is my head gasket leaking?

[corey240]

i have a cometic hg on my motor, since i swaped it in like 2 weeks ago, it will idle at 1200 rpm (my setting for now) but then after a couple min or when the coolant system kicks in it drops to 500. the plugs have this wet stuff on them i beleive is coolant, and the exhaust smokes (allways did but smells different now), also the motor is freshly rebuilt. so do you think maybe i didnt get the head cleaned enough and the coolant is leaking somwhere because of it not being 100% clean? the block was spotless but the head i thought could have been cleaner when i did it.

[jgauspohl]

sounds like it...good way to tell...do a leak down test.

[jgauspohl]

did you deck the head? or at least get it checked to make sure it was level.