I just bought a 98 Cutlass that was totaled to rebuild for my girlfreind. Once i got the car together enough to start it, i saw a ton of white smoke coming out the exhaust. I figured probably the head gasket. Im in the process of tearing the motor apart and i noticed that the gaskets to the intake manifold have all been resealed with some type of sealant around the original gaskets. Could this be the cause of the smoke or should i keep going and do the head gasket still? It is the 3.1 liter v6 automatic. thanks for your help.

 

White smoke is coolant. Blue-white is oil. Sounds like a head gasket. Usually if the head gasket is blown, you can crank the engine briefly (without starting) then immediately remove the radiator cap. If it's pressurized (before the coolant heats up), that's usually a sign of compression pressure getting into the cooling system.

 

Lower Intake Manifold Gasket Leak.

Very common with 60* V6 GM engines

 

thanks for the help.

 

I'm (intentionally) not that familiar with the wrong-wheel-drive cars. I assume this gasket failure cases a leak from the water crossover to the intake runner?

 

The color of the exhaust usually tells you what isn't right here.

 

It may be, it's most common to run down the side of the block and not they type to mix with the oil.

Usually what happens is people don't realize they have a leak since all the fliud, at least in my case, pools on top on the tranny and evaperates, until all the coolant is gone.

Then the car will hit about 260*, with a allunium heads, yeah not a good combo

Been a problem with this motor for over 20 years, even way back when they used it in the 93 Camaro. Of course it's usually the back of the motor where the leak occurs. If I didn't have an intake in the car, I would have missed it

 

Not uncommon for a leak to occur, at the upper (not lower) intake, in the EGR area. Heat from the EGR causes the plastic to deteriorate in the area between it and the coolant passage.

http://www.automotivepartsnetwork.co...product=229679

Norm