Hello 6GC Forums! I found what I thought was a great car for my sister after her 7th gen. got wrecked, but it's having a couple of issues after sitting for 3 weeks. We bought the car with a CT rebuilt title, which means there was an insurance claim made for body repair, and NY is stupid about registering cars with non-pristine titles not from NY. I drove it for 3 hours on the highway home from where we bought it and there were no problems, but now that it sat for a couple of weeks while we're waiting for registration, there's a problem.

To start, this is a '97 fastback with the 7A-FE 1.8L engine and a 5-speed manual transmission.

I charged the battery up with my car since it got too low to start the engine, and noticed some white smoke on startup. The smoke went away, but once the car got up to temperature(needle about 10˚ counterclockwise from horizontal), the smoke came back as a constant steam. It wasn't thick, and it smelled a little sweet as if there was water in it. I'm going to check the radiator and oil caps for possible head gasket issues once the car cools back down.

The other problem is some weird churning/grinding noise coming from the engine bay, although I'm not sure what side of the engine it's coming from(sounds like it's coming from the middle of the firewall). This just started today and was constant.

Those are the problems; here are my questions. If the head gasket is going bad, how difficult is that to replace? I have some mechanical inclination from tinkering on my '02 Si, and a torque wrench good for 80 pound-feet. What tools will I need, and where can I find a service manual for this car? If I forgot to mention anything that would help, please let me know.

Thanks!

Update:

The smoke had died down significantly the next time I started it up, and smelled more like normal exhaust. The churning sound is still present.

Sounds like head gasket is on its way out. Shouldn't be too terribly hard to replace on this car. Hardest part is keeping all the timing in place.

Sweet white smoke in the exhaust is burning coolant. Don't inhale too much, the sweet smell is due to toxic ethylene glycol. Almost guaranteed to be your head gasket.

while its possible, there could still be a number of other reasons. check your coolant for exhaust particles.

My 97 celica with 7a-fe has the exact same symptoms as yours. A rather loud churning noise and lots of white smoke from the exhaust. In addition, the car feels slower than it used to be.

I was told that the churning noise was most likely just air rushing through the air filter when the engine is idling. When i press the throttle, the noise quiets down a little.

Sure sounds like coolant burning. Is it loosing coolant?

Thanks for all your help guys.

I checked the fluids today, coolant is nice and bright, clear green, and the oil is oily. The steam has gone down significantly to the point where it's just condensation from it being a cooler morning today. That churning sound seems to be coming from the transmission bell housing, but the clutch is still good as new. Not sure what that noise is, but it's separate from the intake sound. Car has a K&N CAI by the way.

Possible that while sitting a lot of condensation collected into the exhaust. That or condensation got into the fuel. Being coolant and oil is fine I'd think head-gasket is ok.