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Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

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Old Jul 12, 2024
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Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

Engine was overflowing coolant into the reservoir again so I thought, while I'm replacing the head gasket, Ill do the piston rings because of burning oil. Turns out cylinder 1 had worn out rings.
I did it all by the book, put it back together, and the motor runs great like before, but Im getting white smoke. Its puffin pretty good too, you can see a couple cylinders firing in the exhaust. I can get video if need be.

As far as I know and have seen, white smoke is coolant, and not oil. I cant tell by the smell, blue coolant doesnt smell sweet to me, and neither does this smoke. but the smoke aint oil blue. I dont know if that still applies with synthetic oil, I havent seen blue smoke in at least 25 years.
Rings are from NRG, the head gasket is OEM.

BTW, the car did not smoke before this, but the burning oil did start to foul up my new catalytic giving me the 0420 code.

Now this head gasket was just done 4 years ago, my mechanic used an aftermarket one. Im pretty sure he sent the head out.
I checked the block and the head for warpage, but as far as I saw it was in spec.

So is it my new HG, or did something go wrong with the rings? Im assuming its not rings otherwise the car wouldnt run right.
Im also assuming I torqued down the head properly otherwise there would be no compression at all.
I still need to check the spark plugs to see if theres oil on them.

Based on old threads it seems like my head would be more warped than I might have thought. But if thats the case thats great because it means I wont have to open up the bottom end again. Im fine with taking just the head back off. After figuring out how easy it is to set timing, and after everything else, I feel like I can do this with another car. Except ill drop the engine and cradle next time.

Let me know what you guys think.
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Old Jul 13, 2024
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re: Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

How long did you run it?
if you're getting smoke out the exhaust you could do a leakdown test, that should help narrow it down.
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Old Jul 13, 2024
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re: Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

Originally Posted by Colin42
How long did you run it?
if you're getting smoke out the exhaust you could do a leakdown test, that should help narrow it down.
I ran it a few minutes since it ran fine, hoping it just needed to clear up.
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Old Jul 13, 2024
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re: Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

Yeah probably just some residual crap to burn off
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Old Jul 13, 2024
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re: Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

didn't say anything since i was not sure, but mine did smoke from exhaust and engine bay after the gasket job
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Old Jul 14, 2024
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re: Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

Originally Posted by sdaidoji
didn't say anything since i was not sure, but mine did smoke from exhaust and engine bay after the gasket job

Yeah but for how long? Mine is still smoking after I tried to run it for a while. Chugging like a choo choo. This mystery aint solved yet...
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Old Jul 14, 2024
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re: Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

Originally Posted by sdaidoji
didn't say anything since i was not sure, but mine did smoke from exhaust and engine bay after the gasket job
ok never mind.
After pulling out the plugs I found out what it is.
ill have to pull it all apart again to see what happened with one set of rings. Ugh. I was so close. Well at least I’ll get practice.

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Old Jul 15, 2024
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re: Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

ouchie...
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Old Sep 25, 2024
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Re: Is it my new Rings or my new head gasket? [solved]

I just realized I never updated this.
Turns out I installed 1 compression ring upside down, that made all the difference. after pulling the piston out and reinstalling it, No more burning oil and smoke.
Engine is actually slightly smoother. Next time I will hone the cylinder walls so I dont get the initial smoke.
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