Hello,

 

Since fixing my car till point of no major existing problems, I've been looking to pick up a cheap car to be a cheap and easy first project. There is a loyale for sale locally for pretty cheap. The owner said the car was doing fine and then started blowing large amounts of white smoke out of the exhaust, in an all of a sudden disaster way that makes the owner never want to drive it again ha. I am thinking this is probably a blown headgasket? If so, I think I could swap out the motor, have some fun with it and get my money back later.

 

Is there anything else I should consider that could have caused this? I haven't checked out the car yet so I can't provide too many more details. But any other culprits that could cause this that I should check for when I'm looking at the car? 

 

Thanks!

very likely blown head gasket... possible cracked head too.. whatever it is, doing an engine swap like you plan should fix that problem. at least in my head

Actually its far more likeley that it blew an intake gasket...unless it was driven that way any distance. Remember the ea's have coolant passages in the intake. I had an 86 xt that popped an intake gasket, and blew steam out the tailpipe.

White smoke could be the fin in the exhaust port has cracked and is leaking coolant into the hot air exhaust.  If the plugs are normal color and show no white, then this is a likely cause.  If a dark gritty residue is on the bottom side of the radiator cap, that would be bits of a bad cylinder head gasket.  If the compression is way off in one cylinder, then that could indicate a bad gasket.  White on the plug indicates that the coolant is probably from an intake gasket leak.  Quick engine overheating and the coolant bottle exploding as you drive, indicates that you have a bad cylinder head gasket since hot gases are pumped into the cooling system.  if the intake gasket shows lots of degradation and possible gaps, then you better have replacement gaskets right there.  A rough running engine would be indicative of bad intake gaskets.

White smoke could be the fin in the exhaust port has cracked and is leaking coolant into the hot air exhaust.  If the plugs are normal color and show no white, then this is a likely cause.

 

That really only happens to the turbo heads.

 

I would say it's either intake gaskets, or headgaskets.

 

Hate to say but there is a slight possibility it's a collapsed ring land......though the smoke is ussually darker more black form that....but it can make QUITE the smoke show.

 

Joe, If the body is good and the price is right......get the car......tear the engine down and service it.  Can't go wrong with a straight EA82 body, even if you have to put another EA in it or even swap to EJ!!!

My guess - intake gasket.  Also, possible the weird o ring between the throttle body & intake.  But most likely, the intake gasket/s

Probably intake manifold gasket. Buy it! Those gaskets are inexpensive and easy to replace.

yea I was really hoping to check out the car but it hasn't worked out yet. The add said the title was clean, but after being in regular communication with the owner, she stopped responding once I asked about the status of the title. Hopefully it will work out but I'm picking up the vibes she doesn't actually have the title. I'll update the post if I actually get to check out/but the car. Really hoping it works out because I have an extra running ea82, so even if it was something worse than the intake or headgaskets I could have still got it back in decent condition. Oh well, skeptical but keeping my fingers crossed!

 

thanks for the feedback everyone!

well crap. The owner says the car was sold last night, which is weird cuz we had plans to meet as soon as she was off work but it is what it is. keep my eyes peeled for the next one.