Please Help with KA

[KAs14slider]

Hi guys, I am a newbie here and I was wondering if any of you guys could help me out.
My 96 nissan 240sx just developed an engine problem and I was wondering if any of you know what could be wrong? (I got the KA24de). After driving the car home 2 days ago with no problems, it decided not to start up in the morning. Turns out it was a dead battery so we replaced it. Then I am driving, I stop at a light, and the whole car starts shaking and the Idle is way off. It sounds like it is misfiring really bad and is not running on all the cylinders. It also pours tons of white smoke from the exhaust. It was especially bad when accelarating and driving. Then we replace the plugs, plug wires, distriputer cap & rotor because last time my car ran bad was because the plugs and wires were bad. But it never ran this horribly before. Turns out that all the plugs were fried. But even with the new ones it didn't fix anything. You can also see a little white smoke coming out of somewhere from the back of the engine when you open the hood. Some people have told me that I could have blown a head gasket. What do you guys think? Do head gaskets jsut go like that even when the car is not being driven hard? Or can anything else be the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Also, since I need my car to run I couldn't wait to get good ngk's off ebay so I got the most expensive (only 2 bucks a piece NGK v-power's) ones from my local advanced auto parts and their wierd store brand wires which are crap. Could this really mess up the car this bad? Could it really be the plug and wire combo?

Sorry for the lenghty post.

[aznpoopy]

did you check gap on the spark plugs?

edit: how about timing when you did the cap and rotor?

[YoungRookie]

Make sure you have all the spark plugs in the right spots. It may sound stupid but my friend had the same thing happen to him, he accidnetly switched two of the plugs.

[s14shrkeye]

Make sure you have all the spark plugs in the right spots. It may sound stupid but my friend had the same thing happen to him, he accidnetly switched two of the plugs.
-- Do you mean he switched the wires and had them connected to the wrong plug? Like #3 wire going to #2 plug by accident?

[KAs14slider]

-- Do you mean he switched the wires and had them connected to the wrong plug? Like #3 wire going to #2 plug by accident?

I'm sorry for sounding really dumb but how exactly do you tell #1, 2, 3, and 4 plugs apart from each other?

[aznpoopy]

u just trace it from the distributor cap to the valve cover and see where it's plugged in.

[YoungRookie]

-- Do you mean he switched the wires and had them connected to the wrong plug? Like #3 wire going to #2 plug by accident?

Yea thats what i meant, sorry i didnt know how else to word it.

[KAs14slider]

u just trace it from the distributor cap to the valve cover and see where it's plugged in.

What if its already wrong, do the spark plugs themselves have numbers on them to identify where they go?

[kandyflip445]

The #1 cylinder is closet to the front of the car and goes up in numerical value as you go back. Make sure you got the right distributor cap (I dont' know if you can even put the wrong one on). There are 2 makes of it. Compression check it when you're changing/gapping the plugs too.

[KAs14slider]

Today I put in much better NGK plugs and some 9mm wires compared to my crappy 7mm ones. The number 2,3,4 plugs that were in there were burnt. So it seems that when you put in new plugs, the car burns them out. Now here is the thing. The car started up fine and for the first time since the problem it actually idled and reved without shacking and misfiring. But nevertheless it still pours out tons of white smoke. My question is this: If it is the head gasket, is it possible that the car will run fine for a little then the plugs will get messed up and burned and it will start to run really bad again? Any suggestions or ideas?
Thanks.

[kandyflip445]

If the headgasket is blown and you keep running it then you risk warping parts.

[TOMY]

your engine is blown! do a compression test, you will most likely find that at least one of the cylinders have lost compression. It could be a gasket.. worst case your piston rings are toast. Sorry man, start shopping for an SR.

[FRpilot]

it sounds like a headgasket problem.. white smoke like that doesnt come out of nowhere. same thing happened to my 91 240sx.. stop running the motor.

[infinitexsound]

check da dip stick........