burning antifreeze? need help asap

hey guys,

im concerned that my 93 may be burning antifreeze. ok here the deal. about a month ago i got some head work done at a shop, they redid my valve seals, and obviously when building it back up i replaced all the usual gaskets. however, im pretty upset now that i used a gasket set the shop gave me rather then going to the dealer.

now im worried my headgaset may be screwed up and i may be buring antifreeze.

a couple things make me think this. for one, the jeep seems to be smoking a lot of white smoke. im hoping that this could just be from the weather, but the thing is the longer it sits and idles the more the white smoke billows out.

also, i seem to be losing antifreeze from my coolent bottle. in the last 3-4 days or so it seems as though its gone down about an inch to an inch and a half or so. i was hoping that this could have intially just been from the system needing to settle after draining a lot of it out and refilling it, but its now been about a month or so since i got the head work done. it did this right after we put everything together as well, it lost some antifeeze, i refilled it and it stayed that way for about two weeks, and now in the last few days is when its dropped the inch or so.

does this sound like my headgasket?? im worried it is, but this sucks that i just had everything apart and might have to do it all over again!

by the way, the exhaust seems to smell somewhat *rich* but not really like antifreeze. also the oil doesnt seem to have antifreeze mixed in, as its looks ok, and not the typical chocolate color.

sorry for the long post, wanted to get some pretty good info in to work off of.

any ideas, thanks guys.

Pull the head and put a new head gasket in. They might have given you a 258 gasket or something different. THere is a very specific bolt torquing sequence for the head, did you follow it?

SeanP

BTW, I just had to tear into my SBC engine from my tow rig that had 1000 miles on it. Broke a valve spring and a pushrod. I feel your pain.

ya i did follow the bolting sequence for the head.

i think thats what i will do is just have to pull the head again and replace the gasket, it just sucks as i dont have a lot of spare time to do it and i was trying to make sure that this is the problem before i start into it.

does this sound to most of you like the problem. i guess i dont see anywhere else the antifreeze could go unless it was just leaking, but definately no signs of that.

well, white smoke and disappearing coolant definately say that coolant is getting into the combustion chamber. Why did you re-do the head? Did it over heat? Did the shop check to see if the head was straight? Was the engine overhauled? Were the water jackets inspected if they were bored out for overhaul?

Ask all the basic questions and you will get to your answer.