Several months ago my 84 505 STI (XN6) started spewing out white smoke
from the exhaust. There were no warning signs, no overheating, no loss
of coolant. It just started smoking and the smoke smelled like
antifreeze.
Disassembly and subsequent pressure test showed a crack in the head.
A used head was purchased, pressure tested, resurfaced (there was
sufficient surface to cut from), re-guided, re-ground, etc. Liners
were well secured during block cleaning. Rocker arms assemblies were
surgically disassembled, cleaned. Piston liner protrusion was checked,
re-checked and checked again. Holes in block were chased, lacquer
thinner soaked, and blown out with compressed air and all head bolts
were cleaned and read "Madeline in London" A new Payen Curty head
gasket was installed. Head was torqued to 60 ft. lbs. with a Snap-on
torque wrench (I did not use the Marie Antoniette angle gauge that
Peugeot called for) and valves were adjusted to specs.
Shortly after re-assembly I started smelling coolant burning. I could
not find a leak. A Peugeot guy that I know suggested that the head
gasket might be leaking at the rear of the motor. I drained the
coolant, re-torqued the head to 65 ft. lbs., re-adjusted the valves and
put a couple of liquified GM coolant system sealant tabs in the system.
The smell remained, though it only seemed to happen occasionally.
Sometimes it seemed that the smell was coming from the manifold and, on
occasion, I thought that I smelled it coming from the exhaust pipe. By
now I think my brain has absorbed so much coolant that I am smelling it
when I brush my teeth.
Last week, when the smell seemed pretty prominent, I put the car in
the air and let it idle for a long time. I could not see any leakage
anywhere. I decided to spray paint the rear of the block (where the
head meets the block) with black primer to see if I would get any sort
of signs of leakage. After doing that I still could not notice any
leak (and that includes freeze plugs). Just for laughs I pulled the
radiator cap, installed my Stant ST-255 and pumped up the cooking
system. I pumped it up to 14 ft. lbs. and looked carefully for any
leaks. The gauge stayed steady at 14 ft. lbs. and no oozing appeared
anywhere.
At that point I pulled the pressure tester and put the car back on the
ground. I re-installed the cap and topped off the coolant bottle.
Since then ( a week ago) I have not smelled any burning coolant.
Thought this may go against the list's grain, I haven't even opened the
hood to check the coolant level. I have driven the car a couple of
afternoons in very hot weather in lots of traffic. The temp gauge,
during those heated afternoons, did not go any higher then it ever has.
Today I plan on opening the hood (I want to pull the oil filter cap
and read "The Adventures of Barbar" to the rocker arm assemblies) to
see where the coolant stands. If the coolant leak has fixed itself I
have no idea how that came about. I thought that my pressurizing the
system with the tester may have blown particles of the GM coolant
sealer tabs into the nooks and crannies that may have been leaking.
I am, essentially, confused by this latest turn of events. I was
getting ready to pull the head again and re-do the job, but now that I
don't think there is any more leakage I have reached an impasse.
Any suggestions or theories sent my way will be gladly appreciated. I
am starting to thin that I jut shouldn't open the hood anymore and
maybe all the mechanical problems will disappear.
Thanks,
Ken
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Received on Tue Aug 2 12:27:39 2005
