Engine: OHV6. Cracked head or not?

[christophe]

[Gunslinger]

White smoke generally means it's condensation burning off. If you smell the sweet odor of anti-freeze you have either a cracked head or blown head gasket. What you can do is pull your spark plugs and see if any are wet as well as check the oil dipstick and see if it smells of coolant.

Those are probably the easiest things to check. If they check out normal you're likely experiencing moisture burn off.

[StudeRich]

Check the heat Riser to see if it is free and working.

If it is very late opening, it could accumulate a lot of water and vapor before "blowing" it out.

If you are concerned about the Head Gasket, you could always re-torque the Head bolts.
Unfortunately you might open a can of worms doing that though, because it may need a Valve Adjustment then.

Both should be done though, about 1000 miles after a Valve Grind, Overhaul, or Rebuild.

[jackb]

don't overlook the PCV if equipped on your car..

[Skybolt]

From my experience I would guess it's a slight leak with the head gasket. Seen it before, but it's just a guess. Had the head on my OHV six slightly shaved just to be sure it was straight and clean when I was getting the valve seats cleaned up and had to replace the head gasket after a a few hundred miles. Check the torque of the head bolts also.

[RadioRoy]

If you look at the spark plugs, they should all be the same color - grayish tan. If one is sparkling clean, then you have a coolant leak into that cylinder.

[christophe]

Thanks for your thoughts guys.
I used sealant with the head gasket and it has already been retorqued. I don't think it could be the culprit as there are no bubbles in the coolant. I had a look at the spark plugs and they looked all the same (grayish tan as Roy said). The heater valve is perfectly free but there is no spring on it as the one I got wasn't functioning properly. I'll change its position to see what it does. I guess the next step is to use a leak detector.
Nice day to all.