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[zealious]

So I chaged out my crank case gaskets and bypassed my oil cooler to an air oil cooler due to sludge in the tank.

washed out the cooling system as best i could.

It started up, check engine light went out. all is good

TILL. after about 2 minutes of idle running the rpm starts droping from about 1.5 to 1 (i think thats normal, it just doesnt sound like it does normaly)

then a small amount of smoke starts coming from the crank case. It smells unmistakably like oil.

I immediately shut off the engine.
ITs definetly not from oil "over pour" becuase the smoke is more prodomenatly coming from the passanger side cover.
My theory is that its the oil in my cooling system is burning off. or the soap that i put in the water to help clean it.
Or maybe i didnt get the covers on tight enough and oil is leaking from the edge (no sign of leak though)

could it be the engine over heating?

Would it be safe to run the engine to a warmer operating temp even tho its smoking?
anything else i should look for?

[Marks DTM Calib]

I assume all the breathers were well cleaned?

Its not unusual to get oil buring on the manifolds on any engine after major work as some oil always get spilt (i.e. when removing cam covers), I wouldn't be worrying about it unless it was still doing it some time later (can take upto a week for it all to burn off!)

[The Barge Captain]

IIRC the torque figure for the cam covers is only 8Nm, so if you have over tightened you may have distortrf the cam covers and be leaking that way.

[zealious]

I hope your right.
running temp is a bit higher than ususal. (floats around the notch before the middle, then drops 2 the 1/4 notch when fans kick in) Im praying that its due to some air and oil in the cooling system.
Then it smokes.

How ever I do have some
Bad news. Ive pretty much confirmed head gasket failure. Fresh oil in the coolant tank   . is it worth getting fixed or should i sell this car and buy a car for the same price as the head gasket job?

[Marks DTM Calib]

I doubt its headgasket failure........it is very rare for oil to get into the coolant when they fail, water into the cylinders yes.....soemtimes even water into the oil......

Most likely just oil mayo still coming out of the coolant system following the cooler failure....it took a great many flushes on mine before it finaly all went

[Admin]

I would agree totally with Mark.

Nothing there to get too worried about right now. Just accept it will need a serious amount of flushing to get all the cr*p out.

The burning oil smell is normal. Run the car for a couple of weeks giving it coolant flushes and it should be ok...as long as you have not overtightened the cam covers.

[TheBoy]

After my oil cooler failure, I probably flushed it 20 times, including a full drain by taking water pump out.  Even so, still tiny traces of oil appearing...

[mark68710_0]

I concur with the boy, after my oil cooler change i had to flush through at least five times before i could
be sure there was no oil left in the water system.

[zealious]

MEGA sigh of relief. The smoke has stoped. And the running temp doesnt move from 1/4 notch. You guys are probly right. I just assumed it was fresh oil because its dark. could be from the mayo getting heated up?

Im going to be sleeping better these days. thanks guys.