Symptoms of a blown head gasket

[spidey07]

2004 Acura TL, 200K miles. The engine compartment is smoking slightly and the smell is a fluid smell, can't tell what kind of fluid. The coolant resovoir is slightly below the min mark and it seems to be using more motor oil.

I talked to a guy at autozone while I was getting some coolant and oil, he said to watch out for blown head gasket. So should I just keep an eye on coolant and oil levels? It's the motor smoking and smell that has me most concerned, it's coming from the left side of the engine compartment if that matters (as viewed from drivers seat). That side has brake and clutch fluid but those levels looked fine.

 

[jlee]

What color is the smoke? A blown head gasket can give you white smoke from the exhaust and can also cause 'milky' oil. Pull the dipstick and see what the oil looks like.

 

[spidey07]

Smoke is white in engine compartment. Can't really tell about smoke from the exhaust. I was told to look for a "sweet" smell if it's coolant.

Will a blown head gasket cause it to use more oil? A bad gasket just causes coolant getting into the combustion chamber, right?

 

[LTC8K6]

Oil in the coolant(droplets of oil visible in the coolant), coolant in the oil(caffe latte looking oil), white exhaust that smells like anti-freeze.

Coolant missing, but no apparent leaks.

 

[NutBucket]

First guess would be cracked radiator end tank. Does the smoke smell a little sweet?

Check the oil to see if its milky. A blown HG won't usually result in smoke under the hood; mainly out the tailpipe.

 

[jlee]

White smoke in the exhaust is coolant and blue smoke is oil. A bad head gasket could cause coolant in combustion - and/or could cause exhaust in the coolant system. Not sure on the oil, but I wouldn't be surprised if the piston rings or valve seals are a little tired at 200k.

 

[spidey07]

Thanks for the help guys. I think I've got it nailed. 200K and I'd agree that would cause my high oil usage., I haven't checked compression, I'm sure it's low. But I was giving her some TLC tonight for fluids - coolant, oil, check all the fluids. Had to warm her up, right? So with the motor warm in the driveway I worked the power steering, it's been whining like a bitch. With motor warm - left, right, left, right, with the hood open.

And then she starts smoking, from the right (could only see this becuase the hood was up). Power steering resoivoir is on the right. There's a recall on my car for bad o-ring on power steering, at the resovoir. Only when I had the hood up could I see where it's coming from. My power steering fluid is lower from just a few days ago.

I think I got it nailed. Thanks guys. Off to the dealership I go - "fix this and at no charge". The recall warns of an engine fire so they must fix at zero cost.

 

[LTC8K6]

Valve cover gasket perhaps? Oil pan gasket? Trans pan? Smoke may be coming up through the hood, but be from below somewhere like oil or trans fliud getting on the headers or pipes.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Spidey,
Check in three places, the oil filler cap, the oil dipstick and the radiator cap (while the car is cold of course).
If any of these three have a whitish goo (looks kinda like snot or a milkshake) then you likely have a blown headgasket.
Otherwise you have a coolant leak in the engine compartment somewhere, and yes coolant vapors will smell sweet due to the Ethylene Glycol that makes up the coolant.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
Spidey,
Check in three places, the oil filler cap, the oil dipstick and the radiator cap (while the car is cold of course).
If any of these three have a whitish goo (looks kinda like snot or a milkshake) then you likely have a blown headgasket.
Otherwise you have a coolant leak in the engine compartment somewhere, and yes coolant vapors will smell sweet due to the Ethylene Glycol that makes up the coolant.

Good to know. Thank you.

So those are the symptoms of coolant/oil mixture? And do those symptoms mean a failed head gasket?

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
Spidey,
Check in three places, the oil filler cap, the oil dipstick and the radiator cap (while the car is cold of course).
If any of these three have a whitish goo (looks kinda like snot or a milkshake) then you likely have a blown headgasket.
Otherwise you have a coolant leak in the engine compartment somewhere, and yes coolant vapors will smell sweet due to the Ethylene Glycol that makes up the coolant.

Good to know. Thank you.

So those are the symptoms of coolant/oil mixture? And do those symptoms mean a failed head gasket?

Pretty much. There aren't too many ways for oil to get in the coolant, or vice versa.

Funny, I'm looking at two cars now with BHG's..wondering how much of a steal I can get them for..

 

[brblx]

head gaskets can fail in a few different ways. the most common is failing between two cylinders. one cylinder can also blow towards the outside of the block, but that's rare at best. in addition to sealing the combustion chambers, though, the head gasket also seals oil and coolant passages. sometimes the the gasket will blow out (or corrode) near a water jacket, allowing coolant into the cylinder, which runs down the wall and into the oil. and burns, making the exhaust white.

the first thing to do is compression test. remove all spark plugs (keep them indexed) and rent a tester from autozone. it doesn't matter all that much what the numbers are so long as they are even. anything in 125-200psi range is typical, but they should all fall within maybe a 20% range of each other, at worst.

you can also get kits to test for combustion gases in the coolant, but this isn't typically needed to diagnose a headgasket, as compression will tell the tail. if coolant and oil is mixing, you can also just remove the rad or reservoir cap (depending on the the cooling system) and look for bubbles.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: JLee

Pretty much. There aren't too many ways for oil to get in the coolant, or vice versa.

Funny, I'm looking at two cars now with BHG's..wondering how much of a steal I can get them for..

I have a 2000 Saab 9-5 with a blown gasket if you want it



145mph run gone bad