Chrysler Repair: smoking car (white smoke), head gasket leak, chrysler lebaron

Question
I have a 1986 chrysler lebaron turbo with a 2.2L engine.when i start the car there is virtually no smoke If I drive it say about a mile it smokes and the engine starts clattering. Then it smokes badly. I love the car and I love driving it. I'm pretty handy also. I recently tuned it up. Any help that you can give me would be deeply appreciated. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Derrick,
White smoke, which when condensed on a surface carries an odor of antifreeze, is a sign of coolant entering a combution chamber, usually as the result of a head gasket leak. You should notice this as a steady loss of coolant from the system. Because of the time delay in its appearance you might have a situation where the leak rather than resulting from a frankly torn gasket may be the result of too loose head bolts. You could try loosening them up in the reverse order of tightening to 45 and then retightening twice to 65 foot-pounds and then a final 1/4 turn in the normal tightening sequence to see if that might eliminate the leak. Otherwise it means removing the head and replacing the gasket.
Roland