White smoke coming out of the exhaust

1997 BUICK LESABRE
204,000 MILES • 3.8L • 2WD • AUTOMATIC
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REDBONE
  • MEMBER
  • 105 POSTS
I disassembled the top half of the engine and found that the intake gasket was cracked.I proceeded to tear it down to the head gasket and replaced the head gasket, all the gaskets from the head gasket on up are replaced and i still get white smoke.I pulled out the spark plugs and found that cylinders 3 and 5 had coolant in them.What will cause this?The heads are good,so could it be a crack in the block?
Sep 17, 2019 at 2:42 PM
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94 TRANSAM
  • ✓ASE Certified Mechanic
  • 680 POSTS
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
Hi Redbone, welcome back

White smoke out the tail pipe is either caused by worn out valve guides or worn out piston rings. More commonly rings.

I would suggest a compression test to find out the state of your rings.

Here is a guide on how to do that:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

Let us know if you need more help with this.

Rich
Sep 17, 2019 at 6:10 PM
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