engine issues ,,,help

[onebadmopar]

my 69 charger has a 383 in it with a rebuilt motor its got maybe 200 miles on it  after break in i drove it short distance once or twice and checked oil saw a tiny bit of white substance on the stick wich we thought was assembly lube changed oil all seemed fine except for car running a bit hot 220-230 this morning decided to check oil again and this time its really white ,,,,,, sounds like a head gasket or worse !!anyway to check this without pulling the heads .... and  do you think ive damaged this brand new motor?  ..frustrated in alabama

[aifilaw]

further define "white substance"

It shouldn't be running that hot, either your gauge is wrong, or you've got a problem

[mikepmcs]

I'm guessing he is meaning milky white like when coolant invades your oil as in a head gasket scenario or worse??
And the running hot further indicates a problem that needs to be addressed quickly.  I personally wouldn't drive it any more until the problem is identified and repaired.

You could put an external gauge on it, that will rule the gauge thingy out, but you said the substance has come back and even more this time.  Did you pull the rad cap to see if you've lost any fluid.  Any funny smells coming from the exhaust like the oh so familiar sweet smell of coolant.  if you have dual exhaust it might help you id which bank is the problem(if you don't have an h or x pipe, that might fool you)

When it was rebuilt, maybe the heads were improperly torqued.

I'm thinking head gasket and hoping that is all it is.

Keep us posted

v/r
Mike

[aifilaw]

Head gasket is a common problem, especially when it wasn't installed correctly, as it is a 3-step process that encapsulates at least a day's worth of time in between torquing to different specs.
I've had cases wher the leak only occured from coolant into the oil and not into the combustion chamber, usually that happened only on old rusty cylinder heads where the water passages leaked into the main valley or oil passages.

[mikepmcs]

aifilaw

I'd be interested to know your 3 step process for education purposes if you don't mind. Thanks

v/r
Mike

[aifilaw]

1. torque using an expanding alternating pattern from center outwards, torque to 30-40 ft lbs
2. repeat process to 70 ft lbs
3. start engine, let engine heat up completely, let engine cool down completely, repeat torque procedure to 75 ft lbs

As long as you cleaned the surface, and have a quality head gasket, and don't have horrible detonation, this will solve blown head-gasket on startup issues.

[onebadmopar]

hi thanks for the info we are suspicious of head gasket also  heres what we did mechanic friend of mine has one of those laser temp readers ... gauge read 230 degrees but when he point it at the thermostat housing it read 194 engine block read same  top of radiator read 190 bottom read 177  so i think we have a faulty gauge also  when we ran it for the 20 minutes to get it hot and checked oil the white substance is gone  anyone no what could be happening? car does have an x pipe and we do smell coolant burning when it first starts up no white smoke from tailpipes and burning smell goes away in 1st few minutes of start up