blown head gasket...what possible collateral damage?

[muntu]

motor is a 4 banger 1989 renault...this is happening to my boy stuck in finland..he just finished changing the gasket and now the motor is smoking...he did an oil change and said oil looked like chocolate milkshake...could the coolant have fouled the rings? the gasket was breached on the #1 cylinder only.would giving it a hard run maybe clear things out? car has to go for immissions test in a week and he needs to drive it another 2 months.does any napa gunk stop smoking??.....any help appreciated.

[MarkEkberg]

Did he change the oil after the gasket change? If so the gasket is still leaking.

If not you can try to change it and see what happens

[LMJD]

Not to do a computer screen diagnosis, but many times I've seen engines run for a period of time with a blown head gasket and the coolant will gum up the rings badly enough they'll be stuck in the lands.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">would giving it a hard run maybe clear things out? </div></div>
He might give that a try but usually if they're stuck, they're stuck. I've seen some so bad that you had to break them in pieces to remove them. After using a ring groove cleaner the piston is most always good as new.

[muntu]

thanks for the replies....guess he's gonna doa ring job.

[pwrtrip]

well if he was burning coolant before he changed the gasket his muffler and cat could be full of antifreeze and will take some driving to burn it all out.