed around for a pressure tester but cant find one so I figure i'd ask you guys. Thanks!

 

are you losing coolent ???? the plugs may be a lean condition,,,
H2O is a by-product of combustion

 

Im not loosing any coolant, but im not driving it that much at the moment. It does get warm during the day and cools off a bit at night. Could it just be moisture sitting in the exhaust?

 

Well in Canada I'd expect it to buildup a good bit of condensation, so that would be the white smoke at startup. If it continues after the engine has been driven for awhile, then it would be the gasket. Generally it looks like a space shuttle on launch if its badly blown, the temperatures will not be able to stay down, and it'll idle like sh**. The oil would be milky then, and you'd see it in the coolant.

A barely busted system would probably show first in the temps its running, and will only get worse.

Theres a link to plug diagnosis on my site, look at those.

 

The car is not overheating. The temp levels are normal. Should I go for a long ride, or will it likely get hot fast if it is the gasket? Also if it was the gasket would the coolant go low pretty fast? Thanks for the help everyone, never had a problem like this before.

 

If you had a head gaslet om the fritz the car will ocerheat after about 20 minutes of driving and you will lose coolant. Also, yo0u wont be able to add water with the motor running as it will try to spit it out.
When you first start it up (cold) does it sound like it hitting on 7 cyl for the first 30 sec or so?

 

When I start it, it sounds and runs fine. Would it overheat after 20min of just idling or do I need to drive it? I drove it a good 20min a few weeks ago and everything was fine.

 

If it was a blown gasket it will feel like you are in an earthquake.

 

Well thats a big relief! Maybe the smoke and water will go away once it warms up more then. Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

It sounds normal to me................

 

sounds just fine.

 

I hate to throw a spanner into the works here, but... I must.

If you think for one instant that the head gasket has been compromised, and on an L98, it's a likelyhood, get an exhaust gas tester. It samples the coolant and will tell you if you have exhaust/combustion gasses contaminating same.

When bastet44s headgasket blew a year ago, there was no indications that was the problem. Sure, there was some WHISPS of white smoke - but it was raining a lot. And the one over heating condition was fixed with a new t-stat... or so I thought.

So no, you can't always be sure... the weap can be VERY small, but still blown... and only show itself once the gasket lets go. And when that happens, you are SO screwed.

 

Okay, I guess I'll hve to throw my .02 in here as well.

First off, If you have a blown head gasket, it could present itself in many ways. Some of which you mentioned.

1. White smoke out the tail pipes. This will not stop no matter how long you run it. This would be a blown head gasket between the water jacket and the cylinder. A cracked cylinder or cracked head would present the same conditions. A way to check for this is when it is cold, start the engine and geel the radiator hoses. If they are soft (relatively speaking) and as soon as you start it (within a few seconds) they become hard (pressurized) you have a major problem. The cylinder pressure will pressurize your cooling system.

2. Milky oil. This is a leak between the water jackets and the oiling system. Make sense? A problem but, almost always a gasket and not a cracked block or head.

I could go on and on but, my point is, I don't think that you have any of these problems.

On initial start up if the air temp is below @ 75* you will get condensation burn off (steam) out of the tail pipe for a short period of time. No more than 10 minutes or so. The bigger the muffler, the longer the steam will come out.


BTW: good unleaded fuel and a properly tuned engine will turn your plugs a very light tan with possibly a little white carbon.

One other thing you could check is when you start to see the steam come out the tail pipes, wave your hand across it, be careful it's pretty warm, if it has an oily feel to it, it could be coolant.

 

I have waved my hand across the tail pipes, and it doesnt seem very oily. I will try squeezing the hoses like you said and see what happens. I do have 2.5" exhaust straight back without my cats, and I removed the air pump so I dont know if that will add to more smoke/steam.

 

Well, this thread is well timed.

I was running some scans on my laptop to check a new ALDL interface and on one startup I heard what sounded a bit like a backfire, but not really if you know what I mean....

White smoke, water from tail pipe, engine shaking the shimmy.

We made it 98K miles.

My question is this: How long can I leave it before I decide to take the heads off? Can this wait a few weeks or is there some reason I need to get in there right away?

 

My rad hoses were soft when the car was running. It got hard after I shut the car off. The white smoke gradually slowed, and stopped after about 10min. Maybe this is nothing, but it sure is bothering me.

 

Which part of what Bogus just wrote is hard to understand?

It is true that this MAY NOT be an impending HG failure, but given
the frequency and regularity with which these failures occur and
the inexpensive means of checking for them, Prudence suggests
ruling out the HG first.

Testing with a Lisle 75500 - COMBUSTION LEAK DETECTOR
(< $30) is what he is recommending.

Both Bogus and cuisinartvette have personally experienced L98 head
gasket failures. A simple search in C4 Tech will turn up numerous
other threads where owners report symptoms, chase red herrings
while the clock runs out and then have a costly HG failure.

.

 

this is a non-wait situation. Do it now.

 

If you mean driving it in the meantime, coolant in the oil is neither
a lubricant nor compressible - running the engine will impact the bearings.
If the gasket fails and cooalnt seeps into the cylinder while the engine is
stopped, this may cause it to 'hydraulic' or stop suddenly when it cranks
upon starting - this can lead to bent connecting rod(s). Failure while
operating could lead to overheating, warped components, unexpected
inconvenience and towing expense.

If you mean parking the car, coolant left in the cylinders can etch
these and cause rings to stick to the walls.

Parking it, draining the oil, filter and coolant, adding fresh oil and filter
pulling the plugs, cranking to evacuate any coolant and then oiling
the cylinders might be a way of protecting the engine until you can
work on it.

Again, use the Advanced Search to research all the contributions
made on this topic in the past.

.

 

Good tip.......its $37.00 with shipping.