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well i've had my kl31 cammed ze for like maybe 3 months no complaints untill about two weeks ago my car started smoking like crazy (white smoke out the exhaust) homeboy hec (hgallegos) and i tried to give it a compression test and i blew out 150.....good or bad? also the bottom part of the tester got stuck....long story........any way no hp or torque loss what cant it be, could it be valve guides?????????? help please what should i do if you had the same problem please reply

Thick White smoke out the exaust is indicative of a blown head gasket.. coolant is getting into one or more cylinders. Check and see if your coolant level has dropped. Also check to make certain that your oil is normal and shows no signs of mixture with coolant.

Tunes67

i think 150 is low for a ze, it should be 190 plus...... someone clarify ?

his oil looks watery(10-w30 synthetic) but does not have the coolant bubbles.. it also has some sort of residue..plugs are full of oil ( replaced one of the valve cover gaskets) Engine does not knock, cams are in perfect condition. Cpmpression test 150. Its engine oil smoke i believe. Also signs of a bad head gasket? like he said torque and hp not affected..it still runs like hell. Just the smoke. We are kinda lost here. Only thing I could think is valve seals.. but well anyone else have had this problem? When rings are bad..doesnt compression read like 90-120?

Pretty sure its a head gasket. Did it overheat at all recently, like before the white smoke?

Which side of the plugs are full of oil, the part that sparks or the part outside the head? If the end that sparks has oil, you most likely have worn rings.

I would think a valve seal would only show burning oil/blue smoke at start up.

So, sounds like alot of work or money.

Is there a "Blue" Tint to the smoke? If so that is oil smoke.. if its pure white smoke.. its coolant getting into the cylinders. I have never tried the lucas oil additive, so I dont know what its supposed benefits or effects would be. If you only have 150 PSI on both banks.. I would suspect that your rings (both oil & compression rings) are pretty well worn, and this could be letting that lucas stuff into the cylinders.. which in turn could smoke worse than normal oil. This is assuming you have the 'Blue' tint to the smoke. In any case.. if this was my car.. I would tear the motor down and go through the heads and block. Tim is right.. lotta work & money involved here most likely.

Tunes67

Do a wet compression test...and see iif the compression gets better. To determin if its ur rings or heads. u shoud be around 190....if u do the wet test and u go back up to around 190...then its ur rings.

How does the coolant look? If it's a head gasket you may also notice oil in the coolant.

150 psi is definitely at the low end of the range, even for a DE, never mind a ZE. The minimum spec for a stock K8 is 142 psi, with 193 being standard, and it's probably similar for a KL. If it's the same across all cylinders it could be anything. Here's a way to kind of rule out pistons/rings/cylinder wall wear (the "wet" compression test alluded to by the post above), adapted from the factory service manual:

• 1. Run a compression test on one cylinder and record the result.
  2. Pour a small amount of clean engine oil into the cylinder via the spark plug hole, then repeat the compression test and record the result.
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for all cylinders.

If the reading increases, then either your piston, rings or cylinder wall is likely worn. If the same is true of all cylinders, then a bottom-end rebuild is in order - it could be just a ring job, or you might have to replace the pistons and have the cylinders honed.

If the reading stays low, then it's likely either a stuck/improperly seated valve or valves, a damaged head gasket, or a warped head. If the result is the same across adjacent cylinders, then the culprit is most likely the head gasket or a warped head, but it could still be the valves in all cylinders.

You could try a couple of treatments with Redline SI-1 fuel system cleaner - this may help alleviate any valve seating problems due to the build-up of deposits by cleaning those up. I would do one bottle of SI-1 to a tank of gas for two to four tanks - that should be sufficient time for the SI-1 to do its thing. If that doesn't resolve the issue, then you could either have worn valve guides, which would also cause the valves not to seat properly, or it is a head gasket/warped head problem. Either way, you've got to take the heads off, so you might as well have them and the block resurfaced to ensure proper seating of the heads/gaskets to the block and then check the valvetrain for proper tolerances and operation.

I wish I had better news for you - best of luck!

well i took the car to the mechanic and he reconnected the pvc valve instead of running it to a breather and it made a big diffrence he said the rings might be gone but, we'll see, only money will tell


Mx-3 KId El Paso, TX

Just do a leak down test on it it should tell u where the leak is. If ur headgasket is blown ull hear air comin out of the oil filler

flush your engine like a toilet.. these engines have a tendancy to gunk up the rings and thus prevent them from sealing properly