things got worse after head gasket change

[Erin]

99 grand am 3.4 pushrod.
Engine was overheating and losing coolant before gasket change.
Afterwards, it now smokes badly out the tailpipe after warming up and there is a rough idle and stumbling on acceleration. Of course it still overheats.

Neither the heads nor the block were machined in the process (I do not have the tools to do it properly)
No cracks anywhere that are visible to the naked eye.

When I reassembled things, I properly torqued everything. New head bolts, head gaskets, lower and upper intake gaskets…

I have changed head gaskets on a few different engines and this is the first time things have gotten worse.

So then – how would changing head gaskets possibly make things worse? I was thinking maybe some residual coolant or oil might just be burning off but that shouldn’t last 20 miles should it?

We are wanting to get rid of this thing, I am not interested in messing with it any more (worst head gasket job I have dealt with) but I am just trying to learn what may have went wrong.
Is it possible that taking it apart and putting it back together was just enough to finally cause something to crack that was already on the verge?

Topic

[college man]

What color is the smoke?

[Justin]

I noticed you did not check the head for war page. Same color smoke as before?

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[Erin]

smoke is white and thicker than before.
Engine idles a little rough, really struggles when put in gear.
I did a vacuum test with no load – holds steady at 16. A chart I looked at said “incorrect ignition timing”. However, with a coil pack, cannot really adjust that.
Also says “holds steady but lower than normal” which says worn rings. Not sure what kind of vacuum it held before. Quick open and closing of throttle ranges vacuum from 0 to about 22.
I have not done a compression test yet. I am assuming there isn’t a vacuum leak since it holds steady, even if at 16.

Codes for engine were –
p0303 cylinder 3 misfire (wire was dirty at coil end, now cleaned, helped little)
p0404 EGR system range or performance problem
p1133 O2 sensor circuit
p1665 Evaporative emission (EVAP) canister vent valve – circuit malfunction

Is it possible it is doing an idle relearn or is that just wishful thinking?

Trying to figure out what I did wrong.

[college man]

The head could be warped or cracked.

[Shaun Flichel]

How about the intake? It has 2 coolant lines going to it by the throttle body. Not sure it goes beyond that though. If not then +1 on the head being warped or cracked

[Travis]

Just a quick thought. In the future when doing headgaskets its important to find the cause of the blown gasket. A head gasket dont generally blow for no reason. I always take heads to the machine shop and have them checked and planed before an install. It only runs about 100.00 and thats a small price to pay to keep your sanity and keeps from doing the job again.

[Richard Kirshy]

First issue was you didn’t check the heads or block for warping.
Or taking the heads to a machine shop.
Installing new gaskets, if the heads or block are warped is just a waste of time, effort any money

You can do a leak down test to narrow down the affected area(s).

If your lucky and no cracks in the block or heads are present, at the very least your looking at doing the head gasket job again.
But this time checking for warp-age and having it corrected.

The alternative is to sell it “as is” with a faulty engine.

[Author]

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