HEy everyone,

I have been noticing that when i start  up my samurai, it gives off an awful lot of white smoke. I was worried it could be a head gasket, Also under the oil cap is a lot of white grease like goo, that i have been told is another sign of a bad head gasket. I have checked on two other samurais though and notice this same white substance under the oil cap. Any ideas?

Great news.  I just came out of the garage 5 minutes ago fixing the same thing.   I bought my samurai and it had the same symptoms.   Do you have any black crap in the top of your radiator?   Does it over heat easily and boil over?   I pulled the head and it had 4 bent valves and a bad gasket.   I sent it to a machine shop and had it fixed and tested.   for about $300 it should be as good as new.

The white smoke I am pretty sure is a headgasket leak. The condensation on your oil cap is common and isn't anything to be concerned about.

As for the bent valves the previous poster indicate he found is not connected to the head gasket issues. I am pretty sure his bent valve issues will have another root cause yet to be mentioned..... 

Yep it had a blown head gasket, bent valves and a brand new timing chain.  You do the math.

I was having problem with white smoke. I pull the head but head look good. Didn't seen any residue of coolant in cylinders or around head or gasket. When.I was putting back together I notice my rocker arm was out of specs. They was at. 010 and I.notice stock.was. 006. But no damage to head. I toke all valves out and send the head to shop. Head was good and valves. Got lucky I guess.

ANY white/tan discolored sludge under the oil cap is reason to worry, and a indication of a major problem with moisture in the oil.

Bent valves = bad mechanical timing or really bad valve adjustment or someone over revving the crap out of the engine and floating the valves......
 Has nothing to do with the head gasket....
 Water in oil indicates: bad head gasket or cracked head or cracked block....
 Condensation on underside of oil fill cap or in air filter indicates: vacuum leak or bad pvc or bad oil cap seal.

 Hope this helps....Boxcar...

as I said (or implied) a common occurance.... http://www.offroaders.com/tech/milky-stuff-under-oil-cap.htm

Not necessarily in the posters case but then we are all just giving our $.02 and merely making suggestive points to be investigated.

Yep, broken timing chain will kill valves quicker than anything I've ever seen.

Motors with high miles... (100 K + should have the timing chain reviewed and replaced depending on the auto manufactuer and the age of the vehicle.

Older vehicles (pre 1980ish) motor technology was much defferent than todays high rpm engines. Life excectancy has gotten much better. But for a starting / reference point my comfort zone still beginsat 100 K.

Yep it had a blown head gasket, bent valves and a brand new timing chain.  You do the math.

I'll do the math....
1...samurai engines don't have a timing chain.
+
2...samurai engines are not interference engines.
=
3...the bent valves were probably from hydrolocking the engine (not really any other explanation, since 1.3s are non-interference).

I was having problem with white smoke. I pull the head but head look good. Didn't seen any residue of coolant in cylinders or around head or gasket. When.I was putting back together I notice my rocker arm was out of specs. They was at. 010 and I.notice stock.was. 006. But no damage to head. I toke all valves out and send the head to shop. Head was good and valves. Got lucky I guess.

Loosely adjusted valves usually won't damage the head....might get a little bit of a tapping noise from the engine though.
You could have had a slight head gasket leak, that was causing a little white smoke.  Then the new headgasket fixed the problem.
A headgasket leak won't always put coolant in the oil, or oil in the coolant.  Sometimes it will just get burned and the coolant will be passed out of the exhaust pipe via white smoke.

Thanks for all the tips, i actually called my mechanic and he said the white residue was due to the oil used in samurai motors. I was told to run 5-40 for European cars. Also the engine was completely rebuilt and supped up, cams, headers, ported, all stuff that sounds really good, but i know nothing about. The guy i bought it from said it had all the same stuff done to the motor that ppl who do the diesel swap do, but it was regular gas. Anyone think my mechanic might be right and it has something to do with th oil i use?

Thanks for all the tips, i actually called my mechanic and he said the white residue was due to the oil used in samurai motors. I was told to run 5-40 for European cars. Also the engine was completely rebuilt and supped up, cams, headers, ported, all stuff that sounds really good, but i know nothing about. The guy i bought it from said it had all the same stuff done to the motor that ppl who do the diesel swap do, but it was regular gas. Anyone think my mechanic might be right and it has something to do with th oil i use?

White residue because of the oil used?  I have never heard of that.  I call BS.

I think both those guys saw you comin.  I'm with Sky, unless your using fish oil for lubricant even the cheapest grade of recycled dino piss shouldn't cause a moisture build up in the crankcase enough to condense into the white milky goo you described. Could be your just not running it long or hard enough. Do you drive it long enough to get the engine up to normal operating temp and keep it there long enoug to burn off any moisture build up?

You right the G13a is a non interference motor, Unless your running flat top pistons.....
 What brand or viscosity of oil you run WON"T cause watter to miraculously appear in the crank case...I second the BS call....Boxcar...

Your mechanic is blowing that smoke clean up your arse, find someone else ASAP

And the guy you bought the engine from sounds just as clueless what with the diesel engine mod statement