Newbie here. I bought a 94 Protégé with 1.8l sohc. Had all indicators of a blown head gasket. When I removed the head, it wasn't obvious where the gasket had failed. All four cylinders had carbon build up and the gasket looked fine. I know a coolant leak will clean off the piston in the cylinder it is leaking into. At any rate, I took the head to the machine shop to have it checked for cracks and straightness. Machine shop said it didn't have any cracks and milled the head to ensure it was true. Vacuum tested and valve guides/seats were good to go. Valve seals replaced. Top of block was straight and cleaned very well (razor and brakekleen) before reinstalling the head. I replaced the head and now it still blowing white smoke with quit a bit of water dripping from the exhaust. I used a block tester which didn't detect any exhaust gases in the coolant. Coolant system pressurizes, vehicle doesn't overheat and runs smoothly. Drove it around last night and eventually it went away but was right back today. Is there anywhere else outside of the head gasket water can be getting into the chamber causing this smoke?

 

Water is a by-product of a properly functioning Catalytic Convertor. Most mufflers have a "weep hole" in them to allow the water to escape, otherwise it would sit in the bottom of the muffler and rust it out. Cool, damp mornings, will make the heated exhaust gas from the engine to appear as white smoke, when it may be as simple as steam vapor. If an aftermarket muffler was installed without the weep hole, it's possible your just experiencing a boil off of collected water. From what you have described, doesn't come off as an internal engine failure.

 

Thanks for the response Sparky202. Initially I thought that was the case but it is constantly blowing white smoke now with a puddle of water on the ground about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. Smells of coolant. I may have to pull the head again but going to pull the intake and see if the gasket is bad around the two coolant jacks that are blocked by the intake. I just wanted to see if there was any other way coolant could get into the chamber outside of the headgasket. I may use a composite head gasket this time instead of MLS since it has 185k on the motor. Thoughts?