Got some jumper cables for my dead battery and plugged in the AFM. Started right up and didn't stall like last time.

Still sounded really rough... like a diesel. I let it idle for about 10 minutes. It continued to blow out white smoke the entire time. There was even a little bit of white smoke coming out near the exhaust manifold. The smoke didn't decrease the whole time I let it idle. Just kept smoking and smoking. Pretty much looked EXACTLY the same as prior to my head gasket replacement.

To be clear, I put a brand new head on and a brand new head gasket. Not even sure where to begin now.

Totally frustrated and defeated.

 

Check your oil to see if its mixing with coolant...

 

You're exhaust system is probably got coolant in it. You have to do a valve adjustment when after it warms up. If you don't its very likely that it sounds like a diesel.

I just finished my headgasket on saturday. The white smoke didn't dissapear untill I drove it for a bit.

 

Well that's interesting. I didn't realize that the coolant can take that long to burn off. I checked the oil and its perfectly clear. The oil is not mixing with the coolant.

Would it be bad to adjust my backlash if my cam position is off? Toyospearo seemed to think that my cam position wasn't in the correct position.

 

Have you checked your coolant level? That should give you a better idea if your burning coolant from the system or the left over in the exhaust.

 

This is also a good point. I topped off the radiator all the way and noticed after 10 minutes that is was a little lower than before (but not by much). That could have just been due to it being absorbed into the system. It didn't seem like my coolant was gurgling like it was before. Prior to the HG replacement you could hear the back pressure in the radiator from it being sucked out.

Sounds like I need to wait to come to conclusions. I will take some better pictures of my cam position to see if you guys can give me some tips about which way to adjust it.

 

Are you guys tired of seeing this thread bump up to the top?

I finally have some good news. She purrs like a damn kitten now! Turns out my cam was in perfect TDC. The photo above was based on the crank not perfectly in TDC. Let her warm up and then adjusted the backlash on the valves. Wow they were WAY TOO LOOSE. Once I tightened them to spec she started right up and sounded really smooth. For some reason adjusting the valves really decreased the white smoke coming out the tail pipe. I let her idle for about 30 minutes and eventually the white smoke went away. Checked the coolant in the radiator and happily discovered that I am not loosing any coolant.

Thank you everyone for believing in me! I really appreciate all the support this forum offered me during this re build.

Joshua

 

thats awesome

 

Nice job!! Well done!!

 

Congrats on getting it all sorted out.

I only just got mine torn down this afternoon and found some unpleasant surprises along the way. I'm going to drop the head back on as soon as I post this and then call it a night.

My Rock head gasket failed much like yours. All the fire rings were coming apart and several were actually cracked vertically. Hopefully the Fel-Pro going in will survive longer than that.