LOts of white smoke at startup

[Layton]

I hope this isn't a head gasket, but when I start my car, white smoke billows out. After it warms up for a minute or so, the smoke goes away. I know I'm burning colant, but there is no sign of coolant in oil and the spark plugs (front 3) look good. If I were burnging the coolant in the cylinders, I would expect the white smoke to continue until I turn the car off and coolant in the oil. This is not the case.

Any ideas?

[Gilhuly]

Perhaps Manybrews may chime in, But I would say that yes, it is a head gasket and that it is not bad yet. It is only seeping into the cylinders and collecting some while the engine is still warm and under pressure. Not bad enough to be noticeable while running yet. Get it fixed. Supposedly this is pretty uncommon on these cars.

Anybody else have an idea on white smoke at startup?

[FLO-DOG]

uless you put too much oil, just a guess

[manybrews]

are you SURE youre burning coolant? Because i have yet to fix a galant in over 7 years that has been in which the car wasnt horribly overheated first, thus warping and/or damaging the heads.
if that has already happend, then you probably have a damaged head (and NOT just a head gasket, as they are pretty much inpervious to damage).

[Layton]

When my water pump was failing, the engine got hot, but it didn't overheat ... in other words, it didn't boil over. My car was idling a little rough just before the pump started to show signs of failure. My wife drives the car most of the time, so I'm not sure what happened before the day I drove it and noticed the troubles.

Last night, I got into the back 3 plugs ... one shows signs of coolant, but only a little bit. That's a sure sign of a gasket failure, or warped head. Either way, it looks like I'm pulling the head this weekend.

One guy I spoke with today thinks the engine needs a rebuild now. He claimed that coolant gums up the rod and main bearings. As a result, the crank needs polishing, new main and rod bearings, new pistons and rings, etc. He wasn't very convincing. Will anyone second his motion or convince me otherwise?

[Gilhuly]

Manybrews is the man on this, but if it were me and I wasn't psycho about the car and it is running OK I'd try pulling the head, have it and the block checked/skimmed and put a new gasket on

[Gilhuly]

Of course you could do some porting work on the head while you have it out and let us know what the effect of some basic porting is. https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

[manybrews]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Layton)</div><div class='quotemain'>
One guy I spoke with today thinks the engine needs a rebuild now. Â*He claimed that coolant gums up the rod and main bearings. Â*As a result, the crank needs polishing, new main and rod bearings, new pistons and rings, etc. Â*He wasn't very convincing. Â*Will anyone second his motion or convince me otherwise?</div>
it depends on
1)how much (if any) coolant got into the oil, and
2)how long its been there.


If there IS coolant in the oil (it will appear kinda white, like a vanilla milkshake), then there is definatly the probability of lower end damage.
if the oil is fine (just looks black and dirty, like most oil), then youre fine. A large internal coolant leak probably wouldnt allow you to drive the car anyway, so chances are you probably have a minor warp that WILL eventually damage the engine if you left it, but will be fine to fix right now if you get on it immeadiatly.

[Layton]

Thanks for the answers! There's no sign of coolant in the oil, so I only need to fix the head. I might be try some porting while I'm at it, but money is a bit tight right now.

BTW,
The other mechanic, that claimed I needed to rebuild the engine, backed down a little and said since I have 70k miles on the car and will be working on a head, I should go ahead and rebuild the rest of the engine. Seems like he wants some work/money.

[Gilhuly]

If you want to do some basic porting you could look at this and see what you think. Just open up the intake some.

http://www.sa-motorsports.com/diyport.htm ('http://www.sa-motorsports.com/diyport.htm')