About a month ago my head gasket blew and I did the job myself. Had the head machined and had them do a valve job along with new stem seals. Well, ever since then, when I start the car when it's cold it gives off a puff of white smoke, like I said, it only does it on start-up when it's cold. Also the lifters are really loud when the engine is cold, and they make alot of noise for about 10 to 15 minutes then they quiet down some but not all the way. I know one reason for that could be that when I took the head off for replacement of the head gasket the lifters didn't get placed back in their same hole they came out of, the guy helping me didn't know anything and he just flipped the head over and the lifters just went everywhere and I didn't know where each one went. I know the Haynes manual says that if you don't put them in the same spot that it will increase the rate of wear to the lifter, but could that cause them to tap? Also something else I noticed that in the bore where the lifters are that there is a tiny hole there, i'm guessing it's for oil to travel through to the lifters...and the lifters also have a hole, when I put them back in I lined them up as best I could and dropped the lifters in. The manual didn't mention anything about that so I assumed that they go lined up, does anyone know for sure or not? Anyone with experience or that has the same problem please chime in, the noise is driving me crazy. Thanks in advance.
