Is the head gasket gone is it something else

[Alex_the_trex]

Hey, I got a 1994 for cheap (80k miles) and went drifting with it this weekend. I drove it pretty hard the whole day. I took a break for maybe 25 minutes and when I started it back up to go home a HUGE cloud of white smoke came out. After that I did 40 minute of highway driving and everything seemed normal.

Today I took it for a short drive, it didn’t have the huge smoke cloud on startup but it idled at 2k for a few seconds which it doesn’t usually do. It came back down to 600 after 30 though. At the red light I saw some white smoke behind me at the beginning but at the next one 5 min later I didn’t see any smoke, it was 40 degrees today.

The car is making weird noises but it might just be placebo and a loose exhaust. This is a video I took after 20 min drive with a bit of highway and I can’t see any smoke, but the exhaust did feel moist to the touch lol.

I know the reputation these cars have with head gaskets so after seeing that huge puff of white smoke I’m scared I blew mine. The fact that it doesn’t smoke when warm is odd though. What’s your opinion guys, and any ways to check for sure if the head gasket is blown.

https://imgur.com/a/7TUgh1K

 

[96blak54]

Sounds like typical worn valve seals. Long as the smoke is not during engine running, you should be safe. Now thats not to say your engine is perfect because there could be an issue. If it were me, I would monitor fluides regularly and observe levels. Check fluides weekly or by mileage, something like every 500miles. Look for signs of fast depletion.

 

[Alex_the_trex]

Sounds like typical worn valve seals. Long as the smoke is not during engine running, you should be safe. Now thats not to say your engine is perfect because there could be an issue. If it were me, I would monitor fluides regularly and observe levels. Check fluides weekly or by mileage, something like every 500miles. Look for signs of fast depletion.

Valve seals go bad that early ? I'll look into it, is there any maintenance/preventive stuff I can do to fix it because I plan on making it a drift car. I'm gonna drive it hard a lot more and I don't want to blow it up. No smoke on running as far as I can tell, this morning I fired it up in 0 C weather and no smoke on start up either. I checked coolant level too today and its a bit below the LOW line, crap, I'm not sure if it was that low before. I'm gonna be monitoring fluid levels but the car is going in storage for a few months soon.

 

[96blak54]

80K miles isnt alot, but the 30yr old seals are. All the soft parts on the car is questionable. Such as water hoses, brake lines, wiring harness, and engine seals. Rubbers and synthetics just deteriorate with age.

 

[Alex_the_trex]

That's fair I didn't realise the seals were rubber. Are they hard to replace ?

 

[Whiplash-Smile]

Simple answer - Yes

 

[96blak54]

With the correct tools and process, not hard at all. Tackling the job with pliers and straight edge screw drivers and the job becomes difficult.

Gather the tools and parts needed before you investigate by pulling the valve cover off.

 

[Alex_the_trex]

Thanks ! I'll look into it then, I hope there's a walkthrough somewhere on this forum.

 

[Alex_the_trex]

Sounds like typical worn valve seals. Long as the smoke is not during engine running, you should be safe. Now thats not to say your engine is perfect because there could be an issue. If it were me, I would monitor fluides regularly and observe levels. Check fluides weekly or by mileage, something like every 500miles. Look for signs of fast depletion.

Hey I got a little update, I turn the car on for the first time since the other day today and it had noticeable smoke coming out of the exhaust. I let the car idle for around 15 minutes and the smoke didn't stop. However as soon as I actually moved the car the smoke stopped. I had to move of out of my parking spot so I checked if the car still smoked after 2 min of driving and there was no more smoke, after parking it I let it idle there for a few minutes and again no smoke. This is weird the car smokes for a while if I leave it sitting but stops smoking when I put it under load?

Do you still think its a valve seal issue or could it be something else ? Any tests I can do to check the state of the valve seals ?

Thank you so much

Vid of the smoke while idling :

https://imgur.com/a/ju9iKUV