long story short: took a long drive, car ran fine. got stuck in a traffic jam, an hour later (still stuck) two puffs of white smoke emerge from tailpipe. I turn it off immediately, smells of coolant. change the head gasket (nissan’s best guess of prob) try to reset the timing, put it back together same as dissaembly, starts idles high/rough, chokes and dies, reset the timing, idles better, still a little high, then chokes and dies emitting white smoke(like raw emmision/oil?), anyway it seems as though the lower timing chain was never quite on its mark, and well the cams are, but it dosen’t matter cause the bottoms off time, my next step is to comp. test it (should have been earlier), I could use any input at this point cause I’m so frustrated I’m about to go to nissan pull down my pants and get raped, thanks for any help
Is there oil in your coolant? Or coolant in your oil?
Sometimes it’s a cracked block rather than a gasket.
Did Nissan say what condition the gasket was in?
Good point nocwage. One thing I can tell you is white smoke from the exhaust is almost always going to be a coolant issue. Off the bat, inspect entire cooling system including lines, rad/cap, water pump, and do the compression test! Burning oil should be bluish smoke. Nissan was on the right track with the head gasket, it just sounds like they may have jumped to conclusions. :roll:
Good luck man, we’ve all been there, hang in there. 
How did the compression test go?
Overheating a motor eats rings
Raw oil can burn fairly white if there’s enough of it … trust me.
Get the timing right before you start smacking valves into pistons.
^^ Listen to this guy and do what he says! :lol:
props, thanks for the input, but why ya gotta scare me (ie:cracked block), I switched the gasket myself, while a couple of channels seem suspect, I was curious if it could possibly ring now that the smoke has changed. there wasn’t the rootbeer coolant/oil mixture, but I turned it off immediately after two puffs. I did find some interesting particulate in the coolant but not the oil(screened when removed). thanks again, please don’t hold back any possible info/experiences
first of all pressure test your cooling system. Second of all once you get the engine in time, lay on it a bit to get all of the coolant out of your exhaust system, before you conclude that the problem is still there.
darien its the car gods mad at u for flaming the flamers on VM, id go back back and apoligize to the riceroni crew, id suspect it to be the car god of rice to be causing all your troubles
Hector, leave tinkerbell alone, she’s really a good girl, just real delicate, and besides derian breaks everything he touches…i won’t be lending my car out again 
my troubles precede the VM flaming, its all in jest?
sorry blackapple, anyway thanks again, sunday will tell the truth, I curious of all the attention to the cooling system? I dosen’t leak, pressure should be good, I’ll give it a try, It in the FSM?