Still white steam after head gasket replaced?

94 civix lx 176k miles on block, 80k miles on head that was planed and
checked out at the local parts store. I noticed the exhaust has white steam
coming out the tailpipe, looking like when the head gasket went. The head
is torqued properly.

Sounds like possibly a defective head? Shouldn't the shop have caught this
when they tanked the head and pressure tested it?

 

I forgot to mention, this is not the original head, but one I bought used,
reasoning it had 1/2 the miles and would be shop tested. The car it came
off of was a 95 that needed a head gasket, was fixed, then the owner decided
to part the car out after a year or so.

 

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All cars emit steam, especially until they warm up . . . are you sure
it's not just normal 'steam' ?

'Curly'

 

WHen the engine is cold - take off the radiator cap and hopefully the
radiator is full up to the top - start the engine - if there is a
compression leak to the coolant - the coolant will really jump outof
the neck of the radiator. Your oil will also be congealed if any
coolant gets into it. You probably have normal water vapor - cats
cause a lot of it.

Generally people who have warped a head on a honda i4 (overheating does
this very handily) don't have a lot of luck when milling or replacing
the head at keeping head gaskets in place..

 

its been 80k since the planing, etc was done?

not if it was 80k miles ago

does it constantly smoke like that? are you loosing coolant? are the
hoses bulging?

sometimes steam just happens from miosture trapped in the exhaust.

 

sorry, I should have been clearer - I just had the head planned a couple
weeks ago, and finally had time today to wrap up the install of the head.
It ran for about 3 minutes and I started to see the white steam - it was not
as white and thick as when the gasket blew out. The car has been sitting
for 2 months before I bought it and at least a month after I bought it and
did the head gasket. I suppose there could be excess moisture in the
exhaust system.

I still need to replace the siezed alternator, and I will have a compresion
test done by a professional. I think I need to replace the alternator from
underneath...I could not get the bolts loose today, so I sprayed them with
pb blaster. I noticed I also have to remove the a/c belt to install the
alt. belt.

I noticed the abs light came on today while the car was warming up.

 

I would see about getting a compression test and a possible leak down test
if a cylinder is found out of spec with the compression test.

Chris

 

Different car, many years ago...

Dealer talked me into replacing leaking head gasket. What happened next
was new compression broke piston ring. (Everything was sort of fine
before (except the oil that leaked onto the engine block; after the head
gasket, thick white smoke from the tailpipe -- I think it went away
after the car was running a while, but not sure.) They ended up fixing
it for free, though it took a while.

 

My gas station did the compression test and cooling system pressure test for
1/2 hr and they said all is well. They said the white steam is gone - it
was most lukely accumulated antifreeze in the cat when the head gasket went.