make sure its only a head gasket

[Jeromy N]

ok well tonight when driving home i am pretty sure that i blew the head gasket on my 86 c/s daytona turbo it started to pour out white smoke and has little power and coolant is low is there any other things to look for befor i start to get parts and what is a good head gaket to get i need to make this last till i can build a new motor for it thak you for the help

jeromy

[macncheese]

If you're pouring out white smoke (from the exhaust I'm guessing, not the hood), don't bother driving it. You'll end up having to tow it home. Sometimes if the headgasket blows, water will get into the oil and turn it into milkshake/elmer's glue looking goop, but sometimes it'll just blow out the exhaust.

You can do a compression test and look for a low number on one of the cylinders, or two similar numbers on neighboring cylinders. If you have the equipment to do a leakdown test, pressurize each cylinder and listen for hissing or bubbling in the coolant system. The only other things I can think of for coolant to get into the exhaust is a crack in the head or block.

The mopar performance gasket is the way to go. Best gasket available (in my opinion) and cheap, too. Some have said that felpro cleaned up its act and started making quality head gaskets for us, but I thrashed one in a few hundred miles and am NOT going back.

Tony

[NAJ]

My headgasket blew out at the waterjacket by #1 cylinder and poured out white smoke,there was no coolant in the oil or loss of compression.
The only indication I had to a problem is I was adding coolant to the overflow tank every couple of weeks.
I was coming home from work,stopped at a light and the vehicle started to misfire,continued driving,temp gauge started climbing and then Boom,Plooms of white smoke and a tow truck.

[crazymadbastard]

Not a big deal, just leave the manifolds and turbo attached to the head and pull everything that gets in the way of doing so. Check the head for flatness and reverse the above. Pay close attention to the timing marks to make it easier to reset.

Doing a headgasket earns you the right of passage into td-hood!

[carzboyz]

You could check your turbo too because my daytona do this and it was the turbo. It filled the downpipe full of engine oil