Exhaust smoke. Valve seal or HG?

from the way you described the situation it's valve stem seals. If your not losing coolant, having over heating issue and rough idle your okay.

They're is no miracle cure for cancer or BHG's, the only fix is HG's replacement.

To help minimize the smoking use Lucas Oil stabilizer or switch Rotella T6 oil.

I am loosing coolant and I haven't really ever had a problem with overheating. The only thing that had me leaning toward HG was the fact that I just had to replace my radiator because the top tank blew its seal with the aluminum rad. Which from what I have read would be a symptom of the HG sending air back through the cooling system.

Is coolant being sent into the over flow? get a hydro carbon test/ pressure test done.

No coolant has been sent to the overflow. I plan on doing a compression test this weekend. Is there any DIY on running a compression test for a legend? I understand how to do it no problem the only thing I was worried about was knowing everything I had to pull so that the engine wont start.

I guess I will do a pressure test on the cooling system aswell. What exactly is a hydro carbon test?

Thanks for the help by the way. Love your legend!

Memorial Rider...I have a BHG and have had all the symptons BigBoy spoke of. BD did an AMAAAZZZIIINNNGGGG JOB. I don't care what all the nay-sayers will say. However, if I had the knowledge, time, and space I would have done the HG replacement. I would have to finish in one weekend as this is also my DD.

Qs91Coupe said:

Memorial Rider...I have a BHG and have had all the symptons BigBoy spoke of. BD did an AMAAAZZZIIINNNGGGG JOB. I don't care what all the nay-sayers will say. However, if I had the knowledge, time, and space I would have done the HG replacement. I would have to finish in one weekend as this is also my DD.

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how long ago was it that you used the BD?

Qs91coupe- yea I am in the same spot. I don't have the time or knowledge to do a HG job. I have only heard good things about BD so if the problem is my HG I will for sure use BD first.

Hoodlikegaza: well over a year. And that's worth it for me. I did use the full bottle since I didn't know key things like the cooling system volume, etc. lol I mean the worth is in it held it long enough for me to get the next project. Now I'm fixing the valve seals on my type 2. Now had I had a back up car. I would have done the head job. But I needed my car in case I ran into a snag. Now the other part. I never put my thermostat back in. Didn't want to chance it and stress the system. Once again that worked for me. I love the cold so heat wasnt imperative. But I am so looking forward to a car with AC this summer.

Would you happen to know the cooling system volume and how much of the bottle I should use? Also, why did you leave the thermostat out? Is that a recomended thing when using BD?

If it turns out that my problem is from the HG and not from the valve seals I would like to know what exactly to do from someone that's done it. I am in the same position as you in the fact that I can't have my car in pieces doing a HG job for days because a snag and have no back up car to get to work.

Compression test done.

Results: 'P' Passenger side 'D' Driver side 'F,M,R' Front, middle, rear.
-----PF__PM_PR__DF_DM__DR
Dry -185 180 190 180 158 185
Wet-200 210 210 210 178 195

The pressure tester for the cooling system I rented from autozone was missing a piece, so that is going to have to wait 1 more day.

Obviously the middle cylinder on the driver side has something wrong. This is the cylinder that all the way up the spark plug well it has, what looks like, a whitish powder.

Also! I popped the hood to do this test and noticed that the overflow tank for the radiator is FILLED with coolant. I have no idea what this means or if its tied into the other problem above. I am not sure if you can fill a radiator too full or not but when I was bleeding and adding more coolant to the radiator, after replacing it, it sure felt like I was putting to much in.

Memorial Rider said:

Compression test done.

Results: 'P' Passenger side 'D' Driver side 'F,M,R' Front, middle, rear.
-----PF__PM_PR__DF_DM__DR
Dry -185 180 190 180 158 185
Wet-200 210 210 210 178 195

The pressure tester for the cooling system I rented from autozone was missing a piece, so that is going to have to wait 1 more day.

Obviously the middle cylinder on the driver side has something wrong. This is the cylinder that all the way up the spark plug well it has, what looks like, a whitish powder.

Also! I popped the hood to do this test and noticed that the overflow tank for the radiator is FILLED with coolant. I have no idea what this means or if its tied into the other problem above. I am not sure if you can fill a radiator too full or not but when I was bleeding and adding more coolant to the radiator, after replacing it, it sure felt like I was putting to much in.

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Even if you fill the radiator to the neck there isn't enough overflow to fill the overflow tank. It going into the overflow tank and filling it is a sign that you have a SHG/BHG or air in the system that needs to be bled out. Trust me I know from experience.

Yea, i did just put in a new radiator. Maybe I didn't get all the air out of the system. Going to re bleed the system tonight.

I just bled the system. I had the heat all the way up, opened bleeder, filled till coolant came out of the bleeder, close it and filled it until the cap was filled. I started the car and just let it idle. The coolant level dropped down, so I poured more in, this happened multiple times until I stopped adding coolant because I felt it was going nowhere. I just let it idle and watched the coolant level. It would drop down to where I couldn't see it and then it would eventually raise back up to where it was overflowing. It does this over and over no matter if I add coolant once it goes down or not. I did just put in a new thermostat which I am guessing might be the problem. I have no clue why it's doing this. At first I thought I was bleeding it wrong, but I don't think that's the problem. Also as I was bleeding it there would be constant bubbles coming through. They never slowed down or sped up.

Took the thermostat out and there is still coolant being sent to the overflow. It's not over heating or anything so I don't think there is air in the system. Is this most likely a BHG?

Memorial Rider said:

Took the thermostat out and there is still coolant being sent to the overflow. It's not over heating or anything so I don't think there is air in the system. Is this most likely a BHG?

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I would say yes!! It's what my car was doing.