Got a rebuilt head for my metro from a very reputable ebay seller/shop, and it smokes pretty badly after installation. I checked my pcv valve and it has vacuum at idle, and the hose is not plugged. Performed a compression check- 180 on all cylinders- okay for my car. Called the shop to see if maybe they forgot to install the valve seals, and they insisted that there is no way they would forget that. I am stumped.
Just to ask some of the obvious kinds of questions: how long have you run it since completing the head? You just had it all open. Stuff probably ended up in the combustion chambers that needs to be burned off. Do you know that the smoke is oil smoke as opposed to say coolant? What led you to replace the head? Was it smoking before?
Finished the reassembly last night and drove it around for maybe 40 minutes- plenty of time- the smoke did reduce from when i started it but is still pretty bad. While the smoke isn’t blue it does linger in the air, as opposed to just quickly dissapearing. It wasn’t smoking before, I replaced the head because the #3 exhaust valve had burned- a common problem on metros when your egr valve gets clogged.
Your result is somewhat common. If the head gasket blew and coolant washed down the cylinder walls the rings, especially the oil control rings, may be sticking. Also, if an abrasive such as Roloc discs are used to clean the deck abrasive material can be thrown into the cylinders and cause rapid wear that may cause oil consumption and smoking before it becomes evident as a compression loss. How many miles have you driven since the repair? Because the smoke may be the result of coolant and/or oil that was dumped into the exhaust while the work was being done.
Did you get a good wiff of the smoke? I’d definitely make sure it doesn’t smell like coolant. Figure the three sources will be a) oil, b) coolant, c) excess fuel. Oil smoke would look bluish & fuel smoke gray/blackish - but I’ve never put much faith in being able to tell from that. I sniff.
I’d also wonder whether you aren’t running too rich for some reason instead of burning oil. Is the car getting up to full temperature?
So anyway, try to narrow down the kind of smoke before assuming oil.
I drove the car for about 40 minutes around my local neighborhoods, and while the smoke did reduce it is still bad. I started it again, today and it it much the same. The smoke smells burnt. It is grey and black. the car is running at the correct temperature. the head gasket never blew, although it is possible some old head gasket debris got into the cylinder bores
How many miles on the engine. For high mileage engines, the higher (renewed) compression from a new or reconditioned head can cause the rings to unseat.
It is really hard to tell fuel based smoke from oil based, but gray/black indicates rich running rather than oil burning. Double check that your coolant temp sensor go plugged back in & that the fuel pressure regulator along with vacuum line went back on correctly.
Did they rebuild your head or is this an exchange head? Could be the head is cracked or otherwise unusable…