i had no idea that it's possible to replace piston rings with just the head off. do you have a quick explanation of how this is done?

it's pretty easy actually. Just ream the upper ridge of the cylinder if needed first, then disconnect the connecting rod caps with the oil pan removed, and then pop the pistons through the top of the block. Reinstall in reverse.

shoot. i should have done this the last time i had the head removed.

argh.

HELP!!!!
 

PLEASE HELP ME ASAP. I just did a oil change today 5.0 quarts of castrol edge high mileage and white smoke started coming out the engine head immediately. I read it could be from head gasket, to burning coolant, to piston problems. Can someone give me an answer tonight as to what might be happening? This never happened before and im very worried. Smoke is white not blue and comes directly out engine head not exhaust. Like what could i have done oil changes are pretty standard and ive always done my oil and even torque the bolts to factory spec idk wtf happened tonight. Oh and its not like a crazy amount of smoke just a little coming out the red block. My car has been running rock solid till this and i just reached 150k.

^^^ If you have whitish vapor/smoke coming out of the front valve cover breather you have piston ring failure. Its called blow by. Its when the compression rings no longer are sealing enough and the gasses that are suposed to be combusted are instead blowing by the rings, entering the crank case and coming out of the vent system ie front brearher and pvc. The smell is a distinct oil and fuel vapor.

There is only so much that can be sertain over the internet when troublshooting, unlike being there in person. But no, burning oil happens out the exhaust, not get pushed out the crank case. A video clip would help. But if the symtoms of what I said about vapor coming out of the valve cover breather is indeed happening then near 100% the problem is what I said, with bad rings and loss of compression. You should perform a compression test to further verify this. You can easily perform this yourself with the proper gauge. You can pick one up from amazon for about $40.

I would challenge you to think through how you performed the oil change and also anything special that might have occurred shortly before it. For example, was the oil level low before you changed it and perhaps you just decided to not refill before a hard drive because you knew you were going to change it anyway? Are you sure it was the proper filter and not the wrong one that might be restricting oil flow? How many quarts did it take to refill? You get the idea - don't take anything for granted.

I'm challenging you because I am having a hard time imagining how healthy rings would lose compression immediately after a properly executed oil change. I'm not disagreeing with S2000Junky's diagnosis; rather there's likely a clue in the recent driving history and/or details of the oil change.

After having the valve seal guides replaced, catch can put on, Supra PCV valce installed, heavier oil, mystery oil used, and I forget what all else I did.... I think the issue of blowing blue smoke after engine braking has been solved.

One of our locals, Jason Baur suggested putting an OEM cat on in place of the Berk High Flow cat that I am running.

2 weeks or so ago, picked up another local's cat (Andy Ferger) and put it on.

Just spent the weekend down at Rock the Dragon event down in TN/NC.

Greg, the guy who is always behind me, saw zero blue smoke!!!!

Not sure if the Berk didn't create enough back pressure or what.... but no smoke when Greg would have seen it in the past.... I say, its solved! :)

Not sure if the Berk didn't cause enough back pressure or what..... but it looks like the issue may be fixed.....

I suggested that fix one year ago.

The OEM cat works better because it is a true three-way cat converter, so it will convert unburned hydrocarbons, the Berk is not a true three way cat, it does the bare minimum possible, hence the reason Berk needs to add an anti-fouler on the 02 sensor bung.