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oil in radiator, smoke and water from exhaust

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xlemon

New member
Hi everyone

I have this problem with my car 04 gp gt2 when the weather gets colder the car smokes horribly, and drips some water from the exhaust also it burns some oil, I have to add a quart every 1,5k-2k miles, also I found oil residue in the radiator cap.
After doing some research I decided to change the head gasket, it did not help too much, it just changed the way the smoke appears: there is no smoke right after I start the car but after few minutes I see clouds of smoke then about 20 min later only a little bit of smoke and it doesn't seem to be smoking at all when I drive.
Right now I'm thinking intake manifold gaskets but the guy at the auto store says that it probably has something to do with the block.
What do you guys think?
here is the picture of the radiator cap
ImageShack: Host and Share your Photos and Videos - p1010160c.jpg
 


Probably just residual junk in there. I flushed my system twice before putting green in and I still see a few specks of loose junk from time to time when I check the fluid. As for your exhaust, if it's more than the normal water vapor when it's cold then you have an issue. Are you losing coolant?
 


not really, the last time I checked it was low after added some, it seems to be keep the correct level now.
one more thing: before I changed the gasket I checked the coolant pressure, when I started pumping the air into the radiator I could hear whistling coming out of the block at about 5psi, after the pressure increased it stopped
 
If the head gaskets have been changed, the car should have new LIM/UIM gaskets as well. I can't see the pic (my work has it blocked). But the symptoms sound similiar to a head gasket problem I had (white smoke right after I started the car) on my '94 Grand Am (3100 v6).
In my case, the radiator pressure tested did not find anything for me (the car with the blown head gasket held pressure just fine). But you may want to try it just to see.

If all those gaskets are new, I'm trying to figure out what else is a logical point of failure. Did you check the heads to see that th decking surfaces are still flat? Perhaps they are warped?
 
only the head gasket is new and the heads seemed fine. I should have changed all the gaskets. I would be a better point to start from.

Well, I took the car to firestone in the morning, hopefully they can tell me what the problem is
 
I'm back from the shop. they say the head gasket was installed wrong and the guy who replaced it used weather strip adhesive to seal it also two exhaust manifold bolts are missing.
they can fix it for 2000$
 
O dear jeebus... :th_laugh-pointup: go somewhere else and get a second opinion. A full gasket replacement shouldnt run you more than 300-400 for the gaskets, figure some coolant, some sealant, and 10-12 hrs of labor and they pocketed several hundred dollars extra. WAY too much, and I work at a dealership and just had a "new" engine dropped in and had all the gaskets replaced, cost me an even grand for the gaskets and labor, and that was at my cost but still, dealership pricing for it all

RUN

PS: the head gasket CANT be the only thing that is new, you HAVE to pull the manifolds to replace the head gaskets and IF they put the original PLASTIC intake manifold gaskets back on, they are literally retarded mechanics.

PPS: MY original PLASTIC intake manifold gaskets replaced back in July of this year, 74k miles on them, how many miles were on yours, how much worse would yours have looked, they COULDNT have put them back on like this
IMAG0010.jpg
 


I told them that for 2k I can buy the whole engine.
The car has 96k miles
I didn't do the job so I didn't see the intake gasket. All I know now is that the job wasn't done right.
I think I'm gonna do it myself or just leave it the way it is.
Has anyone heard anything about blue devil head gasket sealant? does it work?
 
Are you sure its not just the typical dex sludge? It scared the crap out of me when I first noticed it but after driving myself nutz for weeks I discovered that's all it was.
 
xlemon said:
I'm back from the shop. they say the head gasket was installed wrong and the guy who replaced it used weather strip adhesive to seal it also two exhaust manifold bolts are missing.
they can fix it for 2000$
Click to expand...

$2000 is debatable in cost. I know a few mechanics that to do head gaskets on a 3100, they have to send the heads to a machine shop to have them inspected so they can properly warranty all the work done. I think most people I know have had head gaskets done around $1000-$1500. $2K is high, but keep in mind, from what they claim they see already, the last person to touch this didn't do the job right, they are probably trying to buffer for other unknown mis-haps.

I would be going back to the shop that "did" you head gaskets and demand your money BACK! It's clear they did it wrong if they did not also change out the LIM/UIM gaskets. As pointed out in an earlier post, those plastic/nylon gaskets are pretty much DONE when you pull the upper engine apart.
 
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