Been having issues with my car, was wondering if maybe someone would be able to chime in their thoughts.
Car: MY01 with Ultimate Racing Turbo kit. Stock HG. 48K miles on the Odometer. Short block replaced at 20k with new block that was built, low compression rods/pistons. Valve springs and retainers upgraded. Walbro 255. Ultimate Racing 745cc injectors. Car is tuned with AEM 1052. Daily driven.

Problem:
Starting the car-cold start cranking is fine however misfires sometimes and spews white smoke from exhaust.
After car has been warmed up; about half of the times I try to start the car it takes at least 3-8 seconds of cranking before it will start and misfires only upon start up. White smoke again only for first few seconds of start up.
What I've tried: All the real easy stuff; spark plugs(.030 gap)-the old ones came out with the tips white. NGK Copper 1 step colder, what I've always used.
Coil packs, I swapped mine for k20 coil packs-no difference.
Just changed oil, wasn't milky. Car doesn't overheat.
I've noticed coolant dripping from my bay, maybe water pump going bad, haven't fully inspected yet. Also I've noticed my coolant reservoir getting slightly dirty in there. No oil though.
I know I have a really small exhaust leak on my flexpipe.
Car ticks like hell, not from the TCT and not from mechanical overrev, so I'm going to guess valve lash-could this be affecting it? (will get it adjusted regardless)

The car drives perfectly fine after its been started up, although on starts when the car has already been warmed up it will lean out on my wideband AFR until I've started driving it for a few minutes then it'll return to normal. Wasn't like this originally after the tune and I haven't installed anything new that would've required a new tune.

Does it sound like a bad head gasket? Anyone have any input on any possibilities? Worse/best case scenarios? I'd like to start off with the small things and if it comes down to it, I'll try to tackle the head gasket myself since my mechanic will charge me an arm and both my ears for it.
Thank you for any input.

 

To the top.

 

id take it back to your tuner and see what he says

 

yeah, that'll end up being my last resort. I understand that would be the best option though, just not looking forward to the $100/hr DG fees.

 

The long cranking on warm startup could just be in the tune. Its a common thing with aem, just have to have a few things changed and it should fire up like oem.

Misfires on startup again sound like tune, if it were somthing electrical it would happen all the time and not just at start up. Also the white smoke would not come from misfires, white smoke is an indication of water being burnt. So it could very well be your head gasket. Typically black is unburned fuel or a rich condition, grey is oil burning off and is accompanied by a residue on the tailpipe. White is either water/coolant burning or metal parts tearing down and burning.

It sounds like you have a lot of issues at the moment and it is hard to diagnose every one of them. You will have to start with 1 and do a process of elimination.

You said your car ticks like hell. I would start with a valve adjustment and report back. It has been the culprit of multiple misfires in all cylinders. Good luck.

 

So should I ask my tuner to look over the startup map, or possibly the entire tune in general?
Ah I didn't know it was common with the AEMs. Hm, I didn't think about that. Well I sure hope it's not metal pieces burning. Thank you for your informational response. I'm going to get my valves adjusted and hopefully that'll help things out.