WHITE SMOKE rebuild engine

jose21

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So today I decided to finally use my baby after fixing a bumber and clutch problem I currently have 96888 miles on it. While I was driving back from work I noticed my car was throwing out white smoke didn't think much of it because it was like 40 degrees I decided to step on it a little bit to speed up and around 4.5k rpm a cloud of white smoke came out alot of smoke I get home Park the car to see what's going on ntn that I can see tried turning back on it won't turn on like if gas wasn't going thru. I push on the gas pedal a few times and it turns review the engine and white smoke comes out again . I kill the car go out back and see that it's leaking our water my guess is that I blew a head gasket. Tired turning the car on to move it out of the way for I can use my dd and turned on like ntn with no smoke at all as soon as I rev it smoke came out again it's coming out of both exhuaust pipes so my guess is its time to just rebuild the motor unless anyone has any suggestions and also what parts to go with and kits
 

cj428mach

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That was a hard read.

These cars either have x or h pipes so you'll always see the same from both tail pipes. When I was trying to determine where my smoke was coming from I took a stock H pipe and cut the connecting pipe out then welded it up. This allowed me to isolate the banks and determine where the problem was. On mine it was the pass side valve seals.

My suggestion is pull the plugs and take a look. Also check oil for coolant and coolant for oil.

If all that looks good you might consider taking a look at your intercooler setup as you might just have oil being burnt if you don't have a separator in the pcv system.
 

hotcobra03

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Before you get scared...look at fluid level for super charger

common winter time issue..

orings on cross over tube leak and white smoke just like head gasket..


stop running car and check on engine coolant level
 

Blueline

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Check both coolant tanks, oil, and plugs. If any of the plugs look like they have a white residue, shine a light down that cylinder and see if you can see the top of the piston. If its shiny its burning coolant. Then your next step will be a leakdown and will prob point in a head gasket direction. Good luck, hoping its just an intercooler leak.
 

Juiced46

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Sounds like you cracked your intercooler from freezing temps. Have seen this many times. Pull the supercharger off first before considering a rebuild.
 

Riddick

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If your intercooler reservoir is low or empty you more than likely cracked your intercooler. The reservoir we are referring to is the smaller one of the two and is towards the passenger side of the car (front side of motor). Do you know if you have antifreeze in here or plain water? What happens is the intercooler cracks and fills up your lower intake eventual leaking into head ports. If this is the problem a new intercooler is by far easier and cheaper to fix vs a blown headgasket.
 

jose21

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Alright gentlemen and lady's if there is any i check everything everyone recommend besides taking off supercharger and checking intercooler. I'm guessing everything checked out besides finding oil I'm my radiator and intercooler reservoir seemed a slightly lower but I run antifreeze not water. I will post pics as well.
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MG0h3

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Houston we have a problem.

Not sure if you said you have oil in the radiator or not.

The bigger problem is your plugs are soaked and it appears you are blowing oil up into the intake tract.

Plugs like that on both sides or just one?
 

jose21

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MG0h3 yes it's like that on both sides and yes there is oil in radiator from what I can tell I'm pretty sure all this bad haven't had any luck at since I've been back in the states :/ lol problem after problem
 

CobraBob

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I was hopeful you'd find a simple cause until I saw those photos. Do you have a good local shop you can take your Cobra to for thorough diagnosis? Especially if you're short on available time. Just a suggestion. A proper diagnosis should tell you what needs to be done and how much it might cost you. And if done right, you hopefully won't experience repair "by-product issues" due to faulty work. Again, just a suggestion. I wish you the best with this big issue and hope you'll finally get to really enjoy the car without having to constantly deal with issues. I know how frustrating that can be.
 

jose21

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Unfortunately there is only one good shop were I'm at but they won't deal with anything that has mods. I was thinking about doing it my self. My goal is to get the car running 100% in like 8 months just cuz that's when I get out of the military and I wanna be able to use my car. I am ganna take what u said into consideration and find a shop that will diagnose my car
 

hotcobra03

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Does your base have a shop..my son was at 29 palms..they had a shop with every tool..

And lifts..you can rent a bay

These are really easy to work on.

even a first timer like me ..read the hell out of service manual and things went smoothly
 

jose21

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Yes they do but I just don't have the time hopefully I can get more time in my hands and I can do it myself
 

Juiced46

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Before you get all gung ho on thinking it is headgaskets just take a step back. I have been working on these engines since day 1 and mod motors for about 17 years now. It is extremely rare to have a headgasket issue on one of these engines. I am not saying it is totally impossible, but its very rare.

With that being said. Are you positive there is oil in the coolant? It is really hard to tell from the pictures what is what.

Next, I would still pull the blower and check the intercooler. Has the fluid level dropped in the intercooler reservoir?

Next, has fluid been pushing out of the engine coolant reservoir cap at all?

If the intercooler is fine. I would next check the oil cooler. There are some internal o rings in there. As well as the one that goes between the cooler and the block that go bad and deteriorate over time. This will cause oil and antifreeze to mix since they are both passed through the same unit. The o rings go bad, or the block gasket goes bad causing the mixture to happen. You need to check there next.

Easiest way to check is. Remove the oil filter. Get a coolant pressure tester and the correct adapter for the coolant reservoir. Usually you can rent them for free from Advance Auto or Autozone. Pressure test the engine cooling system. If water pours out where the oil filter was, you have a cooler problem. ALSO the shaft that the oil filter threads onto can loosen up. If it loosens up, its separates the connection of the cooler that keeps the coolant and oil separated. I would start looking in this area next.

If its not the oil cooler and its not the intercooler, then most likely the engine will have to come out. But I bet you will not find a headgasket issue. I have seen more times than not the cylinder walls to be cracked causing similar symptoms to yours than a headgasket problem
 

jose21

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Thanks for the help and I'm 100% sure there is oil in my radiator and the intercooler I haven't checked it haven't had time to check car maybe I'll get some free time 2marrow and check both these parts and I've been calling shops to rebuilt my engine. Might as well go big or go home just in case if I am ganna have to pull it out
 

Juiced46

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The intercooler system and radiator cooling system are 2 separate systems that do not share fluids, that do not have anything to do with each other. If you have oil in the intercooler fluid and oil in your engine coolant, you have 2 different issues going on......
 

SlowSVT

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Not for nothing but you should do a better job proof reading your post. They are a bit painful to read and hard to comprehend. That way you will get better responses.
 
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jose21

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Juiced46 thanks for the help anyways I knoe my English is bad sorry about that
Slowsvt yea I knoe I didn't catch it till now honestly my English is broken and all jacked up trust I've been told told this plenty of times like on a daily basis but I'm getting better at it but thanks for the catch haha
 

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